Now, I’ve seen Akiba with my own eyes. My diagnosis: very scary.

It is very clear the district exists to serve a very imbalanced, socially-inept subculture within Japan. It’s one thing for a young kid or anti-social teenager to love anime. It becomes scary is when you see overweight, jobless, 30-somethings ogling loli anime and buying porn by the bucket-load!

I consider myself a lover of games and anime. But I certainly don’t love games and anime this much. You can see all of my photos here.

There was a building marked AV. When I went inside, I discovered that it was filled shelf to shelf with pornography. Japanese pornography (or AV) basically consists of a lot of whining and pixelated body parts gyrating. I could not believe that such a basic concept could spawn an eight-story department store! As I climbed the stairs, the content of the videos became more and more disturbing. One floor was dedicated completely to tentacles. Another was dedicated to the new budding subgenre: elder porn.

Pornography is everywhere in Akiba. Every bookstore or figurine shop has a little section in the back dedicated to adult magazines and DVDs. Some shops also sell authentic uniforms worn by idols in specific videos (autographed).

My classmate Ken told me that Akiba started off as a small neighborhood dedicated to radio-lovers. We visited some of the older shops on the southern part of town. You can still buy old radio components! As Akiba’s presence grew, it became a hub for all electronic products. According to Ken, there is a saying that if you cannot find an electronic in Akihabara, it doesn’t exist.

There are also a number of ‘maid cafes’ in Akiba. The concept is simple. Nerds want to talk to girls. Girls don’t want to talk to nerds. Therefore, these nerds spend money to talk to girls who dress up as maids and have mastered the art of boosting men’s egos. “Welcome to my cafe, master!”

After you visit a maid cafe, you receive an Owner’s Card. Essentially, the card certifies you as a ‘master,’ who is served by a maid. If you visit a maid three times, you ‘level up!’ It’s an ingenious way to use game elements to encourage return business. Many otaku fall in love with maids and come back day after day to spend money and talk to them.

Some may see maids as fancy waitresses. However, I actually find a lot of similarities between maids and maiko/geisha. On a physical level, both maids and geisha speak using cutesy voices and wear fancy costumes designed to entice men. Functionally, both maids and geisha build men’s egos through the art of conversation. Geisha are keepers of Japanese culture through traditional song, poetry, and dance. Maids are keepers of Japanese pop culture through the singing of J-Pop songs and discussion of anime. Let’s face it. Maids are geisha for nerds.

Lest you think Akiba is one big dude-fest, I also saw a large number of female otaku wandering the streets. Akiba caters to all genders. Instead of visiting maid cafes, girls can visit butler cafes and get served by good-looking European men.

I will probably return to Akiba in the far future. But for now, I think I’ve enough exposure to otaku to last me a few years.

What have I been doing? Watching the Chinese New Year lion dance at Bank of America Forum! (CAUTION: this video is very loud due to heavy drumming.)

I kid. The truth is I’ve been really busy with classes, projects, and recruiting. My IBD project takes up a significant portion of my week because the client wants our team to start putting together marketing plans immediately. At the same time, I’ve been interviewing for a number of positions at digital media and technology firms in the Bay Area.

My goal is to work in product marketing or business development. But thanks to my experience at Google, I’m pretty versatile and can work on pretty much any role that combines project management with analytics. Some of the roles I’m looking at include sales operations, business marketing, and product management. I am especially interested in gaming because that’s the industry I worked with at Google. Also, I’ve been playing games since I was 6.

Of course, classwork is tough as usual. This semester, I’m taking Operations Management and Macroeconomics. Both classes are fairly interesting for a ‘poet’ like me. However, the workload is very heavy.

In Macroeconomics, the professor insists that everyone in class read the Financial Times five times a week so that everyone can discuss current issues. He cold calls students and asks about countries. On one hand, the class is stress-inducing. On the other hand, I now know a lot about inflation in China, liquidity problems in Japan, and austerity in the EU. Also, the correct answer to every question in class is “Greece is doomed.”

Operations class is equally fascinating. I’ve always enjoyed process design and efficiency management. This class in particular is taught by an ex-consultant who lives and breathes operational efficiency. He introduces several frameworks and models which students can use to keep business operations flowing.

At the end of the course, students formed groups of 4 to run a factory simulation called Littlefield. We had to balance supply order decisions with machine purchasing and lead time monitoring. Think of it as Tamagotchi (or FarmVille) for MBAs. Teams were ranked at the end of the simulation by the amount of revenue they had generated. My team was 20 out of 60, which sounds bad but is actually very good. We different from team 1 by only a few thousand dollars. Some teams went bankrupt and had negative revenue. Overall, it was a good experience.

Aside from classes, I’ve been working with the Digital Media & Entertainment Club (DMEC) as their new VP of Social Media since January. In a nutshell, I manage DMEC’s Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and LinkedIn channels and outreach strategy. I also create and assemble weekly newsletters to distribute to the 200+ club members across the full time and evening/weekend MBA programs. I also redesigned the DMEC website. My next job is to design a shirt. I’ve posted an early design below. I plan to touch it up quite a bit.

The nice thing about DMEC is it connects me with classmates who are interested in technology. They use their ‘connections’ to set up company treks. In early February, I visited Zynga’s office in San Francisco and chatted with some Haas alumni. Considering I’m a pretty avid CityVille player, I was pretty excited.

I took this picture in the Zynga lobby. The little pillars you see are actually badge readers. If you try to walk through the pillars without a badge, crazy lights will start to flash to alert security and a man will show up with a club to escort you out. I felt it would be even cooler if a force field would materialize in the laser tunnel. Alas, real life is far less exciting than Star Wars.

Finally, I’ve been hard at work soliciting posts for the Haas Student Blog. I serve as one of two Editorial Directors and my job is to manage a team of bloggers that chronicle their business school activities in hopes of giving prospective students a behind the scenes look at Berkeley life. On a daily basis, I moderate comments, edit posts, check page analytics, and brainstorm new content. Sometimes, I wonder if I’ve over-committed myself and should cut back on activities. However, if I wanted my life to be easy, I would not have returned to school.

Initial impressions? Great music. Excellent graphics. Decent voice acting. Intriguing story. But is it all good? The more I played, the more I found myself raising my brow.

Heroes VI makes a number of dramatic changes to the series’ core mechanics to streamline the interface and speed up gameplay. The most noticeable change is the reduction of resources from 7 to 4. Sulfur, mercury, gems, and crystals have been condensed into a single rare resource called Dragon Blood Crystals. The developers claim that the change makes the game more strategic because every faction must fight for the same resources. I’m not so sure. But in the grand scheme of things, the reduction of resources is a minor quibble.

Far more intriguing is the new hero skill system, which enables players to manage ever step of their heroes’ advancement. Previously, when a hero gained a level, players would have to choose between two skills. It added an element of randomness to the gameplay that (depending on who you asked) was either terribly unbalanced or fiendishly exciting. By giving players control over their heroes, the developers remove the uncertainty that defined the previous skill system. On one hand, it’s now less frustrating for veteran players to develop specialized heroes such as resource gatherers, explorers, field generals, etc. On the other hand, an important strategic layer has been lost: the need for players to improvise when dealt a bad hand.

The most devastating change to the game is the introduction of ‘areas of control.’ Basically, regions of the map are now tied to specific nodes (i.e. forts and cities). When a player captures a node, all mines and creature dwellings within its area of control automatically shift their allegiance. How does this change the game? It pushes every player to constantly ignore mines and immediately rush opponents’ forts and cities. In theory, this change speeds up gameplay. In practice, it reduces the number of strategic options available for a weaker player to regain his or her advantage on the overworld map.

If you keep your city unguarded, an enemy can instantly take over the city along with 3-5 mines nearby in one fell swoop. A powerful player will take over one node after the next, systematically denying the other side of reinforcing their heroes. Victory and defeat is now determined solely on the battlefield, not resource-denying tactics. If you lose a few nodes, the domino effect begins and you’ve lost the game.

In Heroes VI, you not only take over a city but also convert it to your faction. For example, if you are playing as the Haven faction, you can covert an enemy stronghold, necropolis, sanctuary, or inferno into a haven.

I hate the fact that towns can be immediately converted with the click of a button. It’s too easy!

The game would be a lot more interesting if players were required to wait a few turns to convert a town. It would reduce the benefits of town conversion and force players to choose between prioritizing the short term or long term. Do I hire non-faction units to bolster my defenses or risk a few turns of town conversion to gain the ability to hire faction units in the long term? These types of dilemmas add depth to kingdom management, an aspect that is sorely lacking.

The other benefit to implementing a delay in town conversion is it allows players to recapture their cities mid-transformation. Players no longer need to wait until day 6 to capture a town. How would this work? The more advanced a city is, the longer turn penalty it’d impose on a player attempting to convert it. A level 1 town would fully convert in 1 turn, a level 2 town would require 2 turns, etc.

Taking the idea a step further, a delay could be added to flagged mines reverting to an owner. Currently, if a player captures a mine in an opponent’s territory, the mine immediately returns to the opponent’s control when the hero steps away. Thus, the game removes all incentive to capture mines as an offensive strategy. By adding a delay, it means heroes will benefit from capturing enemy mines (but only for a few turns). Opponents will be able to respond in two ways: send heroes to recapture lost mines or wait a few days for the mines to automatically return to their control.

Heroes VI in its current form (aside from combat) simply feels repetitive and one-dimensional. The multi-faceted kingdom management game has been replaced by a tactical war game.

I’m sure the developers discussed each new gameplay mechanic in detail. I also appreciate the fact that the developers are trying to move the Heroes series forward by experimenting with new ideas. However, looking back at the series, I know that each patch and expansion adds enormous complexities to the game that enhance the player’s experience. So while I’m not completely pleased with Heroes VI at the moment, I know that the best is yet to come.

Boom! E3 completed! Mission accomplished! Checkboxes checked! Parties attended! Booth babes photographed! Games played!

Going to the convention center for the last three years has been an enormously satisfying experience for me. As a kid, I poured over game magazines like EGM and Gamepro, trying to soak up every last drop of game industry information to train for an imaginary job as a games journalist. It was this dedication that allowed me to position myself as a games industry specialist at Google.

I am a little saddened by the prospect that I might not attend E3 in 2012. I’m going to be leaving my job in order to get my MBA at the Haas School of Business. While I’ll certainly continue to be involved as an advocate for the games industry, I’ll most certainly lose the ability to automatically renew my Google industry pass. Unless I score a summer internship with a game company at Haas, the chance that I’ll be in Los Angeles next June is slim.

I flew from San Jose to LAX on Tuesday with my coworkers. We stayed at the Westin Bonaventure in Downtown LA, which is of course the hotel where Arnold Schwarzenegger rides a horse up an elevator in True Lies.

It sure seems that every year, THQ goes out of its way to make a strong first impression for attendees coming in from their hotel shuttles. Last year, the company reserved a parking lot and turned it into a North Korean military compound (with free government subsidized parking) to promote the military shooter Homefront.

The first thing I saw as my shuttle pulled up to the convention center this year was THQ’s Saints Row: The Third bikini car wash. Classy.

This year’s showroom felt more cramped. The booths were smaller in size and seemed more claustrophobic. Part of the problem was that the walls of every booth grew taller. The reps I spoke to explained that the changes were made to improve acoustics. However, the cynic in me felt it was actually designed to block their competition.

Two years ago, I could look down the aisle from one end of the South Hall and wave at a coworker standing on the other end. This year, traveling from booth to booth felt like squeezing through narrow alleyways in London, chased by Jack the Ripper.

Of all the booths I visited, Sony had the most creative layout hands down. Of course, Sony has been reusing the same booth layout for the last two years. So this wasn’t a surprise. I especially liked the glass rooms that made attendees feel like VIPs. The entire area felt open and inviting. Kudos to Sony for not adopting the ‘high wall’ philosophy of their competitors.

The two most interesting games I saw at the show were Ubisoft’s Rocksmith and THQ’s Warhammer 40K: Kill Team.

Rocksmith proved to be a souped up version of Guitar Hero that allows players to plug in a real electric guitar and play real music. It’s billed as the ultimate guitar training software. Instead of pushing buttons and strumming a plastic knob, players have to actually pluck the correct strings. I love the premise!

Kill Team, on the other hand, is a download-only title for Xbox 360 that got almost zero coverage from the media. It’s basically a co-op shooting game similar to Gauntlet. Players can choose between several different types of space marines (flamethrower, sword, machine gun, etc.) and mow down waves of enemy orks. Ryan and I spent a good 30 minutes blowing shit up. As I get older, I’ve discovered that I no longer have any patience for self-important faux-dramatic bullshit in games. I just want to kill things in games. Kill Team lets me do just that.

Street Fighter X Tekken gets an honorable mention from me mostly because it I was impressed by how fluid the game played. On Thursday morning, I was able to explore the West Hall and kick some ass. *pats self on back*

Paul, Kristen, Ryan, and I tested out the new Driver game that lets players cruise around San Francisco. Not surprisingly, the city depicted in the game looked nothing like the real San Francisco. Where were the cable cars?

Dishonorable mention goes to Ninja Gaiden 3 in the Tecmo Koei booth. I played the demo for about 15 minutes on Wednesday and literally facepalmed at the end. The game is simply a mess. I hate the fact that the game’s utilizes seizure-inducing camera angles and quick cuts whenever Ryu Hayabusa kills an enemy. I hate the inclusion of random explosions for no reason. I hate the fact that you can’t tell what’s going on ever!

Of course, the holy mecca of E3 was once again Nintendo’s booth. Thanks to the announcement of the Wii U, people had to wait 45 minutes just to enter the booth. I talked to several clients about the Wii U and many of them seemed to think the idea was silly. “Why would you look at the small screen when you can look at the big screen?”

Personally, I think the Wii U has promise. The problem with the Wii U demos at E3 was that Nintendo didn’t showcase any games that were actually designed with the WiiPad’s unique capabilities in mind. All of the games basically used the WiiPad as a giant WiiRemote. As a result, the WiiPad came across as bulky and superfluous.

I believe future Wii U titles will take advantage of the WiiPad’s touch screen in ways that improve gameplay. Imagine a Madden game that allows you to call plays from a playbook projected on a player’s WiiPad! Alternatively, think about an RPG that doesn’t utilize an on-screen HUD because all of the necessary stats appear on the WiiPad!

All in all, it was a good E3. Three days of business meetings and two parties later, I am dead tired. If this ends up being my last E3 for a while, I would have to say that the last three years have been incredibly rewarding. So long, Los Angeles!

You can see the rest of my E3 pictures, including pictures from the two Nexon parties, in this Picasa album.

On a happier note, I’ve started a new side-blog called Blogging Heroes: Revisiting Heroes of Might and Magic III. The theme of the blog is exactly what it sounds like. I’ll be playing through Heroes III again and writing down my thoughts in a wacky, gonzo, stream-of-consciousness style. Go check it out!

Future patches should to focus on optimizing game speed and improving diplomacy. While some people like unpredictability, I personally feel that it makes a game less tactical. The fun of playing a strategy game is figuring out patterns and improvising. If I want to play an unpredictable game, I’ll play a multiplayer game.

With lead designer Jon Schafer leaving Firaxis for Stardock, one wonders how the gameplay will evolve or regress. Schafer was responsible for the incredible Beyond The Sword expansion for Civ IV, which added brilliant gameplay features such as corporations and spies. Will his replacement continue to push the envelope or mold the game into a more conservative and familiar product?

Cities Are Difficult To Capture
I mentioned in an earlier post that the AI loves to attack your cities when there’s an opening. This can be frustrating if your strategy is to attempt a space or cultural victory. To solve this, cities now ‘heal’ at a faster rate. In the past, a few swordsmen and archers could take over an entire city in a matter of turns. Not anymore.

Of course, the opposite is true. Computer-controlled cities now require more damage to capture. Tanks and cavalry now have penalties when attacking cities. You’ll need to depend on siege engines more than ever.

Level Ups Occur The Following Turn
Adding to the city penalties, players can no longer heal a unit on the same turn that it attacks. Previously, you could throw fresh units against a city, take damage, and leverage a convenient ‘level up’ to heal to 100% HP. Now, the enemy will have an opportunity to pick off weakened units before they can level up.

Diplomacy Has Improved, A Little
The diplomacy system has been overhauled. The must maligned ‘pact of cooperation’ and ‘pact of secrecy’ options are gone. In the interest of added transparency, enemy civilizations will now tell you why they like or dislike you. You can play politics by publicly denouncing another civilization and convince your allies to do the same. The system is still far from perfect. It would be nice if there were more penalties for breaking long-standing non-aggression pacts.

Upgrade Structure Is Different
Cavalry can be upgraded into tanks. Ouch!

AI Fights Less, Schemes More
The enemy AI no longer throws ineffective units against your formations. If there’s a stalemate, the AI will pull back its forces and pursue a cultural victory. This puts the onus on you to keep an eye on your enemies. If they don’t attack you for a while, get suspicious!

Speed Boost
Is it just me or are turns faster now? Instead of waiting 60 seconds between turns on a large map, I wait about 45 now.

It seems no matter what I do in Civilization V, Gandhi is always the first to declare war on me. I don’t know if this is supposed to be an in-joke from the creators, but it took me by surprise.

I find this funny because Gandhi is supposed to be a great historical leader who mainstreamed the concept of non-violent resistance. This is true in previous Civ games where India tended to be the most peaceful nation.

In other news, Michael Soracoe, a well known Civ community member wrote a scathing analysis of the game that I mostly agree with. With Jon Schafer leaving Firaxis and getting picked up by Stardock, here’s hoping Civilization VI will be better.

Notice anything different about the cover of the upcoming Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12? EA has shifted its focus on the Masters tournament rather than the controversial golfer.

When news broke of Tiger Woods’ infidelity, many companies smartly chose to end their endorsement deal with the golfer. However, EA Sports very publicly stood by their man, figuring that his private life couldn’t possibly affect his status as a golf wunderkind. Unfortunately, many additional women came forward to claim that they had been with Tiger. It became rather comical. I wonder if EA regretted their decision.

Let’s look at the design of the cover a bit closer. In the past, EA relied solely on Tiger’s face to sell games. People associated Tiger’s face with his golfing ability and this added value to the EA brand.

After the scandal, Tiger’s face became synonymous with infidelity because in every store checkout stand, there are 3-4 different tabloids with Tiger’s face next to giant bold text saying things like ‘INFIDELITY’ and ‘CHEATER’ and ‘MISTRESS.’

By minimizing Tiger’s presence on the cover, EA is relying instead on the EA Sports logo and the prestige of the Masters tournament to sell their game. Certainly, the lack of Tiger means the game will be less identifiable on store shelves. However, that’s what EA is banking on. For all intents and purposes, this is a classic case of damage control. The lack of Tiger will hurt the game’s sales, but not as much as if they keep his around.

I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t the name of the game still Tiger Woods? Yes, but the Tiger brand has been relegated to the very bottom of the box art. When displayed on store shelves, game boxes are stacked in such a way that the bottom of every cover is obscured by the row of games directly below. Essentially, the Tiger Woods brand is obscured. EA probably has to keep the name around for contractual purposes.

Augusta is the new sexy beast in town. Look at that sexy yellow flag. I’m not even sure if that’s Tiger’s silhouette in the distance.

ABOVE: Tiger in the tabloids

Two months have passed since I posted my initial thoughts about Civilization V. Site readers may recall that I mentioned the game’s polished interface, new city-state mechanics, and graphical improvements. Now that I have half a dozen games under my belt, I wanted to include some additional impressions that weren’t apparently the first time around.

Rival Civilizations Are All Opportunistic Jerks
Even if you’ve spent the last 200 turns defending a rival civilization, its leader will destroy your cities as soon as he or she sees an opening. There’s no such thing as an alliance anymore. You must build a large army to intimidate your enemies. It’s the only way to keep yourself from a quick game over.

The computer AI is designed to win by any means necessary and mimic the unpredictable nature of a human player because the developers wanted the single player experience to feel like multiplayer. This is very different from Civ IV, which had a point system for how happy or angry a rival civilization leader was with your actions. If you’re not used to playing against backstabbing human players, the single-player experience in Civ V will be difficult to adjust to. Thankfully, you can still form a ‘pact of cooperation’ with an opposing civilization. At least when he or she breaks the pact, you’ll know something’s afoot.

(The new patch is supposed to fix some of these problems by reintroducing Civ IV‘s numbers based diplomacy system.)

Leaders Are Colossal Dicks
If you don’t do anything for a while, your fellow leaders will contact you solely to make fun of your civilization. Even though they repeatedly start wars with you and refuse to accept peace, they’ll accuse you of being a war-monger. You know, just like real world leaders.

City-States Are Money Hungry
Just as rival civilization leaders are opportunistic and untrustworthy, the city-states are a little too predictable. By simply giving a city-state gold, you’ll be able to secure its army to fight in your favor. They’ll never betray you (unless you stop paying). In every game I’ve played, I’ve ended up with 4-5 city-states defending me from the main civilizations.

War Is The Only Answer
According to this game, the only solution to a dispute is to invade a country. At least that’s how the computer AI sees things.

George Washington’s Accent
I didn’t notice this initially, but George Washington’s voice actor has a Texan drawl like George W. Bush. It certainly doesn’t sound like the 18th century New England accent usually attributed to Washington in documentaries.

Ottoman Empire Sucks
Of all the civilizations, the Ottoman Empire has the worst bonus. Converting a barbarian naval unit to your side gives a slight boost to naval exploration. However, barbarian naval assaults are virtually non-existent. Also, you’re screwed if you play on an ocean-less map.

Endless Peace Treaty Bug
There’s a particularly annoying bug that ruins the game entirely. If you go to war with a civilization and then end it with a peace treaty, there’s a % chance that the treaty will last forever. The only way to end the treaty is to literally drop a nuke on that civilization’s city.

I’ve played six games and encountered the bug four times. It’s well documented. Just do a Google search for ‘civilization v peace treaty’ and you’ll see dozens of angry threads. Until Firaxis and 2K releases a patch for this bug, the single player game is pretty much unplayable.

I get that the point of ads is not to recreate the gaming experience with accuracy, but to suggest that playing games will leave you happy and fulfilled. But honestly, when was the last time you invited three attractive friends from your multi-ethnic cadre to play Wii in your expensive, IKEA-furnished penthouse?

The Asian guy just farted. The black dude is trying to flip through some channels because Glee is on. The blonde is trying really hard to force a grin. (Check out the bulging vein on her forehead.) Finally, the pretty brunette has apparently been mangled by Photoshop. Either that or she’s a hobbit.

This picture is even sillier. Once again, we have an IKEA furnished apartment with a bunch of non-threatening 20-somethings. The guy on the left is obviously playing some kind of tennis or fencing game. The blonde girl appears to be skateboarding. I didn’t know there were any skateboarding tennis games for Wii. I especially love the knowing look that the Asian girl gives the camera. It’s like she just wants her money so she can put this whole episode behind her. Thank you, Jim from The Office.

We are totally not dorks. Trust us. To prove it, here are two beautiful women.

This picture is precious because of the man’s impish smirk and the random painting in the background. The girl appears to be playing a game where she’s inserting her ATM card into a machine. The man is about to beat her with a baseball bat and steal her wallet.

Dad: Hey kids. I don’t think the TV is on.

Are you ready to play Microsoft’s Kinect in your impossibly pristine penthouse apartment while sitting on modern minimalist furniture? Also, I love that these parents have nothing better to do than dress in business casual attire and sit on a couch. Finally, why is the lamp on? You have natural sunlight coming through your giant window!

If the goal of this image is to demonstrate the Wii’s appeal to all ages, it’s probably not a good idea to make grandpa look like he’s about to have a heart attack.

More pretty pretentious people playing the Wii.

Hey… any single ladies looking to play some Call of Duty and get totally pwned?

I think the lesson here is that humans and vampires are united by their mutual love for the Sony PSP. This is especially true when one of the vampires was once a crazy gypsy chick.

Playing the Wii will save your marriage. Trust us. *snuggle snuggle snuggle*

Ugh… that zebra print.

I managed to get my hands on a copy of Civilization V and have been playing for a couple of nights. Although I haven’t played enough to form a solid opinion as to whether I like the direction of the game or not, I do have some immediate snippets to share.

In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell argues that our first impressions of a product is often the most sincere and accurate. So in that spirit, I have some disjointed stream of consciousness thoughts to share below. Enjoy. If you disagree, I encourage you to leave a comment.

Polished Interface
If there’s one thing I absolutely love about the new Civ, it’s the streamlined interface. The developers at Firaxis have simplified the user controls and automated many of the mundane tasks in the game. For example, you no longer have to hunt down the city where an event takes place. Every update (e.g. the death of a unit or starvation in a city) is now organized in a list for easy access. I also love the game’s 2D world map, which turns the world into a board game and allows you to size up the situation in a more abstract fashion. I also really dig the art deco style. But maybe that’s because I’m still euphoric from watching the Bioshock Infinite trailer. Yum.

New Combat
The new game is very combat focused. There are two major changes. The first is transitioning the world map from a square grid to hexagonal tiles. Doing so takes away movement advantages. This is especially important because Civ V eliminates stacked units. Only one unit may occupy any given hex. You must take care in positioning your cannons and archers to give yourself a tactical advantage on the battlefield. I absolutely adore the fact that cities now have their own health bar. You do longer need to station units in every single city to prevent lowly enemy units from waltzing in and disrupting your economy. Taking over cities require a lot of coordination and planning. A siege can last many turns and yield surprising turnarounds. So yes, Civ V is the most combat heavy of all the games. But at least they got rid of the stacks of doom.

City-States Are Great, Sort Of
I love the idea of city-states. They are neutral civilizations that you must court in order to gain advantages in the game. Usually, you help them by wiping out nearby barbarians or by destroying their opponents. Once you’re allied with a city-state, they’ll reward your empire from time to time with gold, resources, or extra units.  However, their implementation is rather strange. More often than not, I’ve found them to be annoying little kingdoms who get angry whenever a unit accidentally crosses their borders. On the other hand, they do come in handy when the computer decides to turn on you. In my first game, I played as Napoleon and recruited two city-states to my cause. A few turns later, three computer controlled opponents decided to stab me in the back and declare war. Since I was used to Civ IV, I thought I was a goner and contemplated restarting my game. But to my surprise, my city-state allies sent a bunch of swordsmen and helped me hold off all three opponents. Then, we mounted a huge counter-attack and crushed the backstabbers beneath our boots. All I had to do was to give my allies gold to keep them loyal.

Game Speed 
My computer is two years old and Civ V is quite sluggish. Early in the game, waiting for a turn to end can take between 2-5 seconds. Once I reach the Renaissance Era, the wait extends to 10-20 seconds. I guess I could always… upgrade my computer. This isn’t really a complaint, but more like a caution to readers who are thinking of getting the game but have older computers. You may need to invest in some hardware.

All The Things Lost
A lot of the cool features that were introduced in Civ IV: Beyond the Sword have been removed. This includes the Apostolic Palace, random disasters, research trading, spies, etc. I loved playing with religions because they gave diplomacy an extra dimension. If you were allied with another empire but suddenly adopted a different religion, that friendship will sputter. In Civ V, everybody has the same religion. So most empires hate one another “just because.” I’m not used to the new diplomacy setup at all. So far, I’ve been unable to ally with any opponents. One of the things I loved about Civ IV was bribing opponents to fight one another and being a master manipulator in the shadows. Maybe I’m “doing it wrong,” in Civ V, but the diplomacy has been harder to figure out. I also miss spies and their ability to sabotage buildings, steal technologies, and cause general mischief. They were one of the most interesting aspects of the last game. Perhaps spies may return when Civ V gets its inevitable expansion set.

The Leaders
In Civ V all the leaders are fully animated in their native environment and speak their native language. However, some of the backdrop choices are truly baffling. Babylon’s Nebuchadnezzar sits on a stone throne, scowling menacingly at all who visit him for all eternity. But even he doesn’t compare to Songhai’s Askia, a conquerer who stands in front of a burning city, even if he never conquers a single city in the game. Japan’s Nobunaga meets you in a grassy field because… dude doesn’t have an office. As for future expansions, I hope Firaxis is reading this. Please give us the ability to play as history’s worst leaders. America could have Dan Quayle and Warren Harding. The Vikings get Ethelred The Unready. Rome gets Nero. France gets Louis XVI. England gets Neville Chamberlain. Let it be so!

Metal Gear
It wouldn’t be an article about Civ V if I didn’t mention the game’s most awesome new unit: The Giant Death Robot. Once you get to the Future Era, you’ll be able to construct a humongous bipedal walking tank that wreaks havoc on enemy cities and destroys them in a single hit. Essentially, you build Metal Gear. Except in the world of Civ, there are no mullet-sporting super spies to stop you. Snaaaaaaaakkkee!