Parents' Guide to Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

There are plenty of games that simulate worlds and empires, but Firaxis' 25-year-old strategy series remains at the head of the class. Sid Meier's Civilization VI improves upon the design of its predecessors by delivering a smoother, more authentic, and even more strategic simulation of world history. The revamped city-building system, for example, forces players to plan ahead when picking a spot to found a city to ensure that it will have access to all the necessary tiles required to grow the city in a desired direction. They'll also need to make strategic use of builder units, who must now be manually controlled and can only improve three tiles before disappearing, making each mine, farm, or pasture they're instructed to create a tactical choice. Just as important are the changes to the way players govern their empires. The means by which governments and policies are unlocked and selected allows for quick shifts in agenda to meet current challenges, and it permits players to easily change paths toward different types of victories as circumstances change. Picking the right policies for the right phases of your empire's growth can be the difference between winning and losing by only a handful of turns.

All this, and it looks absolutely gorgeous -- even played on a standard PC without cutting-edge hardware. Simulated hand-drawn maps imitate those of ancient explorers and cartographers, and the animations accompanying the building of new wonders are a joy to watch. British actor Sean Bean's powerful and dramatic narration is just gravy. There are no obstacles getting in the way of a boisterous recommendation for Sid Meier's Civilization VI -- save that, once you start playing, it can be mighty hard to quit.