• The head of american illuminati corp is not a fat guy with slickback hair and a tweed suit smoking a cigar
  
• it's a puerto rican woman.
  
• Poorly enforced gender parity results in out-of-place token characters that have no personality.
  
• Previously, the exceptional narrators and other voice actors were the hallmark of any Civilization game. This time we get an ethnically ambiguous female narrator with an accent so thick that it causes physical pain. It's like having honey boo boo read the lines.
  
• The 3d artists did a truly outstanding job, especially with the trailers. Thankfully, this is overshadowed by the eye-watering ugliness of the 2d interface, icons, tech tree and civilopedia.
  
• Wonder splash screen is black and white concept art that hasn't been coloured in.
  
• Every single icon, all of the art and everything in the civilopedia is black and white.
  
• The only things coloured in are victory screens and they look like something I could draw.
  
• There are no more quotes. No Lem, no Asiimov, no Stephen Hawking, no nothing, just edgy snippets from instagram or justgirlthings.
  
• Victory screen speech sounds like the narrative to a porn film in space.
  
• The interface is an avalanche of visual clutter that is only partially oblique to make things even harder to see.
  
• Leader dialogue is always exactly the same. Each faction has exactly three unique lines, one of each: hello, trade and defeat. The rest are identical for all factions.
  
• Most all of the dialogue is a verbatim copy-paste from Civ5. I wish I was making this up.
  
• Spend most of the game re-assigning trade routes.
  
• The only promotions available from combat are +10% strength or heal instantly.
  
• Alpha Centauri had better mechanics 15 years ago (1999).
  
• They tried to innovate and it really shows, but we ended up with an unbalanced, buggy, unplayable mess. Events are always the same. One choice always completely eclipses the alternative. Some perks are always better. Multiplayer is completely busted. The game doesn't even try to be fun after the early stage, so you might as well just play the demo which cuts you off after 100 turns or so.
  
• This game is a horrendous downgrade from BNW. It's worse than Civilization 5 was before the balance patches and expansion packs and would have been slammed even if it came out 10 years ago, let alone in 2014.
  
• The reviews are like Bioshock Infinite all over again.

tl;dr
gameplay dumbed down even more, everything looks like concept art, all the icons are black and white (yes, all of them), the interface is a cluster****, painful narrator, no quotes, uncanny valley gender parity and political correctness


I really wanted a solid Civilization title, but only somebody under hypnosis could claim to enjoy this one. Looks like the devs were given a deadline that no honest man could meet on top of shoehorning in a progressive agenda. Don't be a dummy like me. Vote with your wallet and stay away from this kind of product as well as any expansion packs. This title is beyond saving.

[list] [*]The head of american illuminati corp is not a fat guy with slickback hair and a tweed suit smoking a cigar [*]it's a puerto rican woman. [*]Poorly enforced gender parity results in out-of-place token characters that have no personality. [*]Previously, the exceptional narrators and other voice actors were the hallmark of any Civilization game. This time we get an ethnically ambiguous female narrator with an accent so thick that it causes physical pain. It's like having honey boo boo read the lines. [*]The 3d artists did a truly outstanding job, especially with the trailers. Thankfully, this is overshadowed by the eye-watering ugliness of the 2d interface, icons, tech tree and civilopedia. [*]Wonder splash screen is black and white concept art that hasn't been coloured in. [*]Every single icon, all of the art and everything in the civilopedia is black and white. [*]The only things coloured in are victory screens and they look like something I could draw. [*]There are no more quotes. No Lem, no Asiimov, no Stephen Hawking, no nothing, just edgy snippets from instagram or justgirlthings. [*]Victory screen speech sounds like the narrative to a porn film in space. [*]The interface is an avalanche of visual clutter that is only partially oblique to make things even harder to see. [*]Leader dialogue is always exactly the same. Each faction has exactly three unique lines, one of each: hello, trade and defeat. The rest are identical for all factions. [*]Most [spoiler]all[/spoiler] of the dialogue is a verbatim copy-paste from Civ5. I wish I was making this up. [*]Spend most of the game re-assigning trade routes. [*]The only promotions available from combat are +10% strength or heal instantly. [*]Alpha Centauri had better mechanics 15 years ago (1999). [*]They tried to innovate and it really shows, but we ended up with an unbalanced, buggy, unplayable mess. Events are [i]always[/i] the same. One choice [i]always[/i] completely eclipses the alternative. Some perks are [i]always[/i] better. Multiplayer is completely busted. The game doesn't even try to be fun after the early stage, so you might as well just play the demo which cuts you off after 100 turns or so. [*]This game is a horrendous downgrade from BNW. It's worse than Civilization 5 was before the balance patches and expansion packs and would have been slammed even if it came out 10 years ago, let alone in 2014. [*]The reviews are like Bioshock Infinite all over again.[/list] [b]tl;dr[/b] gameplay dumbed down even more, everything looks like concept art, all the icons are black and white (yes, all of them), the interface is a cluster****, painful narrator, no quotes, uncanny valley gender parity and political correctness I really wanted a solid Civilization title, but only somebody under hypnosis could claim to enjoy this one. Looks like the devs were given a deadline that no honest man could meet on top of shoehorning in a progressive agenda. Don't be a dummy like me. Vote with your wallet and stay away from this kind of product as well as any expansion packs. This title is [i]beyond[/i] saving.