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Aerodynamo
111,915
TA Score for this game: 1,509
Posted on 31 December 08 at 19:39, Edited on 08 February 09 at 19:27 |
This review has 46 positive votes and 4 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Civilization Revolution
About the Game (taken from the www.civilizationrevolution.com)
"In Civilization, players strive to become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering technologies, going head-to-head with some of history's greatest leaders, and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known. "
Gameplay ( 9 / 10 )
If you've never played an installment from the Civilization series, every game is a TBS (Turn-Based Strategy). Civ Revolution doesn't stray too far from the series' standards. It is your task to achieve victory one of three ways: Domination (destroying all opponents), Technology (advanced to the highest technology, eventually launching a spaceship), Economic (collect and store a certain amount of gold), and Cultural (discovering great people and building wonders, among other things). There are several difficulties, and every difficulty feels very appropriate to what you would expect. The AI will get smarter, more resourceful, and in many cases, much more hostile with every increase of the difficulty level. Games are generally quick, but can sometimes go on for a couple hours at a time. You'll forget what time it is the moment you pick up the controller.
Online multiplayer is frustrating on laggy, but I am not basing my score of gameplay on this. Perhaps it has improved since I owned the game, or maybe it hasn't. Also, if someone quits out, it freezes for several minutes and sometimes (maybe 75% of the time, if I had to guess) boots you out of the match.
Graphics ( 8 / 10 )
Simple yet sophisticated. The cities look awesome as you build more buildings within each and their level grows. Armies and units look unique for each civilization, and the textures applied to each unit upon ranking up feels very unique rather than copied over. The spaceship section, even though it is really only a tiny percentage of the game, looks well-executed. It is easy on the eyes and has a very original style.
Sound ( 6 / 10 )
The sound gets old fast, from the whinny of horses, marching, to the dumb sounds that go off when you discover a great person or build a wonder, or even finish a building. I kept the game muted in most cases, as they started to give me a headache. Nice at first, but horribly resounding and obnoxious after a few play-throughs.
Replayability ( 9 / 10 )
RTS games are made for replayability. You will be replaying this thing as long as you love the game. Each match's length is short enough to feel the closure when you turn the Xbox off at the end of the day, yet long enough to not feel like the match is rushed. They really perfected this aspect. Also, every week, a new scenario or challenge is added courtesy of the developers, with leaderboards for every difficulty and a uniqueness to each scenario. They range from fast-paced gameplay with increased movement ranges for units, to having an overwhelming population of barbarians at the start of the game that make it hard to wipe them from the map, even by the time you are blasting off into space.
Pros:
Easy to learn
Perfect length per match
Nice balance of AI personalities
Cons:
Poor online multiplayer
No match setting available (speed, length, technologies, etc.)
Recommendations:
Previous knowledge of Civilization, a love for RTS or TBS games
Recap:
Gameplay ( 9 / 10 )
Graphics ( 8 / 10 )
Sound ( 6 / 10 )
Replayability ( 9 / 10 )
Overall ( 8 / 10 )
If you were worried about playing an RTS/TBS on the Xbox 360, be worried no longer. While LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth II might have scared everyone with how bulky the game felt, Civilization Revolution feels incredibly natural. Revolution is NOT a port, it is a game made from scratch by the developers, and puts all the controls within easy access. Don't buy this game if you are looking forward to online multiplayer, but for offline games, expect lots and lots of fun!
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evilknight23
445,284
TA Score for this game: 1,509
Posted on 22 May 11 at 23:18, Edited on 22 May 11 at 23:19 |
This review has 3 positive votes and 6 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Disclaimer: the following may disappoint loyal Civ fans...
Overview: Sid's first attempt on the Next Gen consoles meets with interesting results to say they least. Loyal Civ fans will be pretty disappointed with this version but its a fun attempt to please the console strategists.
Gameplay: This is a very dumbed down version of Civ! While the core principles and game play still exist, the game has been taken down to a smaller level so that the console can handle it. Which is an excuse really if they would utilize the hard drive they could have done much more. The game is missing some units and some of the ones included aren't really needed because of the games army creation which is new for Civ. The problem comes in because some units are more or less over kill, why do you need three naval units? None of which are a carrier and there is no real artillery in the game. You get catapults early on but they have no range. It just seems like this was the B team at Firaxis. Anyways back on topic for those who don't know what I'm carrying on about Civ is a turn based game where you build up cities and produce armies/culture/gold/tech to conquer the world. Each Civ has perks so to speak and the player uses those perks to over come his/her enemies. Just like in the PC version Deity(Hard) is bullshit mode and for all intents and purposes the game plays just the way it does on pc but is actually easier than its PC brother. For someone looking to try Civ for the first time this is a great way to get introduced to the game. Score: 2/2.5
Graphics: The game comes off very blocky if you know what I'm referring to. textures are nice and made up for the Duplo looking units and cities. If you play for say 10 or more hours you might find a pretty interesting thing happen, your textures will start to disappear and the game will look crappy. This is an easy fix just save what you're doing exit to main menu and reload your game. Some times in fact half of the time when you return to the main menu the game will freeze. The graphics aren't realistic or anything but I think they suit the game which is more important than if they look like real tanks and such. I saw very few graphical problems besides the on I listed. Score: 2/2.5
Controls: The controls are easy and have on-screen guides. The longer you play the slower the responsiveness of the controls seem sometimes but then the game is processing a lot by then usually. Other then some minor issues when the game starts to slow down it is near perfect. New players should use the help built-in to the game as there is no real tutorial level (shame). The advisors will help you once you start a new game. Score: 2/2.5
Multiplayer: This is where the game went horribly wrong. MP games drag on for ever and that is to be expected for the type of game but combine that with serious lag and horrible chat setup and you've got a recipe for some of the worst MP games you will ever play. Be warned that random drops coupled with serious lag will make an already long game last an eternity. At least they tried... Score: .5/2.5
Sub-total: 6.5
Rent or Buy: This is dependant on you if you're a strategy lover, if so then go for it. If you're looking for something new to play and its cheap by all means but remember my motto "Always rent it first". This prevents controller abuse.
Replay: 3
Comments: I'm a huge fan of the Civ series and this a pretty good game.
Total: 6.5
See all of my reviews at http://evilknightgamestudios.com/wordpress/?page_id=11
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