Civilization Revolution (Review)

Civilization Revolution is a Turn-Based Strategy game in which you choose and lead a civilization to victory through several possible means. This new instalment of the popular PC series, Civilization (of which there are now 5 iterations), has been redesigned and rebuilt for consoles and hand-held devices. It's effectively a “dumbed-down” version, if you will, of it's PC relative, but that doesn't mean the game is any less challenging.

The restrictions that come with console controllers mean that it is difficult to play Real-Time or Turn-Based Strategy games with the same speed and fluidity that's possible on a PC. Having said that, the way the game has been redesigned to work with the Xbox 360 controller means that all the controls that you need are never more than a button press or a menu away. The fact that this game is Turn-Based means you can afford to take your time and take the game at your own pace, which suits the gameplay very well and you never feel rushed or hurried (unless an army is on your doorstep!)

To achieve victory, you can defeat your opponents in a number of different ways. You can win a match with an Economic, Cultural, Technology or Domination victory, with each type requiring certain criteria to achieve. With an Economic victory for example, you must have 20, 000 Gold in your possession before you can build the World Bank. Once the World Bank has finished being built, you will win.

On the harder difficulties, it can get very tense when you are a number of Gold pieces away from building the World Bank and another Civ only needs 1 more Great Person or Wonder before they can build the United Nations (for a Cultural Victory). Similarly, once you have researched enough technology, you can launch rockets into space and build an intergalactic Ark. The goal here is to launch the Ark and travel to Alpha Centurai. It takes a few turns for your Ark to get there, but once it does then you will achieve a Technology victory. Domination is the most straight forward, since all you need to do is capture all of the other Civ's Capital cities to win.

The number of civilizations is impressive, with each Civ having different bonuses that occur when you reach a Certain stage of history. For example, the American start off with a 2% interest bonus on Gold reserves and when you reach the Modern Era, your factories will triple Production. The colourful cast of character that represent each Civ are based on historical figures from that civilization. Napoleon represents the French, Lincoln represents the Americans an they continue in that fashion. Likewise, your advisor’s are equally colourful and their appearance changes depending on the Era you are in.

There are also a variety of Scenarios to keep you occupied, if the main game doesn't appeal to you. Each of the Scenarios have certain conditions that alter the way the match is set up, from more frequent Barbarian attacks to having all of the Technologies researched, making a Tech victory impossible. If it weren't for these scenarios, there wouldn't be much to keep you going and the serve to give the game a bit of longevity, since there is no story or additional objectives other than win the
match. This makes the game feel a bit empty, but the games themselves can last a long time and it can get very addictive, with the old feeling of “just one more go” being experienced over and over again.

Graphically the game is solid, with bright and colourful visuals and simple, yet effective, animations. The cities that you build will all look similar however, with the exception of having individual “Wonders” being build in your city. Likewise, your Settlers or Military units will look the same as your opponents, with a slightly different colour scheme. I didn't see this as a bad thing, but it would have added a bit if character to the units you built, making each civilization feel that little bit different from the rest.

The music in the game is nice and the SFX do their job, and that's all you can really say. There's no need for atmospheric music and wacky sound effects and consequently everything sounds appropriate. It's a missed opportunity to not include Civ specific music or SFX, but to be honest, it doesn't detract from the game either.

I haven't spoken at all about the Multiplayer, since I haven't played it. However, I understand it to be a bit slow. There is an option to turn on a Chess-style timer, but ultimately it would be exactly the same as playing the single player, so it doesn't add much to the game.

I have spent a long time with this game and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a bit shallow in terms of the amount of game you get for your money, but you can spend a long time in matches and they can get quite tense, so I would say that it was definitely worth picking up if you can get it for less than the RRP.

Review by Kenneth Hubble