Genre: 4x Strategy
Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2K Games

Remember 1989's "Populous", with its "the game screen is also a wizard or god's tabletop"? As of late, that sort of self-aware-video game amalgamation trend has been revived, and in Civilization VI a medieval, whale-filled "paper" map reveals the game world as each match is played. V's art deco style gives way to nearly Civ-rev cartooniness-- and while at first blush it may veer perilously close to mobile shovelware material, it in fact deftly maneuvers its way into a lovely high-contrast design, visually stacking the mechanical layers in visible form. The title's best-in-series menu layouts round out what is a polished package indeed.

Christopher Tin, who composed the Grammy-winning title song for IV, was re-commissioned for this series iteration, and the result is just as stunningly memorable! In-game music and sound effects are provided by series veteran Geoff Knorr, and some of the more stand-out selections are even reminiscent of Sid Meier's classic, "Pirates!". Even small details, such as the soft and pleasing menu click sound, are obviously chosen to fit within the game's overall aesthetic direction.

Civilization VI sticks with the hexagonal, no-unit-stack approach of V-- why change what isn't broken? What is changed is the fact that the player can lay down "districts", complete with their own buildings, onto city-surrounding hexes, bringing even more mind-bending decision quandaries to the player. The game is surprisingly content-rich for a base release, containing espionage and a full religion system, right out of the box.

The boo birds will say that despite over an entire elapsed decade later, Civilization VI still doesn't match the highs of IV, or even those of 1996's II. But is that really fair? From its sweeping score to its absolutely refined user interface, it has far more charm than the cosmetically stale V and "Beyond Earth" entries. And from a gameplay standpoint, it allows the most approach flexibility of any release in the series. It may be very conservative, as is the case with nearly all games of the present era-- but it does what every other "Civilization" release does, only better. Freshly-promoted Ed Beach nails it.