Sid Meier’s Civilization was a game that started a revolution. Its formula of empire building, research, war and diplomacy kept gamers hooked for hours, at the expense of their social lives. The games that followed were just as good (or just as bad) when it came to making gamers keep playing into the wee hours.
And since these games are such classics of the strategy genre, everyone has their favourite and any argument about which is the best or worst could turn into a nasty affair. So without any offensive intent, here’s a list of the Civilization games, ranked from best to worst.
1. Civilization V (2010)
Turn-based strategy doesn’t get much better than this.
This is the game that proved that hexagons could be cool: the map no longer was a grid of squares, and military units could not be stacked. It was goodbye to the “stack of doom” armies of the past, and a warm welcome to deeper and more tactical combat. And the fact that the leaders of other nations were presented more beautifully than ever made things even more personal.
And while the game was slightly buggy and bland when it was originally released in 2010, its Brave New World expansion added to it in so many ways, making it one of the best strategy games ever made. Things were no longer about amassing the largest army possible to annihilate your opponents, as cultural and diplomatic victories became viable as well. So it is not surprising that Civilization V is one of the best-selling and most accessible Civilization yet, and here’s hoping that the trend continues.