Game play footage from the demo version of Civilization V which came out this week (the demo is actually a few weeks old). The demo is limited to 100 turns and has some other limitations, but it's enough to get your feet wet.

In this section, I explore the options screen and start up a new game as Greece. Some things have stayed the same since Civ4, but there's also a lot of new things. Information is generally in the same place as Civ4, but the underlying math may have changed as well as different icons for things (like green apples for food instead of bread slices). I spend a good bit of time exploring the interface and looking at the different screens.

When you first play Civ5, it's going to be all a big blur as there's a lot of information to process.



(We'll see whether YouTube pulls the first video for "content ID"... it's picking up on the audio track of the background music and is complaining. Fortunately, I don't think Firaxis will flag it for removal.)

Turn 1, shows initial settlement and a lot of the UI elements.



This picks up at turn 18. We've done a good bit of exploration by this point and have uncovered the two nearby city-states. I get to meet Bismark of Germany who is sending a scouting party through our neighborhood. Our traveling group of warriors takes on a barbarian village to keep them at bay.



Turn 32. At the very start, you'll see the use of the city bombardment tool to take a few pot-shots at the barbarians who are roaming around nearby. With a range of 2 tiles, the city is not completely defenseless like it was in Civ4. We also meet up with Ramesses II of Egypt, who is not happy to see us.

Towards the end, I look at the various screens spawned by the buttons in the upper-right. I'm not completely happy that some of the screens are hidden in a sub-menu instead of being first-class citizens. But I'll read up and find the keyboard shortcuts to get to them directly.



Turn 47, I go to war against the Oslo city-state. Since I don't know what I'm doing, I send a pack of Hoplite and Archers up the coastline towards Oslo. Things turn out just about as you'd expect when you ignore your advisors.