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IGN has posted a new review of Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods & Kings, the recently released expansion for the popular civilization building strategy title. The expansion "takes players from founding the first Pantheon of the Gods and spreading religion across the world, to deploying spies in enemy cities to steal information and technology, and much more."

From the review:

The most substantial addition by far, the very reason to get Gods and Kings, comes from the addition of religion and espionage. But this isn’t the religion you know. It’s an entirely new system based around the new Faith resource. New structures exist to build Faith, and once you gain enough you can found a basic form or religion called a Pantheon. Eventually you can accumulate enough Faith to create Great Prophets, using them to create a religion of your own devising by selecting a number of traits from a pool shared amongst everyone. This means that as you pick a trait for your religion, say, +1 happiness for each city that follows it, no one else can have it. Ever. Hence a new race begins in the early game, with civilizations competing over who can get the best religious traits. Additionally, the types of traits you pick can greatly shape how you play. Want to be an aggressor? Pick traits that allow you to use Faith to buy units, or that give you bonuses to fighting near towns that believe in what you do. Alternatively you could go for an expansionist route, selecting options that give your believers a faster birth rate, or help them when dealing with City-States.

Likewise, espionage informs the way you play through enhancing current systems rather than creating entirely new ways to win. Eventually you will be awarded spies as you progress through the tech tree, which you can then plant in enemy cities to find out what they're making or gather intel you can give to other civilizations for small political gain. Alternatively, your spies can be planted in your own cities to serve as counter-agents, or even hop into City-States to rig elections or attempt coups. Your interaction with your spies is limited to little else than telling them where to go, but wise placement can have far reaching consequences. For instance if you're going for a political victory, you could have spies turn City-States to allies, making them vote for you in the United Nations. You could also steal important technologies, progressing you down the science victory route at an advanced rate. It's just really satisfying to set them loose for a few turns, reaping the benefits without having to do a lot of micro-management.

IGN: Civilization V Gods & Kings Review

Aspyr Media

Civilization V: Gods & Kings

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