Score
Gameplay:	9
Graphics:	9
Sound:	8
FunFactor:	10
PlasmaFactor:	9
Overall:	9

Civilization Revolution Review
August 11, 2008 by Jereme Puik

Start Time: 9 pm

End Time: 1:30 am

That was just one session with Sid Meier’s’ Civilization Revolution. Four and a half hours of playing time coupled with the American civilization achieving a domination victory over the continent. Civilization Revolution is but one word: addicting. Over the last couple of years, we have gotten maybe a few real-time strategies here and there on consoles, but most have failed to grasp the control scheme and manage it well enough to keep you attached. Civilization Revolution takes you for a ride and you won’t even notice you’re still holding a controller.

It’s All about Patience

You may as well call him ‘legendary’, Sid Meier has been known for his famous work on the Civilization series, which gave PC gamers one of the most in-depth real-time strategy games to the market in an intuitive nature. With its new iteration, the series has turned to appealing to the larger crowd at hand instead of its PC group following that is has gathered over the years since the series debut in 1994. Never mind that Revolution looks like a Civ game all wrapped up in the Sims world. If that’s what it takes to appeal to the younger generation and gaming world in general, then it is most certainly a welcome change. Although, followers might be turned off by this, once you step into its world, you certainly shouldn’t have any trouble finding yourself at home again at least until Civilization V releases.

You have 16 civilizations to choose from as you begin to take on the world as Caesar (Rome), Abraham Lincoln (Americans), and Queen Elizabeth (English) among others. Once you establish your city and begin your journey, you’ll notice the ease of the control scheme. It is mapped specifically towards your needs and gives you the most versatile experience possible. The only flaws in this aspect would be the camera, as once the screen gets busy and you decide to start expanding your empire, the camera will jerk around to its various positions to adjust to where your units are at the time. The single player campaign can take you anywhere from 3-5 hours to complete in its entirety. That may seem like a while, but once you get started you’ll be celebrating your civilization victory before you know it.

The Civilopedia is where you can go for all the information you may need about the game’s world. You’ll find information about the many world leaders among the unit types and technologies. Your ultimate goal is to be the first civilization to reach the unknowns of the galaxy in space. In the trophy room after you have completed your mission, you can check out what you have accomplished and what you have unlocked. As you continue to play through the other civilizations, you’ll unlock more items and the trophy room will continue to fill. There is also a Game of the Week section, which has pre-determined games for players to take a hold of and try to finish the game with the highest score possible. The players able to do so will be placed on leaderboards on the official Civilization Revolution website.

If you’re on Xbox Live, up to 4 players can compete co-op on the same team or have a free-for-all online depending on the hosts choosing of the game. There are ranked and unranked games as as with any online multiplayer game. Auto-matching, leaderboards and achievements make for a more in-depth online experience. For both services, Xbox Live and PSN players will be able to download new content via the individual marketplaces such as maps and scenarios.

Graphics

It is hard not to notice the fact that Civilization Revolution has taken some inspiration from the Sims. World leaders even speak in the same gibberish you hear from those characters, which might bother some. There will be a short problem, however, when you start to get towards the end of the game and you have a lot of units on the ground. Load times will become a bit scratchy and jerkiness is bound to appear because of that. There might also be a few small misses here and there while the game loads up what you’re building. Otherwise, the graphics look pretty smooth and run at a decent frame rate.

Sound

You’ll be hearing everything from the sounds of your warrior’s victories and grunts in battle to your settlers building the many wonders of your city in Civilization Revolution. There will even be celebrations to celebrate the arrival of another leader and your invited to view the party when that caravan arrives. The music is quite forgettable unfortunately. It isn’t the most prominent thing in the background and gets lost behind all the many characters noises and your world leaders bothering you for peace or war. With the 5.1 surround sound you would almost expect to hear every nuance of noise, but the music is one that is sacrificed.

Plasma Factor

Civilization Revolution is quite addicting. Gamers will have a blast as they spend hours building their civilization from the ground up and managing it and making sure they have the right tools to survive till the end of time itself. Multiplayer is where Revolution has its strengths and the fact that you can have 4-player co-op on the same team makes it even more worthwhile. Although, don’t get me wrong, it’s always fun to play by yourself if you’re looking to waste a couple of hours before you move onto something else. It shouldn’t take long for beginners much like me to be grabbed by the multitude of content you are bound to discover.

Conclusion

Purists of the series may find it hard to accept the Sims like appearance of the title, but that should all blow over once you get your hands dug into the gameplay itself. It is quite unfortunate they didn’t decide to give the world leaders actual voices, but it does not detract from the gameplay very much. To wrap it all up, Civilization Revolution is a big title, not in terms of hype, but content. It should have enough to satisfy even the casual fan at heart or even someone who is mildly interested in the game. The cartoonish feel 2k Games decided to give the game certainly helps in drawing in that larger crowd and Sid Meier certainly struck gold with this entry.