Civilization 5 is back with more DLC. This time you get to rule the land of Star Craft as Sejong the Great into a glorious victory in science. Along with a new civilization, 2k has also released a Wonders of the Ancient World Scenario pack. This piece of DLC includes three new wonders (completing the seven wonders of the ancient world in the game). Both DLC packs also include a new scenario for you to play with your new toys in. Personally, i usually just stick with the “normal” game mode, but it does give a little extra value to each pack.

The new Korean Civilization allows you to hunker down and excel in research. Their main bonus, Scholars of the Jade Hall, grants them the ability to gain +2 science for all specialists and great person tiles. They also receive tech bonuses for building science structures or wonders in their capital. Two new units also join the Korean arsenal. The Turtle Ship replaces the standard Caravel. This naval unit is more powerful than the caravel, but cannot go into deep water. Bad for exploration, but if you spawn on an island, this unit makes it very easy to defend your cities while you go for a non-violent victory. They also have the Hwach’a. This is a powerful ranged unit that replaces the Trebuchet, although, the Hwach’a does not require any iron to build.

The three new wonders are The Temple of Artemis, The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and the Statue of Zeus. Artemis can be built after researching Archery (the earliest you’ve ever been able to build a wonder). It gives you +10% growth in all cities and +15% production towards ranged units. Halicarnassus is available when Masonry is researched and grants you +2 gold for marble & stone tiles, plus 100 gold for every great person you expend. Lastly, Zeus can be built when Bronze Working is researched and provides +15% combat strength when attacking cities. Each new wonder is a brand new bonus towards gold, growth, or combat very early in the game, if you can beat the other civs to them.

Each DLC pack is absolutely worth the buy. Korea is a very worthy addition to other science heavy civs and provides a unique defensive strategy. If you spawn on an island, you are golden. Something else unique about Korea: you do not need a massive empire to bank on a large amount of science. The Koreans extract a lot of extra science from buildings you place in the capital. Because of this, you can keep a relatively low amount of cities (hopefully on an island) and rival the behemoth empires in science. I only had three cities during one of my games and I was pushing 1000 science towards the end.

Usually in a game of civilization, I like to go for pottery early on. This ensures my cities will grow fast enough to keep up in production and science down the road. People don’t usually rush militarily in civ 5 anyway. Now, with the addition of the new wonders, I find myself sometimes researching archery to get my early growth bonus that way. I always fear someone else might get Artemis before me, ruining my chances to destroy others in population. These wonders make earlier research decisions a lot tougher and will make people who don’t care about military catch themselves researching archery and mining earlier than they ever would.

Each DLC pack is $4.99 on steam ($7.50 if you buy them both). They are both playable with your friends online and they will provide you with hours more of gameplay for a game that never gets tiring. After 426 hours, I am still hooked. (Yes ladies, I’m single).

Civ 5 is just one of those games. You start it thinking you can control when you stop. You check the time realizing “5 minutes” was really 4 hours. You constantly lie to yourself wanting to do just one more thing before you stop. Every true gamer knows and loves this feeling and is always on a grand quest to find it. Here it is again from the man who brought us the other few games in our lives that did the exact same thing. This is civilization 5 and it has come to eat your time.

For those who don’t know, Civilization 5 is a turn based strategy game with a classic top down view. Rather than just being strictly military, like the majority of strategy games, this franchise has always had a little bit of a twist.

There are multiple ways to win in Civ 5: Military, Diplomacy, Culture, Science, or Doomsday (players hit the 500 turn max). Each one caters to a unique play style. You can build an army and destroy all of your foes to get the world map to have one satisfying color, or you can just as easily make friends and play defensively while aiming for another victory like science or culture. Each one is perfectly balanced so you can go for whatever victory you want and not be hindered by anything but your skill.

As well as making the right moves for the right victories, it’s almost equally as important to choose the right civilization. There are 18 civilizations to choose from, all with different advantages. Some bonuses include getting culture for every enemy you kill (Aztecs) or faster production towards world wonders (Egypt). Each civilization caters to one or two victories to compliment your style of play. If you’re a try-it-all kind of guy/gal, every civ allows you to experiment with new gameplay and keep the game feeling fresh every time.

Some might get turned off by civilization 5’s simplicity; Civ 4 was way more complicated (especially with the expansion packs). I see civ 5 to be perfect. Not quite as simple as the console version Civilization Revolution, but not as complicated as it’s PC predecessor. This makes for a game that has an above average learning curve, but not so high it will repel everyone with a life. Civ 5 is beautiful and addicting. After 370 hours, I can’t wait to play just one more turn. It’s just one of those games.