“Your army is little on the weak side. I suggest you watch your back.” The bloodthirsty Aztecs rest on my northern border, while the Germans and the Greeks lie to my west and south. I have led the Chinese empire through a thousand years of war and peace, but dynasties fall every day. The Brandenburg Gate has almost finished construction in Beijing, which will allow me to train superior forces with which to defend myself, but it may not be enough.

No sooner do I complete construction and begin to train Musketmen when all three of my neighbors come together and decide that I should cease to exist. Try as I might to defend, they make the inevitable march on my capital, seizing my cities along the way. I gather what battered and beaten forces I have left for one final charge, but it is no use. My great empire crumbles. Next time, I will have to keep a larger standing army. I start a new game.

“Sid Meier’s Civilization V” is a 4x video game, probably the most popular in the genre. The four exes, eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate, are the four main phases of a standard game of its class. In Civilization V, like in all 4x’s, you take the helm of a civilization, and guide it on its future in a world full of other civilizations, with futures as rich as yours. You manage your civilization’s economy, military, industry, research and even religion on your journey through time. Although all 4x’s feature the advancement of technology as a core component, Civ V distinguishes itself by separating the game into several eras. Whether you choose to play as the Inca or the British, you can advance from the ancient era, where innovations range from pottery to trapping, through the modern era and even beyond.

The Civilization series is particularly known for its many paths to victory, and especially with the addition of the two expansion packs, “Gods and Kings” and “Brave New World”, Civilization V is no exception. In any given game, you may win by conquest, tourism, diplomacy, science, or even a time-limit. If any of these sound particularly unappealing, an extensive options menu available at the start of each game allow players to choose between difficulty levels, map types, number of players and even the age of the world. If at any point you feel like something is missing, an extensive library of publicly available modifications to the game, or “Mods” can be found and added easily through the Steam Workshop.

Overall, Civilization V, especially with the addition content available, is a consistently entertaining and engaging time sink for both veterans and new players to the genre. The interface, often the biggest obstacle to those attempting to pick up a new 4x game, is easy to navigate and effectively communicates everything you need to know. Units and buildings do what they sound like they will do, and balance is such that there is never an ideal move that doesn’t depend on the exact game you’re playing in that session. The one great downside to Civilization as a whole is that it is simply addicting. Planning to play for one hour at a time is borderline naive, as you will invariable want to stay for just … one … more … turn.

I would recommend Civilization V to anyone who enjoys turn-based strategy, planning, and execution. If you find “Settlers of Catan,” “Risk,” and “Monopoly,” to be uniformly dull, then the 4x genre may not be for you, but for all others, the only limits to the fun available through Civ V are those posed by your hardware.

As a final verdict, Civilization V earns a 9.5/10. Not only is it a flagship for the genre, but with the addition of tremendous variety through nearly professional-quality mods, there are almost no complaints about the game that cannot be fixed.