Do the Revolution, baby!
Long held as a stalwart on the PC, Sid Meier's long-running Civilization series has never had a true and faithful built for consoles version. That is *dramatic pause* until now! Yes, built from the ground up, Firaxis and it's head man Sid Meier bring to PS3 and Xbox 360 the incredibly stream-lined Civilization Revolution. Though fans of the PC games may not see much reason to delve into a seemingly stripped down version of the complex series, those who have never played a Civ game, or those just looking for a fun and fast-playing strategy game would do good to throw their support behind this revolution.
In a nutshell, think of the Civilization as a very complex tabletop board game. There is no true campaign for single-player, but each "game" is considered a random conflict in and of itself. Other than that, one player options include a list of scenarios or the "Game of the Week", a specially designed map that will post your results on a Firaxis leader board to show your mastery of the game to all who will dare look. There are also online matches that pit four Civ players against one another on a randomized map, but these seem to suffer from some of the "long deliberations" that can come with this type of turn-based strategy game. Though the single-player may seem a bit stunted, it begs to be played again and again. The strength of this franchise seems to be, and continues to be, it's addicting gameplay.
Like was mentioned before, the gameplay revolves around a turn-based almost board game-like style of play. You'll begin each map choosing one of 16 "Civs" to play as, each with unique talents and units to help you on your way to one of the game's four methods of victory. Once in the game, you'll be taking turns building cities, forming armies, attacking/negotiating with other Civs, developing technology, and basically doing anything that'll move your chosen Civ towards a victory against the others inhabiting the map. This can be done Technologically buy building a space vessel to find the world of Alpha Centauri, Culturally by gathering 20 great people, converted cities, and World Wonders and building the UN, Domination-wise by simply capturing all the other Civs capitals, and Economically by gathering 20,000 in gold revenues and building the World Bank.
With all these options for victory and the different Civs to play as, the game might have a boost in replay value, but it also has a considerable learning curve for those unfamiliar with this type of gameplay. It's nothing too severe, and certainly this is the easiest Civ game available. Still, it is there, and it can turn off some gamers before they even get into the good meat of the game.
As for the visuals, the cartoonish style definitely makes up for the lack of polygons here and there. Leaders and advisors that pop into the foreground during gameplay are nicely detailed and animate great, and the troop battles and city building are definitely a joy to watch, but a few textures here and there seem to be poorly detailed, especially on the map itself. The vibrant colors used certainly help mask it a bit, but for the most part, some of the mountains and unique map resources could have used a bit more detail.
As for the sound design, the score used within is definitely fun, simple, yet manages to be stirring and complex in places. It's certainly the highlight of the sound design, along with battle effects. However, something that's a love it or hate it issue is the "babble" that both advisors and leaders speak. I find it personally amusing, but others might think otherwise.
Civ Rev isn't a game that'll appeal to all audiences, which might be the reason that it hasn't been on consoles in so long. However, if you've ever wanted to run one of the great Civs from the stone age to the space age and clash in some strategic warfare, Civilization Revolution might be right up alley.
