Civilization Revolution

These are my thoughts on Civilization Revolutoin, the Xbox 360 version.

For fans of the PC Civilization seiries, you have to remember the sad truth: PC game developers think that console gamers aren't as, well, intelligent as computer gamers. Thats why Sims, Elder Scrolls, and pretty much anything else that started on computers and came to consoles are dimmed down. A few examples of this are:

1. Control of the cities. In Civ. 3, the last civilization I played for PC, you could control all aspects of your city. In Civ Revolution, its more about war. I'm not saying that the depth isn't there, as you can still win by economic, space race, and culture victories too. Its just easier to get to that point on here.
2. In depth workers. On the Pc games, you control your workers. You make them build roads, irrigate the land, and chop trees. In civilization revolution, all that is done for you. Your workers are miniture sized and repeat the same chop/shovel actions again and again. I'm sure this was due to the console users base intelligence level. Making it less about strategy, and more about fun.
3. Contact with the other leaders. This, to me, is the worst part of this game. On PC, you could make contracts with the other civilization's leader's. Contracts to go to war with anyone that goes against the two of you, contracts to keep peace for a number of turns, and contracts to pass through the other's territories for a number of turns without causing war. The last one was abused a bit for sneak attacks, but if you made a habbit of it then the other leaders wouldn't trust you and thus not sign the contract.

On Civ. Revolution you can try and talk with the leaders, who either want nine-hundred of your nine-hundred and one gold pieces or its war, or will go to war with who you want for THREE TURNS for the same amount. Its annoying but not as annoying as the fact that the third contract on my original list for the PC games, is gone. You cannot pass through the others country without declaring war. We all know that if we are in a galley, theres no way around the borders. It leaves you with little choice but the fight just to pass.

Thats my list of the bad. Now, for the rest of the game, which is awesome. Nothing else stands out as an annoyance other than the fact that when you capture a city, you can't destroy it instead of taking it over. It spreads you too thin when taking over a hundred cities. The battles are great, even giving a small cut scene for entertainment.

The unit movement isn't glitchy, and the three units to an amy rule stands in Civ Revolution. You have all the leaders to choose from, and they each get their own props when the era changes. Some even getting special units which were exclusive to their civilization in reality. The online play is a little slow, being used to the turn ending when I hit end, not after six other people do might have contributed to that. Also its hard to find people that will stick out the full game. The moment they think they are done, they quit out.

The unit upgrades and skill upgrades are sweet. Theres nothing like tearing down five cities with one catapult army who has a great general. The world wonders make a returning apperance, and this time they help more than you'd think. All the great people from before, and a 'civilpedia' on each unit, great person, ship, soldier, leader, and building. Just in case you decide that you want to read a biography on the Impi Warrior or Ben Franklin.

The game is surprising addictive, so addictive in fact that I had only written the first sentance of this review before I decided to go play it for two hours and come back to my review later.

Sid Meier made a lot of things fast pace on this game, allowing a wider audiance to play. All the same, with a dozen different scenarios, online play, and single player, it allows for a lot of fun too.