Sid Meier's Civilization Revolutions
Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution is the turn based strategy game that console owners have been waiting for! Sid Meier has been making Civilization games since 1991 and has improved on each installment him and his team have released for the PC. As you probably know, on the PC Civilization is considered as somewhat royalty; so the idea that they could take one of the most complicated PC strategy games and make it rock hard on the console is a long shot. According to me, they nailed it.
The game’s title screen fed my worries when I couldn’t create my own civilization; I was left choosing one of 16 preset civilizations that they decided were best. In fact, my first game left me noticing all of the games shortcomings rather than realize its genius. You can’t micromanage your cities anymore, nor can you really get deep into the diplomacy with foreign nations. I remember in Alpha Centuri, an offshoot of Civilization 3, I could create alliances and team up against a foe. The two options that Civilization Revolutions leaves you with is the option to be at peace and ignore your neighbor, or crash them with your armies. You can buy technology from other nations and sell yours out, but I found it not very useful. The game has far less depth than its PC cousin does, and it shows from the opening title screen to its conclusion, which is far shorter than any other Civilization game on the market due to its simplicity and lack of depth.
So why is Civilization Revolutions genius? Because it takes an extremely complicated Turn-based Strategy game and turns it into video game crack for the couch potato. I have not been able to stop thinking about playing Civ Rev for the past two weeks; I’m addicted. The simple stream lined approach works flawlessly on the 360. The fact that I hadn’t played a Civilization game since Alpha Centuri many years ago did not matter. All the learning I needed the game taught me in about one hour playing the tutorial setting. That might sound grueling but trust me it’s not. The tutorial is the easiest setting and takes you gradually through the game. It’s like playing Monopoly with someone explaining everything to you while you play. What’s great about this is I wasn’t required to read a booklet on how to play the game before I knew the rules and strategies. I played it on easy once, and immediately jumped in and haven’t looked back.
Everything from the original Civilization is in Civ Rev in one way or another. Diplomacy is there, if not as complicated, as is building cities with wonders, researching technologies, and even deciding where to build your cities based on the best resources. All my wonderful memories of Civilization as a kid are fully realized with this version. The few enhancements that it does have help cements it as a true console title and not a PC port. The games smaller world map, which was one of the first things that had me nervous, turned out to be wonderful. Now I can start a civilization, build an empire, and conquer the world in about three hours, the prefect length to have a nice play through and feel complete when you turn the system off. The new cartoon characters and visuals add a sense of wonder and humor to the game that removes all guilt about nuking while playing as the Russians. All right, I still had a little guilt, but it was worth it in the end. Civilization Revolutions best thing is Game of the Week. This is a developer made map, that lays out the world and different nations in the exact same way for every person playing Civ Rev. When you play the game, you play the same exact game everyone else is playing and thus can be ranked against all Civ Rev players. It doesn’t seem like much, but once you’re in it, it feels more like the big leagues.
All in all Civilization revolutions is by far the best Turn-based Strategy game on any console. It has impressed me with its ease to control and breeze to learn, while keeping me enthralled in strategy and game play. The best part is that the game never ends, kind of like Monopoly, or better yet, Risk. This is necessary for all strategy fans and anyone who likes to build unstoppable nations that can conquer the world.
