As a huge fan of Sid Meier's Previous Titles from the origional Civilization and Colonization to the more recent ones, i just HAD to buy this!!!
Another strong point for me was it lacked Civ 4's annoying Political, Legal, and economic Warfare that in my oppinion should have been left out or at least been a toggle on/off option.
I will start with this games good points.
- Its beutifull, not quite a scratch on what the PS3 is capable off, but in comparison to the usual run-of-the mill Empire builder, Civ Revolution is stunning, unit animations, diplomatic animations, cut scenes, there all very well done!! the world map really is quite good to look at too!!
- Almost All PS3 games can be grouped into one of 3 Catagorys,
First Person Shooter, Role Play Game, or Driving Game.
Civ Rev breaks the mould and really is a unique title for the console market. a refreshing change.
- Some of the in game concepts are innovative, like the controls, the ability to retreat, and some of the things in game are clever concepts compared to previous Civ titles.
However, Here is where the Fairy Tale ends.. This game has a lot of Bad Points. Read on in Dismay..
- Little Economic Control. You cant control your empires Taxes, What their spent on, or other aspects that you could do in other Civ Games, the only real economic control you have is through your selection of Government.
- Improving your City's You dont improve any of the surroundings around your citys any more, you simply let a unit of your population farm that square. Personally, i feel that developing your territory is half the fun! not any more, a citys radius is basicly "fire and Forget"
- Customisation of the map. - There is none! the maps are pretty small, and you have no customisation at all, for example, some people prefer big continents, others like small islands.
Its not uncommon in Civ Rev to have all players on one land mass!
the maps are simply un-interesting and have no variety.
- Tech Tree. You can quite happily go through the game selecting the first tech on the list every time.. Unless your playing the top 2 difficulty settings, theres no real need to pick and choose your technological development.
- A.I. The AI in Civ Rev is dreadfull! in previous titles each nation had its own personality and development style, in Civ Rev, there all genericly the same.. And there not really that clever, even on Emperor or Deity difficulty.
-Diplomacy. - The only diplomatic options are basicly War or Peace, Buy and Sell tech, and pay someone to attack an enemy.
The diplomacy is less involved than even the origional Civilization.
Also, after contact, its only a matter of time untill they turn on you. its predictably boring. and theres no relationships there.
- Animated charachters "Simlish" the drivvel that the animated charachters jabber endlessly quickly gets annoying and youl soon mute them.
Multiplayer and online content, The multiplayer often doesnt work, its certainly almost broken, and the "Game of the week" thing, whats that about?? seems like a random game with no explanation.
- End Game. When you, or another nation completes one of the many goals to win the game, it just ends!! no option to play on!!
This was infuriating for me the first time, as i had planned to carry on and finish my empire, build a spaceship and conquer the world.
BIG mistake leaving that out.
All in all, Civilization Revolution isnt the revolutionary next step in the series, if anything its Civilisation lite. Theres very little depth and the novelty soon wears off.. Fans of the Genre will find it Shallow and poor, take away the graphics, id expect this quality game on a mobile phone download. Poor Effort.