First Review of G&K in RockPaperShotgun

[Proteus_MST]

See here:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...ods-and-kings/

Unfortunately it doesn´t sound promising

...
There has been hope that the re-emergence of religion and espionage will change the game significantly, bringing back some of Civ IV’s complexity, but that isn’t the case. Gods and Kings is more Civ V with additions and tweaks along the lines already drawn rather than bold new directions. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, although if you were waiting for the game to be salvaged this will do nothing to change your mind and is more likely to make you think it’s unsalvageable.
...

A few excerpts regarding the new game mechanics:
Regarding Religion:

Religion is similar to the culture mechanic, although this time around the policies are global, so once a belief has been selected by one player it’s gone for good. While that means civs that want to build their strength through faith have to specialise more, it’s problematic because my time with the expansion suggests the advantages of a strong religion are nowhere near as effective as focusing on science, culture or the amassing of gigantic armies.

Regarding Spies:

...They’re not actual units, existing only in menus, and when they’re attached to a city they gather information about the civilization it belongs to. Eventually they’ll tell you whether there’s any advanced knowledge worth stealing and if so you can set the to do that....

(he goes into more detail in the article and also mentions other changes, for example, regarding city states, but all in all the review isn´t a positive one)

The most important changes seem to be these ones:

...But if the expansion doesn’t dramatically increase complexity then what is it for? It’s for improved AI, although it’d take weeks to see just how much improved. In terms of handling the hexes it seems better than my memories of the base game, although diplomacy is still problematic. The expansion is also for new stuff, of which there’s a fairly large smattering, including buildings, wonders, units, resources and civs. ...

[gdijedi7]

It doesn't sound so bad to me. It sounds like if you like Civ5, you'll like Gods and Kings. I do like Civ5, so I remain optimistic.

For those of you who hate Civ5, though...sounds like you'd better steer clear.

[MxM]

While that means civs that want to build their strength through faith have to specialise more, it’s problematic because my time with the expansion suggests the advantages of a strong religion are nowhere near as effective as focusing on science, culture or the amassing of gigantic armies.

Except I see complains that religion is OP. I do not like the review simply because of statements like this, it does not seem like that person played a lot. How a hell can you amass gigantic armies when you have such expensive units? And what are they useful for, if you run your conquest and find out that you do not have enough happiness? New civ become such multi-faceted, that I feel that it is more complex than Civ IV, in terms of number of decisions and interactions you need to make.

[Nikolai]

Most reviews are quite positive so far.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

of course, if they're not, they won't get advance copies for the next game.

[Sava]

RPS is the only site that is somewhat honest about games these days.

[Wiglaf]

Most reviews are quite positive so far.

I especially liked IGN's review, which praised the "very cool" addition of declaration of friendships, even though they were included a year ago in a patch.

Do you get tired of being a shill? I know IGN has financial motivations, but what are yours?

[Napoleón II]

he´s emotionally attached due to being a ´privileged´ beta tester

[Nikolai]

Absolutely not. I just find the game fun, while not as good as IV. It's possible to have different opinions, you know.

[Wiglaf]

he´s emotionally attached due to being a ´privileged´ beta tester

Oh. Explains that.

[lovelyteddy]

I was hoping Gods And Kings would finally shut the whiny butthurt Civ IV freaks up, but it looks like that is not to be.