Civilization 5 has tons of inspirations, from the games within the series to the obvious parallels in history. It's a game not meant to act as any particular example of what has come before, though. Rather, it's a framework that pulls its gameplay and themes from a number of generic sources, and that's perfectly fine. Civilization was the start of a genre (4X games) and it can do whatever it pleases. In a way, it was the pioneer that laid claim to a piece of land that everbody wants, and this keeps it from becoming generic while other games wallow in their clone-like mechanics and settings. Nothing can be more simple of a setting than "history," but Civilization keeps it from becoming stale.

The first Civilization game was, quite simply, incredible. There was no game like it before it came out. Everyone now knows the basic concept of the game, but it is worth repeating. You play a historical leader who must guide his culture from the stone age to the space age. Cultures that split off of other cultures within recent memory, such as the Americans, count as separate cultures and proceed out from the stone age like everyone else. Thus, Civilization was not really a historical simulator, but rather a way to play a fun game while using history to put it in context and give it a flare of humor. For example, you might have George Washington beating on Joseph Stalin during the Dark Ages, despite both leaders having been born many hundred years later.

Civilization 2 is often referred to as the favorite of most players, as it's when the series really took off. It was wildly popular and even spawned two offshoots: Call to Power and Alpha Centauri. In this way, Civilization 2 is the most important game of the whole series. Call to Power would later form its own (short-lived) series, while Alpha Centauri is one of the most highly-regarded games ever produced by Firaxis and has a massive amount of influence on Civilization 4. It's can't be understated just how much influence Civilization 2 has had on the series as a whole, both directly and indirectly from the games it has spawned.

Civilization 3 is best ignored, so next comes Civilization 4. Civilization 4 is the best of the series, from our personal experience. It marked the first transition to 3D, and simplified some aspects while drastically complicating others. Government was split into civics, much like how Alpha Centauri handled government years before. Great People were added, religion was refined, and the combat system was alterted to allow for less "pikemen destroys tank" nonsense that came before. It was also heavily modded, with scenarios ranging from North Africa in World War 2 to completely new scenarios such as a space 4X mod and the incredible Fall From heaven.

Finally, the latest entry in the series is not a PC game, but rather a console one. Civilization Revolution aimed to simplify many of the more complicated elements form Civilization, such as culture and Great People, and make it more appealing to the general populace. While this certainly succeeded, the game was also considerably dumbed down for normal Civilization players. It fits the console, certainly, but not the series. For example, the average Civilization game lasts hours. The average Civilization Revolution game lasts maybe one hour. This is great for people who want to just play a quick game, but it's not Civilization. Still, for what it set out to do, Civilization Revolution is an absolutely fantastic game.