Customer Reviews

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Please take the 1-star review with a grain of salt.

Sure this isn't as complex as the standard PC-based games. However everyone who is even considering buying this game already knows that. Civ Rev is intended to be a scaled-back version of the PC games that gives console players the taste of strategy that is lacking from console games without burdening them with the massive time investment which those games require.

In Revolution you can gain a victory on the same day that you start playing if you play aggressively, and that's not really such a bad thing. Then turn around play as 1 of the many other great historic leaders. If you want a greater challenge, there are difficulty settings and the highest level is far from easy.

In short, the game is fun, looks good and has enough strategy to make it a thinking game without forcing you to clear your weekend plans entirely. Perhaps this was their way of dipping their toes in the console pool and if this game takes off there just may be more complex offerings in the future that are more in line with the PC versions. Until then, have fun and don't go to a Bruce Willis movie expecting it to be Citizen Cane, which is what the 1-star reviewer has essentially done.

This is the type of game I have been waiting to hit the consoles for years. A good strategy game that is not bogged down with too much. Sid Meier has created a game that can get just about any gamer into strategy gaming.

Getting into Civilization Revolution is simple. When you are at the starting menu you can go to the play now option and get into a game quickly. There are five difficulty levels available which make this game available to any type of gamer. I found it best to start on the simplest level to get the gameplay down first. Now more experienced players will probably start at a more difficult level. In the single player setting you can also play the game of the week which is something new to the Civilization series. This setting allows you to play the same Civilization and map as everyone else. It's a good chance to hone your skills and compare yourself to other players. This game also has online play which allows you to take on others in building your civilization to the top. There are four different ways to win a game and most games will take you at least three hours no matter what difficulty level. The four ways to win are financial, cultural, domination, or technology(alpha centurai).

I have found that no matter how good I think I am at this game the style can change drastically from match to match. Just have many different maps and varied civilizations can change the difficulty drastically. Playing on the same difficulty level can have you dominating one time and then getting beat up another time. I have found that no matter what type of way you try to win the game it's always best to have your cities well fortified. When your civilization has become established I have found probably the only real negative. The game has a tendency to get a little bogged down when there is a lot going on. This is unfortunate but is nothing that ruins the game.

Civilization Revolution is a positive step forward on the consoles. Not only do the controls work great but this game feels like it belongs on the PS3. It is easily one of the most addictive games I have played on the PS3. Sid Meier did a excellent job on this game and everyone who enjoys strategy and even those who don't think they are should give this game a try. Although I will say this game is not for everyone and you should try the demo first before making a purchase decision.

I've been playing Civilization since 1992 when it was available on my high school server for students to play during free time in our computer classes. We knew this new version of the game would be lacking a few things when we read the previews. There is one thing I was not aware would be missing when I purchased the game. The special victories (cultural, domination, economic, technology) have been available in the series for a while now. However, there has always been the ability to uncheck or disable these victories and continue game play. I was VERY disappointed to find that after only four hours of game play that I could not go on any further. This makes it very difficult to make it as far as discovering flight let alone participate in a space race. The lack of all other features is acceptible to me since I get the chance to play Civilization in HD widescreen for the first time (and with a joystick). It's just the fact that I am unable to play the game all the way to when I say I'm done that drives me to give my favorite game ever only four stars out of five. This will be the biggest flaw to be cautious of for long time fans of the game.

P.S. If I am wrong about this flaw and there is a way to turn off these special victories, somebody please let me know!

If you enjoy the old school board game Risk and think the rest of mankind got it all wrong then this game is up your alley. You can choose just what you think is more important. Developing your mind or military might to dominate the world and create it as you see fit. I enjoy this game a lot. The only negative that prevented me from a five star rating is the lack of online competition (so hurry up and buy it) and the fact that the few times i have played online I found it difficult to invite from the friends list. However playing the computer is never the same game and quite enjoyable. Be sure to block off a good three hours to play (defiantly if your playing multi payer)but I promise it's worth the time. Look for bladerunner101, I'd love to play you.

I think of this game as "Civ Light". It lacks much of the depth of other Civ games, and seems designed to be easier and faster to play. Some examples: the map is very small, and you have no control over the map size or type. You no longer build roads square by square, but instead create them instantly (for large amounts of money) and only between cities. There are no railroads (roads now act much like railroads).

In terms of gameplay, because the map is so small, it tends to feel very crowded -- you'll run into multiple civilizations early on, not too far from where your own settlers begin. Often the whole map will have only one major continent. As a result, it's pretty much a scramble to grab as much of this meager territory as you can early in the game. Then, once you develop a single tank army (by building and combining three tanks), you can pretty much take any city with it, and just walk around the map mopping up. So there is definitely a difficult mid-game phase where you risk losing cities to attacks or culture, but after that there's a pretty long clean-up phase where your win is inevitable.

It's still fun, but as a more shallow game, the fun is likely to wear off a lot sooner than it would with the older, deeper versions of Civ. Still, even a shallow Civ is better than no Civ, so I'm happy to see that it's come to new game systems.

When I first heard about Civ for the console, I was a bit leery of the result. Console ports of strategy games are pretty much unheard of, and with good reason: it is not easy to do them well. Overall, they did a pretty good job with the game. It is MUCH simpler than civ4, but the ways they streamlined it make sense. Food is now used only to grow, so you don't have to worry about starvation. Workers are gone as well, and once you have the tech to gain an advantage from a certain resource, you gain the benefits immediately.

Another interesting change is military units. The benefits are much more noticeable (veteran if 50% now) and people tend to have less units total (combining them into armies). Overall, I think the game is well done and a good contribution to the Civ universe.

The reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 4 is that I STRONGLY recommend against getting the PS3 version if you have a choice. 2K shuffled off multiplayer responsibilities to Gamespy again which means bugs/problems are frequent. Dropped connections are frequent in multiplayer games. Also, Gamespy is apparently doing all the leaderboard stuff as well and so if you play a Game of the Week game (an interesting idea), it is very random as to whether your score will upload. It is very vexing to play a game from start to finish and then find out that your score did not upload.

Also of note with the PS3 version is that 2k games has announced they will not ever support trophies for Civilization Revolution. This is despite the fact that Sony announced trophies 18 months before they released and the toolkit a while before Civ Rev hit the shelves. Instead they will be doing only Downloadable Content additions which add simple things like wonders, and you have to pay for these updates. The achievement system for the 360 is extremely well designed, if you have a choice.. wait for that. Also, the install base is higher on the 360 so in 3-6 months it will be much easier to find a multiplayer game on the 360 than the ps3.

So in conclusion, this is a fun game. It has some issues. Some civs (hi Rome!) are way too strong given the new mechanics, but they should be ironed out eventually. What will not be ironed out is that the PS3 support is rather poor. I usually prefer ps3 games, but I would recommend this on the 360 or on the handheld (PSP?) before the PS3 given the lackluster support the PS3 version is receiving.

I did the same thing that I'm sure alot of first time Civ players did with this one...went home, played for 4 hours, finished my first run through. Now while I may have had a slight pang of disappointment when all was said and done...it was only because I didn't get all the nice rendered cutscenes i was expecting after having DOMINATED planet Earth. Other than that...I had a blast playing this game! Did I mention I played it for 4 hours straight? Gotta be something to this game if a I can turn it on and not stop playing all the way through like that. I'm hoping that maybe it was just the difficulty setting that didn't allow for longer gameplay and more bells and whistles as far as cutcenes and all of that. If not...oh well...this game is still a great way to kill some time on a slow night.

For the record...I really did love this game. It's fun, it's simple to play and understand...it's everything a GAME should be.

Have fun everyone.

We started playing Civ on the Playstation 1 version and never got into playing on the computer. With that as a reference, we love the new Civ. Some of the stream lined items are great... Roads are quick and easy, ships come with crew which can explore, bonuses are awesome. These items take some of the redundancy away. The city graphics are nice as well as the terrain. Ease of movement, and easy access to city screens and diplomacy are also very appreciated. And we get to play on our High Def TV while in the comfort of our living room.

I have read a lot about length of play. My husband has put 6 hours into his Chieftain (easiest level) game and I have already played for an hour. Perhaps we are more thorough than some, but this is not a two hour game for us. Could we have finished faster, sure, but that just takes the fun out. It is also addicting, times just flies by during play. We could easily sit all night and play. The randomness of the game is great for replaying. No two games are the same.

The game is not perfect (what game is?). Some cons we have found are: The map could be bigger, or a choice given on size. Some of the wonders are scaled back a bit too much. There is a glitch in the civopedia with graphics overlapping text, very minor issue. The people speaking gibberish is a bit silly. An option to turn off advisors would be nice, we scaled the their volume down. There is no feature to see the full map.

Overall, I would recommend this game to new players of civ and occasional players like us. As some have said, this may not be a great game for hard core computer players. Keep an open mind with the game and you will have a good time!

This game is not for super civ heads. Civ is extrodinarily complicated and takes months to learn and play well. The average console player simply doesn't have the attention span. This is a great way to play a quick, turn based mental exercise and a great change of pace from all the shooters. Ignore the civheads reviews, of course they are not going to like it.

Some people on here are reviewing this game based on their experiences with the full blown versions of civilization on PC, which I also grew up with. Let me tell you right away, this is Civilization lite. If you want days of game play from one game, this isn't it.

However - THIS IS THE BEST GAME FOR YOUR DOLLAR. If I were to calculate amount spent per hour of playing time, this would be the best value game. Sure, it's not as in-depth as the full on versions of Civilization, but I think that makes it much more fun and playable. The game is slick, and fun in the way it's animated.

Really the only warning is that it's so addictive, that if you've planned anything else to do within the next few hours, don't load it because you'll miss that appointment! Less than 30 bucks was a steal - BUY IT!