Civilization III was 2D as well. I agree with you though, there was something lost in the transition to 3D. Performance reasons alone is compelling argument t

Civilization III was 2D as well. I agree with you though, there was something lost in the transition to 3D. Performance reasons alone is compelling argument to stick with 2D (turn wait times in Civ 5 were ridiculous). Not to mention that it's easier to create 2D art, so any mods that people created were of higher quality. There were some pretty good terrain packs for Civ 3 (for instance, http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ3/modpack/Womoks_Greener_sm.jpg http://www.civfanatics.net/downloads/civ3/modpack/Womoks_Gre...)