Really, the best part about Brave New World is that it’s finally addressed every victory condition in the game and made each one not only more equally viable, but also just as busy. Weaponizing culture works to bring it more in line with the other conditions–it’s something you have to work towards and not something you just happen to achieve. On top of that, the diplomacy changes make this system more interesting as well, and it all comes down to one thing: if you have Civilization V and want to play more, you owe it to yourself to get this expansion.
This expansion makes the game incredible. It's sad that it seems that it takes the devs three versions of the game until they make it right, but if you can buy on sale then get all the DLC. I've played over 500 hours of Civ V because it's just so relaxing. Experimenting with the many different civs and victories gives the player a lot to do for their money.
While i do admit that Civ V vannila was,,, underwhelming, Civ V:BNW Completely fixes all the problems that plagued the original. better AI, Expanded Diplomacy, Trade routes are hella fun, MUCH better late-game with ideologies (and Xcom cause why not). Overall, if you ever doubted that Civ V was awesome-tastic, pick this one up, it's tottaly worth it. Civ V:BNW-Best Civ to date.
If you didn't pick up Gods & Kings for some reason, I really suggest skipping it unless you can grab it for cheap on Steam. Brave New World is the expansion you need to get instead, and I highly recommend it to fans of the series.
Essentially, if you love Civilization V, Brave New World will open up a world of possibilities. And if you haven't yet picked up Civilization V, Brave New World is the best way to play.
Firaxis could have played it safe and simply layered on more changes of clothes. Instead it took the strategy gaming bit between its teeth and launched the venerable franchise into some startlingly new territory, while keeping it fun, engaging and — remarkably — approachable.
The additional content of Brave New World ensures that, now more than ever, Civilization 5 feels like a complete package; a game to lose hundreds of hours to as you build an empire to stand the test of time, and one to which you'll sacrifice many a cup of tea along the way.
It peppers the game with busywork where you’d normally be hitting “next turn” over and over, waiting to administer a beating to the game’s brain dead military. Now you’re playing on turf where the AI is stronger, managing the strategy level of the game, finessing the economy, wrangling trade routes, expanding out into the map. It helps the pacing in a not very good game where pacing was one of the significant problems. So if I’m going to play Civilization V, the best thing I can say about Brave New World is that this is the preferred way to do it.
My experiences with the Civilization series begin in my childhood. For Christmas one year I received Civilization: Revolution for the DS. At this point in my life I was generally ignorant to the videogaming world so all of my decisions on games were based solely on what other kids in my school already had. I can attribute Civ: Rev to being the game that changed that forever.
Civilization: Brave New World completes what is probably one of the most influential games I have ever played. Civilization V as a whole will always be what I consider my favorite strategy game and with Brave New World, I can happily say that every dollar of the $130 I spent on this game were very much worth it. From the new Ideologies to the expanded trade systems to the new Civs. This expansion really just made the game for me and for that, I will always hold the names Sid Meier and Firaxis to the highest reverence.
And now the game is playable, two expansions later. It's still not the game of its predecessors but it is playable. If you have an audiobook running. Get in Game of Thrones book 3 or maybe a Dresden files while playing Korea or some such and the game can work out. But, what does it say that a person needs a book running to keep the entirety of their mind occupied here?
Graphics don't make for a great game. You need meat and complexity.
Trade routes make sense. That they can be pillaged also makes sense. What doesn't make sense is you still can't trade technology. Again, this reeks of the whiny crowd not liking other people getting a tech before them and then monopolizing the trade market by trading it out before them. Trading technology and having some exclusivity in these trades simply makes sense.
Espionage still lacks depth.
Religion lacks oomph.
General and Admirals still don't do much, armies and navies not really there.
Tourism adds but seems expensive social policy wise for the payout. Producing archaeologists for +2. Yay? Yes, you can exploit this into more, but it still falls short. Kind of lame as a "win" option, just like the science victory always was and still is.
I'm going as high as a 7 because with both expansions it's an alright thing to play alongside an audiobook. Without the meat **** book though, it's still a 5. Bad form Fireaxis, you can do better, we've seen you do better.
With this final expansion comes the last bit of depth that was missing from the original launch, finally bringing it to the level of civilization 4. It still bothers me that people are expected to pay for problems that should have never been present to begin with but the industry is firm in its cash grab mentality and honestly, people (myself included) can't do much about it, so best enjoy it. Also, once again, I can only go so far in my complaining as this also added another 40 hours of play to my hundreds.
Civ 5 is a great game, but I will be frank with my issue: Brave New World is NO WHERE EVEN CLOSE to 30 bucks worth of new content. Firaxis or 2k, whoever is responsible for the pricetag of these expansions, NEEDS TO STOP THIS RIDICULOUSNESS!
Considering the base game's price tag, and the fact that this is pathetically considered a "rich man's game," these expansions should be priced no more than 15 bucks.
I would prefer to give this expansion a 0/10 for the absurd pricing vs. content, but cannot deny the intuitive, but SIMPLE changes in this expansion that make the base game even **** I will toss it a couple.
In many ways this update makes the game better than it was, as a stand alone release.
Sadly though, it doesn't make it a better strategy game. It's just too easy,
too predictable, and winning doesn't feel good at all. It's just the end of a long,
boring grind.
It's really funny how you can have virtually no army, and if you get swarmed
by the enemy, you can just build a few, and survive. In my previous game, I took
out 20 cities using only six units, at the same tech level as my opponent.
The problem is how amazingly stupid the AI is. It makes so many mistakes,
which ruin the experience for me.
Big tip if you want to take down an empire with six units, is having four landships, and two artillery units.
With that you can annihilate your enemy with ease, if you make sure to retreat every now and then,
to heal up.
SummaryThe second expansion for Sid Meier's Civilization V, Brave New World, introduces nine new civilizations, international trade, and victory through cultural dominance.