Tag: Sid Meier’s Civilization

Feature

Farewell, Civilization V

The Civilization series of games moves in cycles. On October 30, 2001, Civilization III was released; October 25, 2005 brought Civilization IV; the latest incarnation of the series was released September 21, 2010; and now Civilization VI arrives on October 21. There is a wistful sense of loss in this pattern—after a spring and summer five years long, the massive canopy of the previous Civilization game fades away to make room for the next, bigger, and hopefully better incarnation. But this is the wrong metaphor. The Civilization series is concerned with civilization: with cities, with growth, with increasing cultural and…
Review

Mini Metro makes mass transportation sublime

I don’t remember much from Jeen-Shang Lin’s Soil Mechanics class. Beyond a vague inkling of his whiteboard doodles and that time he paused mid-lecture to remark on my unexpected presence, most of it remains a formula-laden blur. Except for the one time he mentioned Pittsburgh’s North Shore Connector project. I can still recall his perplexed laugh. “Pittsburgh has some beautiful bridges,” or something like that, he said. “The people know how to build them, how to fix them … so why the hell did they decide to dig a tunnel underneath the Alleghany?” A shrug. More laughter. Then back to…
News

You might be playing god in Crest but most of your people don’t care

“Did god shape mankind, or did mankind shape God?” asks Eat Create Sleep, the developers of Crest, in their Steam description for the game. Crest is a god game with a twist: your followers have free will and don’t always give a shit about what you have to say. Rather than having complete (sometimes maniacal) control over your creations, as is the case in games such as Spore and The Sims, you must instead contend with the individual needs of your people. You can indirectly influence them by issuing commandments, but as humans are a willful lot, they will interpret…
News

Three new games to get you through the work week

Sign up to receive each week’s Playlist e-mail here! Also check out our full, interactive Playlist section. VEKTOR (iOS) BY CAGIL BEKTAS There’s never been an Akira videogame, but Vektor fits the mold. It’s a bite-sized cybercycling head rush, cleverly using tilt controls to accelerate as well as turning left or right. As the soundtrack thumps and the road grows ever more cluttered, don’t be surprised if your palms start to sweat. Perfect for: Fans of ultraviolent 80s cyberpunk anime, forward-thinking gearheads. Playtime: Minutes at a time. OCTOPUS CITY BLUES (PC, MAC & LINUX) BY GHOST IN A BOTTLE With a sickly purple/green…