Civilization Revolution

Title: Civilization Revolution
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: July 8 ,2008
Date Played: June 2008
Time Played: 40 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5


Opinion:
With PC gaming drying up, the focus has been shifting to the consoles, and Civilization Revolution is Firaxis' first attempt at porting this legendary franchise to the consoles.

While it is greatly simplified in order to attract a new audience, Civilization Revolution is a competent port. It still has all of the core features that make this franchise so popular.  You have a choice to play as one of 16 leaders (each with their own strengths). At its core it is still a Civ game, you still start in 4000BC and work your way to 2050AD, with 4 different victory conditions (Domination, Culture, Economic, Technological), you still have an elaborate tech tree and the advisers. The presentation is much more lighthearted and features cartoony graphics.

A couple new mechanics have been introduced, the most notable one being squads. You can take 3 of any unit and combine them into one squad unit.  Doing so makes that unit a lot stronger, and can be done on any unit in the game, so you find yourself doing it all the time.

The game goes out of its way to explain the mechanics to a newcomer (a welcomed change). Anyone can pick up Civ Rev and be a competent player after an hour with it. Unlike Civilization 4, which has a learning curve similar to EVE Online.

Although Civilization Revolution is a great Civ experience on the consoles I do feel that they could have incorporated more aspects of the core games to make Revolution an even better experience. That being said, Civ Rev still has the core elements that make this series so great, and is by no means is an inferior experience, it is simply a streamlined experience. A single game of Civilization 4 could take 30+ hours (many days) to complete, while a Civilization Revolution game takes a fraction of that time, while still having that epic feeling.

Everyone should definitely check this game out, it is easy to pick up for newcomers and Civ veterans will most likely welcome the idea of a quicker and more streamlined experience for when the cant afford to spend 30+ hours on a game.