[jcadam]

Played the original Civilization on an Amiga and have played every release since (including CivNet).

Civilization II was easily the best game in the series. It's sad that Civ V, as pretty as it is, is so freaking horrible.

[bryanlarsen]

Let me guess, II was the first you played? Everybody has a special attachment to the first one they got addicted too.

In my opinion II was the worst of the five. It was basically the same as the first with more of everything. More techs, more unit types et cetera. Didn't really add anything to the game except make it longer. It meant you couldn't finish a game in a single sitting which really lessened the appeal to me.

Starting with III they started added more dimensions like religion and culture. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't but I appreciated exploring how strategies changed.

Edit: did a really poor job of reading your post or else you edited it. Oh well, just pretend my comment stands alone, please.

[jcadam]

Yea, Civ1 was the first I played. I like Civ2 for most of the reasons you dislike it -- They took the original, updated the graphics, made some modest improvements/additions, but didn't mess with the fundamentals of the game :)

[vacri]

In my opinion, each civ built on the last, until 5 plummeted the interest factor. Played 1 first.

[moomin]

Same, I've played a lot of 1,2 and 3, but 4 was ridiculously deep and well balanced. Never got past Prince.

[increment_i]

One of the greatest games of all time for sure. It's a pity that they also dropped the ball on a decent mobile version too - seems like the medium could lend itself well to a well designed turn based strategy.

[thirdsun]

My thoughts as well. Similar with SI Games' Football Manager. I just don't want a dumbed down version, but the full thing without compromises.

[goda90]

Civ V with all the DLC is actually quite well rounded in my opinion. If you haven't tried the Complete version, give it a shot. It's not the same for sure, especially the combat. Maybe I'm just used to variation because the first Civ game I really got into was Call to Power, then followed by III and IV.