Well, I think I have a new favorite videogame. It all started with a $5 Best Buy Reward Zone gift certificate that I had a day left to use. After wandering around Best Buy for 20 minutes like I usually do, I decided to venture over to the tiny PC Games section hidden in the back of the store. On the shelf was a game called Civilization V. I originally heard of this game during one of my many mindless Wikipedia research sprees.
The game was on sale for $40 and with my $5 certificate, I got it for $35. On March 5th, I bought the game. By April 5th, according to Steam, I had logged 125 hours in the game! Based on my estimation that is a new record for myself and gaming.
Civ V is a turn-based strategy game which reminds me a lot of the board game Axis & Allies. Basically, what this means is you have a set number of pieces of the map and you can move them all once per turn X amount of spaces depending on the piece. The game is quite similar to Chess and I would bet it actually requires more skill than Chess because there are many more variables and conditions to take into consideration.
An epic Civ V game of mine. As you can see I ended up nuking my opponent several times and I'm in the process of amassing a large army to attack.
One of the main factors in the game consuming so many hours is that it's highly addictive. Unlike most other videogames, Civ V is not a game that you can conquer in one night. Often times I'll spend hours building my army up only to attack another night. Had I attacked any sooner, I would have likely lost the game.
Another fun element of Civ V is I can play online with my friends. This extends the gameplay of the game even more as playing with friends forces you to change your playing style a lot.
Well I'd like to talk about it more but I'd rather be playing it!