Civilization Revolution

I have grown up playing the Sid Meiers Civilization series on the PC. I honestly believe that this game is the reason why I have such a deep love for history. Although I still love the PC games I feel that there are several features that were added that were not really needed. So, I was a interested to see what Civilization Revolition has to offer.

After wasting $50 on Sims 3 last week I decided that it might be best to buy Civ used at Gamestop. Although my game did not have the manual I was quickly able to pick up the game concepts. Even if I had not been playing Civ for so many years the in game guides can get anyone started on thier way to world dominance.

Civilization is a game about world domination. You must take your civilization from a single fledging city to a world powerhouse. Winning does not just mean that you have to kill off all of your opponinates, as fun as that can be, you also can win by creating a large amount of culture, wealth, or technology.

The reason why I like this game is that it is a scaled down version of the PC games. Yes, this can be good or bad, but I think that the good outweighs the bad. Things like the worker unit have been eliminated from the game. Instead you build roads from your city screen and also pick what you want your city to focus on (production, growth, science, etc.). Previously you either had to micromanage all these units or put them on automatic. Managing individual workes was extremely time consuming as you accumulated more workers. Leaving them on auto risked them being captured during times of war.

Civilization has several different levels of diffiulty. Chiftain is good when you are bored, but do not feel like doing something too involved. Or you can play on the harder levels were every decision can mean winning or losing. As the difficulty increases your strategy must also change. Deciding where to build cities, which Wonders to build, and when to go to war are just some of the things that need to be determined throughout the game.

One of the things I do not like about the scaled down decision is the inability to abadon cities. Now, maybe you can but I just do not know how, but I spent a decent amount of time trying to figure out how. Do to my high culture another city decided to join my civilization. First of all, I did not have the choice. My second problem with this is that I space out my cities very carefully so that they do not share resource squares. This new city was in one of the worst spots possible, but I could not do anything about it.

A turn-based strategy game might not be everyone's cup of tea, but for $25 I honestly feel this game is worth a shot. If you are still not sure you can download the demo for free. You don't have every aspect of the game available to you, but you do get a good taste of what the game is and how to play.