GameTech: Gandhi to go nuclear this October

HOW will civilisation end?

It’s a question that has plagued great writers, painters, scientists and beer drinkers the world over. Maybe we should stick to easier questions instead, shall we, like ‘When does Civilisation VI come out?’.

The answer is October 21, a date even the Mayans couldn’t have predicted. Developers Firaxis kept this one quiet, suddenly revealing the latest Civ game out of nowhere. In a rather detailed update, the team outlined some of the changes that will be made to the long-standing strategy series, changes that include an adjustment to how cities are built and, most intriguingly, hidden agendas for world leaders.

In past Civilisation games, leaders generally had the same goal as the player – to build large empires and to ‘win’ the game. This time around, they may have very different, historically accurate agendas. The example given was a leader who is determined to build as many Wonders of the World as possible. If you interfere with that in any way, that leader would suddenly become furious with you. This adds a lovely touch of the unexpected to proceedings, much like in the last Civ game, where historical figures didn’t always act like you would expect. (Gandhi had a penchant for nukes, for example. We always knew he was playing the long game.)

As well as these historical agendas, there are also hidden agendas that can only be revealed through diplomacy, spies or trade. Perhaps we’ll see character anomalies like Attila the Hun obsessed with diplomacy, Genghis Khan building flower gardens and an Irish politician determined to work across party boundaries.

Other changes to Civ VI include how cities are constructed. This time, cities will be divided into separate districts instead of being on one ‘hex’. So farmlands may be on one hex, while industrial areas will be on another. This should add a great deal more strategy to building cities, especially as location now plays a big part in earning ‘boosts’ and speeding up progress in different areas. For example, placing your city near mountains will give boosts to religion and science, while being near the coast gives boosts to sailing research. With that in mind, being near oil fields probably gives the player automatic access to Premier League football teams.

Finally, ‘active research’ will change how players approach unlocking new technologies. Scientists and researchers will now have to explore the map and fulfil certain objectives to find ‘eureka moments’ that vastly decrease research times.

Overall, Civ VI sounds like a fun step forward for the series. As for how Civilisation ends? Usually, the game allows for five different victories, based on diplomacy, science, domination and cultural evangelism. This time, there will be a new victory option, but Firaxis haven’t revealed it yet. Gandhi’s reign of terror must be stopped!

DOOM AND BLOOM

Civilisation may well be doomed, but at least we can enjoy, erm, Doom while we wait. The long-awaited sequel to one of gaming’s most iconic series arrived last Friday the 13th. Online reactions have been largely positive, with gamers praising the tight mechanics and the focus on speed and movement. It certainly looks like a lot of fun to play.

Cliff Bleszinski, the creator and lead designer on Gears of War over the first two games in that series, tweeted his approval: “OK some rapid fire Doom thoughts.Weapons feel good so far. Good to see some satanic stuff in there. Awesome to be on the Martian surface...”

ELUSIVE TARGETS

Finally, if anyone was ever truly doomed, it was Sergei Larin. Last weekend, he became the first ‘elusive target’ in the new Hitman reboot, meaning gamers had just 48 hours to take this guy out before he disappeared from the game forever. While Larin is just a computer-controlled character, we can’t help but feel sorry for all the bald men in strange outfits he must have seen at the very last second during his 48 hours of countless assassinations.

In saying that, Larin was designed to be more difficult to take out that usual Hitman targets, so gamers didn’t have it easy. Elusive target is a very cool idea that we’re looking forward to seeing again, but let’s be honest — it’s not very civilised.