Civilization Revolution
July 11,2008 - The Civilization series has long been a staple as the pivotal and dominant turn-based strategy series for PC gamers. With impressive visuals, remarkable AI, and some of the most intuitive and expansive details ever performed, many wondered just how Firaxis could counteract those facts with Civilization Revolution, a built-from-the-ground up version of the classic series for consoles. While a few minor changes may be too unwelcome for diehard fans, turn-based strategy players will still find this entry to be a suitable entry into the series, and quite possibly the best console real-time strategy game to date.

For those not familiar with the world of Civilization, the core concept of the game is similar to other turn-based strategy titles; build up your nation from the beginning of time to the future to become the most dominant force in the world. The Civilization games have always encouraged gamers to spend ample amounts of time refining your nations to become powerful in all aspects of a well-balanced civilization. Revolution gives you the option to choose between 16 different nations, all of which offer up their own special abilities, whether it be military strength or cultural negotiating. Most of the fun of Revolution stems from how personal and extraordinary this experience will be more all players and it’s always engaging to watch your cavemen-like warriors throw spears at approaching enemies only to see them fly around in bomber jets almost an hour later. The sheer amount of detail when watching your cities grow is staggering and players will no doubt be forced to play again and again just to marvel in the triumph of watching a city become the dominant force in the world.

Of course, Civilization games tend to bombard players with tons of words and info at breakneck speeds, which could become confusing in the thick of battle. Luckily, Revolution offers up a brilliant form of virtual hand-holding, in which the game doesn’t lose you in all the wordy mumbo jumbo, but also lets you know when it would be wise to beef up your technology or talk to a foreign leader. The Civilopedia is also available for anyone who wants to read up on how the game is to be played or get hints as to what it takes to become dominant. It is definitely a lot less deep than its PC counterparts, but console gamers should rest easy in knowing that help is there if you ever need it. Listening to your historical heroes is also a valiant strategy to achieving victory. More often than not, the cartoon-cutout of a famous historical figure will appear on screen and talk to you about moves you should be doing and what to look forward to in future attacks. As a quick note, keep an eye out for grouchy Abraham Lincoln, he seems to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed in every battle we played.

One of the biggest problems with console versions of PC strategy games was the lack of a competent control scheme. Revolution manages to create a brilliantly mastered control scheme and one that future developers will no doubt model future strategy games off of Revolution in the future. Choosing units on the map is as easy as clicking the analog stick, and selecting placements, items, and other various aspects during battle is as simple as clicking a button. There are times when heavy battling will get tiring with the wide array of buttons at your disposal to use and click, and it is infinitely easier to use a mouse to point-and-click, but Revolution still manages to perfect a control scheme that will make playability both fun and easy to use.

Civilization Revolution has a standard single player campaign in which gamers can play a simple skirmish against human or AI-controlled players, or choose to play in scenario-based affairs, in which case different attributes are given to certain character types. For instance, you can adjust the settings so warriors attack 25% faster or scholars apply knowledge to your nation at a faster speed. There are dozens of options for you to choose from and all of them offer plenty of diversity and mayhem on the battlefield.

It is a drag however to note that you simply can’t play one-on-one against a friend since the game always requires at least five civilizations to be fighting at once. If you do play against a friend, the game will automatically add three computer-controlled nations to play alongside you. It’s not a bad idea, but a standard free-for-all mode against one other person would have been welcomed. The levels are also pre-loaded and created, meaning you can’t adjust the landscape or create your own maps if you wanted to, and with the lack of created terrains (about 6), some could get quite tiring fast.

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