The Top 10 Games of 2K Games

01. Sid Meier's Civilization V (Firaxis)

September 2010 - PC, OSX, Linux, OnLive

The Civilization game series is a Turn-Based Strategy game with elements of resource management, social-building, warfare, and exploration - and that barely scratches the surface.

The fifth installment in the well-loved franchise, CIV5, served to re-ignite a fan base that had fallen into hibernation following the release of Civilization IV in 2005; that being the last major entry (not including its expansions) for the main game series.

We are not counting Civilization: Revolution - because despite its inclusion as part of the main game series, Revolution was created as a console-exclusive title.

That meant that its interface and game play mechanics had to be dumbed-down so that it could be played via the simple gamepad controller with which console gamers see the world.

Don't take this wrong - we are not saying that Revolution wasn't a great game because hey, it was!

What we are saying is that the necessary sacrifice of the keyboard and mouse for the gamepad meant that certain compromises were required.

So the arrival of CIV5 in 2010 was not simply marked down on the calendar as the launch of the next game in the series, it was celebrated as the return of the series, which for all intents and purposes was missing-in-action for most fans since the release of IV in 2005.

That's five very long, very cold years! Not that we were counting. Whew!

In addition to breathing new life into the franchise, V also re-tooled it, launching with an astonishing new game engine built from scratch for the game.

The new Civ did not simply look good, or play smoother - it featured an entirely new combat system, a richer diplomatic intensity (including the city-state and all that comes with that form of government and rule), and so many expanded features that we cannot even begin to cover them here!

Civilization V earned its slot as Number One for the Top 10 Games of 2K Games, and it earns its role as the flagship title in the series, particularly due to the high immersion level and massive almost endless entertainment it provides.

In the world of video games it is the rare title that can capture an audience and retain it, and thanks to the aggressive expansion program for which the Civilization series is very well known, it deserves all of the praise it has so ably earned.

The base game alone would have carved out the Number One Slot even without its expansion content, but thanks to the Gods & Kings and Brave New World expansions, the game has nicely maintained its momentum, providing lots of options for its continued play.

You might think that, as its format is so well known, there would be very few surprises even for a new and updated game, but there you would be wrong.

Civilization V was strongly embraced by its fan base, and critically acclaimed by reviewers, who widely awarded it scores of 5/5 and 10/10 - even the more conservative reviewers were hard put to grant it anything less than near-perfect scores, with the low-end averaging 4.5 out of 5 and 9.5 out of 10!

If you have never experienced a Civilization title - or you were looking for a reason to re-discover PC gaming, you could do no better than to pick up a copy of the base game and give it a go. That Sid Meier fella? Yeah, he's a genius!

Conclusions

That nicely wraps up our inaugural entry in the SuperCheats Publishers Series: The Top 10 Games of 2K Games.

In the months to come we will be picking other game publishers out of the ragged old fedora someone left on the coat rack in the SuperCheats Bullpen, and sharing with your our take on their best 10 games.

In the interim, if you are curious, you can take it as gospel that any game that appears in this feature space is a game we are recommendnig that you play.

There may be some older titles in the mix, and it is safe to say that gamers who favor one platform over others may very well find themselves gently coerced into expanding their game play capabilities, but in the end nobody loses when that happens.

You may have noticed that this list does not favor one game platform over any other... You can be assured that our approach to games and gaming at SuperCheats is to play the game, not the console, and any loyalty we feel generally applies to pizza toppings and crust style, not game play platforms.

We never met a game we couldn't find at least something good about - but we are very well aware that often we find ourselves offering up choices that can border on the questionable...

With that in mind, please feel invited to contribute your own take on the subject - but please mates, don't just comment telling us our choices were wrong, or telling us we suck! If you are going to go to the trouble of offering a reply and comment, than please do share your choices.

It is that measure of dialogue and exchange of opinion that has served to make SuperCheats the very able and robust community of gamers that it is. So let's keep that spirit moving!