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Titles in the vein of Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution are
few-and-far-between on the Xbox360. In-fact, they’re currently
rather scarcely represented on the Current-Generation
 of consoles.
While comparisons over the Turn-Based structure and overseer nature
of the players interaction would be happily compared to the likes of
Advance Wars, Command & Conquer and
Lord Of The Rings: Battle For MiddleEarth II, the truth of
the matter is that Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution most
closely relates to
Age Of Empires: Age Of Kings on the NintendoDS.
Players begin by selecting their race - from a choice of over
fifteen civilisations - and humbly settling their first City. The
game features four victory conditions - Domination, Economic,
Technology and Cultural - and from this unassuming start, players
begin their plan for defeat of the competing four civilisations –
either human, or Artificial Intelligence.
The game functions on the principles of Base Construction and
turn-based combat. Maps are based on a Grid-System, and units and
Cities are easily identifiable as to how many squares they can move
or shall fill. During a turn the player has options to move units
and initiate fights with any troops on the Map, alter the workers in
a City to adjust it’s levels of Gold or Science production, select
technology to Research and units to build, construct Roads between
Cities and approach any civilisations already met for an exchange of
technology - or arms - amongst many other options alterable by the
player. Once all units and options have been exhausted, the player
ends their turn and each opponent then takes theirs consecutively.
 The Base Construction element acts incredibly similar to the
building of units in the
Command & Conquer series, however, most new buildings follow
the same pattern also. Players can select any one researched item
for production – be it a Temple to increase the Culture the City
produces, a Workshop to increase it’s rate of Production, or a
military unit such as Riflemen or Tanks - and a set number of turns
will be assigned for it’s time in production. This production time
can be modified by adjusting the workers in your City or – should
the Gold be flowing freely – the player can Rush the production of
the unit at a cost. Build commands assigned to an object can be
reassigned at any point during your turn, and any accumulated
development is immediately transferred onto the new object, making a
quick change of strategy possible almost every turn.
The combat functions mostly like that seen in the Advance Wars
series. Decided by a complicated series of conditions and
Special Abilities – run by an algorithm that doesn’t always appear
particularly fair – the outcome may well be determined before the
brief animation of a battle even commences. Terrain modifiers come
into play – such as Hills adding a 50% Combat Bonus – and
continually winning battles will allow the unit in question to
receive Special Abilities. Special Abilities add bonuses such as an
extra Movement Point or Combat Bonus to a unit, however,
for all the complexity and choice available for basic land troops,
it makes the lack of such options for air and naval units all the
more obvious.
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is a game which takes the
basic task, each of the four possible victories, and allows the
player to tailor an entire system around their preferred route to
conquest. As mentioned several times above, basic principles are
defaulted by the title, but the player has access to tailor nigh-on
every function of the game to their preference. Should the player be
attempting an Economic win, it may be decided that Gold production
should be introduced in place of Science. Should a Cultural victory
be on the cards, the player may decide to change the Governmental
policies of their nation from the default Despotism to a Monarchy,
once Researched.
To mention every variant, every player-defined option and every
aspect of the title’s basic play would be to miss the point
somewhat; Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is a game that
holds you by the hand for a few hours, only to let you reign free by
only your second or third game.
As each game progresses – a game here, unlike the more traditional
Sid Meier’s Civilization titles, may take anywhere from
fifteen-to-twenty minutes, to several hours – players will Research
new Technologies, allowing new units and buildings to be constructed
and working through four Eras; Ancient, Medieval Industrial and
Modern. Each Era brings new complications and avenues for
exploration, and in-time, a good player will find themselves
battling against Horsemen and Archer units with Modern Infantry and
Bomber units. Great People and Wonders add yet another layer of
depth to the title, increasing statistics of Cities or even greater
effect. There’s a very fine balancing act taking place between
units, buildings and Wonders, and their effectiveness and equated
costs, and while it may not be perfect in every instance, it’s far from
game breaking.
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is not a fantastic
looking title. Full of character and featuring a bright colour palette more reminiscent of
Beautiful Katamari's vivid universe than it's PC brethren and comfortable
Character Models, it’s clear that the Current-Generation’s
horsepower has been put to use for all the behind-the-scenes
number-crunching, rather than a glittery stage front performance.
The sound quality, as is often the case, is due similar remarks;
with the player’s advisors and commanders of other civilisations
speaking in an
Animal Crossing style garble, and a soundtrack
that is continuously punctuated by four-second observation effects.
It’s hard to define a game such as Sid Meier’s Civilization
Revolution. While it’s clearly not for everyone, those tuned-in
to similar games will find an addiction more than worthy of their
time. With five extremely well balanced Difficulty Settings, online
Multi-Player, Scenarios and Game of The Week options, while some may
feel as if the game is simply an expansion of Command & Conquer
style skirmish battles, there’s certainly no shortage of
settings in which to have them. Despite it’s similarities to the
Command & Conquer series, Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
is best compared to
Bladestorm: The Hundred Year’s War on the
Current-Generation; it's intense strategy will demand players either loathe it or love it – and
for those who fall into the latter category, there’s little better
choice available.
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