Shaka KHAAAAAAAN
What does a rotten heap of cheetoes, a desk covered in mountain dew, and couple of callus on your fingers have in common? Civilizations. Civilizations is a series that has become known for its addicting gameplay, over the top animated portrayals of historical figures, and gameplay that is fulfilling. Civilization Revolution is Sid Meier's newest attempt at bringing an experience that will leave you wanting to click end turn just one more time......
*Scroll the clock forward five hours* Just one more time. The engaging gameplay, sound design, and an overall graphical improvement make Civilization revolution a welcome inclusion to the franchise, and a worthy diplomat to the consoles.
For those not familiar with the ways of Civilization, the gameplay goes a little something like this. You start off with a city in the middle of a giant blob of war (Play on fog of war). The only weapons you have at your side to conquer the mysterious myst is your wits, your resources, and your ability to build a nation. Your first city serves as your base for building up settlers, troops, and technology to help spread your ways of life around the world. There are a number of different ways that you can play the game. Victory can come from being a benevolent cultural spreading power, an evil war mongering despot, a technology seeking enlightened one, or a greedy market manipulator. The ability to play as any number of these rules gives Civilization games the ability to offer unique play styles for anyone. Each Civilization in the game starts off with special benefits, and there are a total of 16 diffferent civilizations. The gameplay is primarily turn based, and you queue up actions before ending your turn. You have the ability to lay siege to other cities, build nuclear bombs, build world wonders, create trade routes, and any other innumerable actions.
Civilization is a game that has long been known for its grand orchestral music. Many fans of the series have had the theme song for Civilization 4 stuck in their head, without even knowing what the words actually mean. Civilization Revolution, while not up to snuff with the other entries in the series, still has an engaging soundtrack that matches each of its civilizations. Depending on the civilization you choose, you have different ambient music during your play. There are a number of different ambient noises like citizens cheering when you get prizes from far away nations for your awesomeness, when you spread culture, and even your differnet military units. The lack of voice acting is a little annoying, but the overall animations from the characters make up for it.
Graphics have never been a big ado on the PC for the Civilization series. Played from an isometric point of view, the graphics of the game have traditionally been pretty average. The graphics in Revolution are a strong departure to what you may find in the computer counterparts. Animations for troops and other events are fully rendered in 3D, and it adds a sense of life to the once washed out images that represented your ruler's actions. Unit battles have also gained more animations and play out much more fluid than the rock paper scissors on the PC. The graphics in the game may not be up to the level of something like Gears of War, but they are more than adequate for this type of game.
Overall, Civilization Revolution is a worthy entry into the series. Slight departures in gameplay, sound, and graphics make this game a refreshing, albeit limited experience in comparison to the PC counterparts. Some parts of the game aren't as good as they are in Civilization 3 and 4, but they are more than made up for in the new manner of presentation. The different ways to play, the unique civilizations, and the overall gameplay in this game make it a worthy purchase for someone who has plenty of people to play this game with. Its a game that you will spend hours upon hours lording over and getting drunk on caffeine wishing you could just go one more turn.