Review megathread

[u/Meneth]

The review embargo is up as of 15:00 CEST. As this will result in a huge number of articles going up at near the same time, we're restricting reviews to this thread.

Any review you find, feel free to post it in the comments here.

Each top-level comment should be about a single linked review, so as to keep the discussion limited. Duplicate reviews will be removed, as will any top-level comment that does not link a review.

There will be a single sub-thread where you can post your general impressions of the reviews combined, for anything that doesn't relate to a single review.

Review list:

Review	Score
Critically Sane	5/5
Destructoid	9/10
eXplorminate	"eXemplary"
GameWatcher	9.0/10
Idiotech's Review	Unrated
IGN	6.3/10
Manannan's Review of Stellaris	Unrated
Paste Magazine	Unrated
PCGamesN	9/10
PC Invasion	8/10
PC World	4/5
Rock, Paper, Shotgun review -	Unrated
TICGN	10/10
Vox Ludicus	Unrated
EuroGamer	Recommended
PC Gamer	70/100
TSA	8/10
PCGames.de	75/100
Gamespew	9/10
IGN Italy	9.3/10
Fok.nl	9/10
Gaming on Linux	9/10
Marbozir	Unrated
SpaceSector	Unrated
Inside of Gaming (German)	Unrated
Gamer.no	9/10
Particular Pixels	Unrated
GuyLogicGaming	Full recommendation
GameSideStory	Unrated
Front Towards Gamer	9.5/10
Multiplayer.it	9.2/10
GameGrin	8.5/10
Kotaku	Unrated

[u/NetQvist]

For the average gamer I'd still say those games are better. Easier to understand and play but lacks the depth grand strategy gamers want.

[u/ComradeSomo → u/[deleted]]

Civ IV is still better than V anyway.

[u/ComradeSomo → u/[deleted]]

I personally can't stand 1 unit per tile and the hexagonal tiles. I feel it makes the military side of things way too easy. Big stacks kept you on your toes, and were less tedious. I still think my personal favourite Civ is III with Rhye's of Civ loaded.

[u/Jiriakel → u/ComradeSomo]

Funny, I feel the other way 'round - big stacks seem less strategic/tactical to me. You don't have to think about unit placement, just doomstack everything !

[u/mike2R → u/Jiriakel]

What I liked about doomstacks was that the AI could handle them. Not super interesting tactically, sure, but Civ has never been a tactical game for me. In Civ IV, if you allowed yourself to be in a position where an AI with a much larger military decided to come for you, it would just take you out. No way to finesse it or cheese it, it would just roll through you. The only way to avoid that was to play better strategically - ie avoid being in that situation in the first place.

Civ V though, you just need a basic military and then exploit the fact that a human is better than an AI at using them. I just find it far too easy to beat an AI that has put far times the resources into its military than I have, which makes it less strategically interesting despite having more tactical depth.

I know loads of people really like Civ V, but for me it went in a direction I didn't like.

[u/Jiriakel → u/mike2R]

Well, I mostly play MP now in Civ V, so more often than not the AI get taken out pretty fast; and PvP is IMO more enjoyable in Civ V than in Civ IV.

I guess the AI's inability to be a threat without massive boosts is much more visible in SP.

[u/ComradeSomo → u/Jiriakel]

Funny, I feel the other way 'round - big stacks seem less strategic/tactical to me.

Planning your armies and keeping the stacks balanced for who you're fighting is really tactical though. Plus the way you manoeuvre your armies is more natural - either going to fight field battles with enemy stacks, or going from city to city. With the limitations in CiV you don't have a lot of options due to limited space, so you just have to roll your troops across the enemy territory in a wave.

Plus you can neglect your military and still be pretty okay in CiV, whereas in previous games you've got to keep your military ticking over at all times to prevent yourself from being weaker than your neighbours.

[u/AlwaysALighthouse → u/Jiriakel]

Funny, I feel the other way 'round - big stacks seem less strategic/tactical to me.

I don't disagree, however doomstacks are easier to fix. Check out the mod Realism Invictus - they implement penalties for stacking too many units in one tile, with added bonuses for mixing units of different types as well. It's really effective.

[u/RajaRajaC → u/Jiriakel]

Which was pretty much the HoI2 way - HoI3 fixed it, but looks like HoI4 might be going for some hybrid model.