Since the dawn of time or at least since sometime in the early 1990s, Civilization games from Sid Meier have given us a lot of great memories of making our own history of Earth. With the seventh game in the franchise, Firaxis has brought back many of the things fans have loved while changing some pretty core gameplay mechanics. Some of these changes work, others don’t but the potential for this game is certainly there. See what all we had to say in this Civ 7 Review.
As always, we try to make these reviews here at The Game Haus as spoiler-free as possible. Due to the fact that there is no story and more gameplay, we will be discussing everything about the game so if you are someone who wants absolutely nothing spoiled then skip down to the end for the grade.
Normally we start these with gameplay thoughts but this time because gameplay is the main portion of this review, we are going to talk about the graphics.
If you were a fan of the Civilization 5 graphics then you will probably be happy. If you were a fan of the Civilization 6 graphics then you will also probably be happy. The reason is that it feels like Firaxis decided to split things right down the middle. They are not as serious as Civ 5 but not as cartoony as Civ 6. This balance should hopefully bring a lot of players into a good space.
Beyond that, the maps do look fantastic. Whether it is the mountains, deserts or even the new navigable rivers, the game is picturesque. Especially when you zoom in.
There are still plenty of glitches and at times tile improvements do not naturally fit in with the rivers but these are things that we hope will be changed as time goes on.
Even with all of that, there are two issues with the look and feel of the game. For starters, the Leaders look immensely better than when they initially showed off the game. But at times they are still a bit clunky and the negotiation screen can feel a bit awkward. Along with this, many of the new quarters and more specific buildings for certain civs look great. But as your settlements grow it starts to feel clustered and can become a bit of an eye-sore. The problem is that this is a very realistic take and for the first time in Civilization the cities feel like they are connected with the other tiles. They just do not feel alive. This is hopefully something that will be addressed in the future but for now, it is good enough.
Read More: Civ 7 Leaders Tier List: Launch Day Best Leaders Ranked
For starters, Christopher Tin is a genius. The creator of the main themes for Civ 4 and Civ 6 is back for Civ 7 and he delivers once again. Personally, Civ 6 and “Sogno di Volare” may always be the best one but “Live Gloriously” is certainly one that could challenge.
Beyond that, the background music is often subtle. Going and listening to it on its own may not be a terrible idea. But each theme for each Civ certainly brings its own flare. There are plenty that will stick in the player’s memories. Some major ones of note are America, Russia, French Empire, Rome, Khmer and just so many more.
Truly the music of Civilization games seems to be overshadowed by the main theme but oftentimes the different themes are stars on their own. Civ 7 absolutely brings it musically and beyond “Live Gloriously” may have some of the best background Civ themes in the franchise.
Here is where the criticism starts to come in.
For a game that feels like it is really trying to make a push for more competition almost on an Esports level, multiplayer is woefully behind. Between the ages kicking you out of your game and how hard it is to get into a game with another player, it is really stressful and unnecessarily so.
They have done a good job in making customizing your profile for multiplayer feel like you are accomplishing and working toward something. They will surely add more with the future DLC and likely even just randomly. Once you get into the game it is fun and the online mode feels fast but for those who end up really min-maxing, this will be great. The major issue with multiplayer really comes down to the age transition, which some of this has been fixed since initially playing, but it still needs more refinement.
This section is getting split into three sections because there is so much to discuss so buckle up. We will start with the ugly and end with the good to finish on a positive note.
The Ugly
The UI. Wow, the UI has been such an issue. Even with the second part of Patch 1.0.1 the game still feels unfinished in this regard. There are almost no explanations and for many players, the in-game encyclopedia has already been used way more than in previous games. Sure, this can be a time-consuming addition to the game and it feels like they may have been rushed but even still, this is a must and will hopefully continue to be a major focus of the team.
Along with this, the Age transitions and really the Exploration Age in general feel terrible. As stated above for multiplayer, it takes you completely out of the game. This is just too much and really unnecessary. Sure there is a whole new screen and a load time but actually kicking you out of the game is such a bad feeling. But back to the major issues with the Age Transistions, again this is not just a part of the game, this is a MAJOR part of the game that needs to be adjusted. Losing a good portion of your progress completely unnaturally just doesn’t feel good. Even though crises are a nice addition and present a challenge, once you get through them you shouldn’t have things happen like losing your city and it changes back to a town or the villages just disappearing. They have addressed this and are working on it but it just feels horrible right now.
Also, the AI makes some very odd decisions. While some fans may be glad that Loyalty is no longer in the game, the fact that you can have a random settlement right in the middle of your nation is just rough. A nice change that games like Humankind and Ara History Untold made is that you were able to take entire regions. While this was confining compared to Civilization, it did make settling a little less annoying. There are definitely ways that this can be avoided without adding the Loyalty system or constraints of regions taking parts of the map, and surely players will be hoping that this gets addressed in some way.
Those are the biggest gripes but there are still some things that do not work well in this game that have to be fixed for Civ 7 to reach its immense potential.
The Bad
This is likely going to be the shortest section. Mainly because the bad portions of the game are really bad and the rest is pretty good.
The way the menus and UI look are bad. This purely looks not does not have anything to do with the tooltips but it all feels very bland. Considering how great everything looked in Civ 6 this was certainly an odd way for Firaxis to go. It seems to all coincide with the new additions to customization where the more you play, the more you can unlock. While that is great and the feeling of actually completing games or eras is nice, having the colors of the background and likely different in-game boarders being added as anything other than free just becomes a bit of an annoyance and something that many players will likely forget about after finding it initial making the changes obsolete.
Another and really the last bad portion falls to the Legacies. Everything surrounding them right now is not great. It at times constricts the game to the point that you have to just play one way as your given Leader and Civ or you fall behind. Even with the reset, it feels like victories are more of a chore and less of an accomplishment. Another aspect of the Legacy portion of the game is the ending and ranking screen. It just frankly looks terrible and could use a facelift in the worst way.
The Good
We are finally at the good and there are plenty of good things to say about Civ 7.
Most of the good stems from what was already in the game and improved. Combat was especially a major point that was addressed and it feels better the more you play. Having your Commanders lead your armies, gaining experience and giving buffs is just a fantastic way of addressing the issues of the late game. Along with this, they are able to move units so much faster and at the click of a button you can have them join your army in the same amount of turns it would have taken them to get there but without having to move them. With railroad speeding this up even more, it is truly one of the best upgrades to the game.
While the Ages system is not great in its current iteration, it is still a great system. Mainly because it perfectly allows for the last big addition to the game, the separation of Leaders and Civs. Being able to mix and match all while having Mementos to change things up makes it so finding the perfect combination is a blast for strategy fans in and of itself. Seriously, the new Leaders and Civs bring a lot more creativity to the game and allow you to create almost a completely new Civ from scratch.
The potential that Civilization 7 has is incredible. There are a lot of new systems and things that need to be refined but the potential of this game and the future of the DLCs that will be added make it hard not to be excited for what comes next. At the same time, this will frustrate new players as many major strategy games do these days (looking at you Paradox) but the model of adding DLC and bringing the game to its fullest potential is not uncommon ground for Civilization either.
If you were to wait to buy this game until the DLC came out and patches fixed a lot of the major issues, it would be hard to blame you. But if you want to get used to the systems now and you are like us here at The Game Haus and can’t wait to play the greatest just “one more turn” franchise in strategy games, then the initial suffering is worth it.
Final Grade: 7
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