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53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
All over too quickly...., 15 Jun 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I pre-ordered this for the PS3 two months ago, and I was really excited when it dropped on my doormat on Friday, I had a quick bash at it that night, to get a feel for it, then had another go the next day on a harder setting (Warlord), the graphics are very good, your units and advisors and enemy leaders are well animated and funny (And, is it just me, or is Catherine The Great super-hot?), the controls are easy to work out and they make full use of the controller, the city screens were a little simplified, but I can live with that, You get some cool units and can form them together to make armies, fleets or wings which is great fun (And is also a must if you are to survive), and the more battles your armies win, the stronger they get, with promotions, upgrades etc, there are also really cool little cut scenes when you go into battle which really brings the combat to life.
So, I'm playing as the English, and building my empire, and so far I've encountered the Russians, Chinese and Germans, and this is where I start to notice flaws, the diplomacy is very basic, an opponent will either like you or not, they will make peace initially then demand something from you in exchange for peace, when you refuse, you normally go to war, which is fine by me, gives you a chance to use that shiny new knight army or spitfire wing. But that seems to be about it, you don't seem to get opponents asking you for help against an evil aggressor like they used to, or inviting you to join them on a crusade against whoever, you still get to trade knowledge with them though.
So I end up going to war with first the Russians, then the Chinese decide they want a piece of the action, then the Germans start waving their swords at me. After wiping out the Chinese, I make peace with the Germans and Russians (The latter becoming quite friendly for most of the game), but it all kicks off again with the Germans (Sound familiar?)
Anyway, after quite an impressive Anglo-German war spanning most of my Saturday afternoon and the construction of my spaceship, I get a message warning me that the game will end in 5 turns and a victor will be announced... OK, I'm not actually quite ready to stop playing yet, but no problem, I can just elect to keep going after the victory is announced, like in Civ2, after you built your spaceship, it gives you an option to carry on playing although no score will be kept, must be the same here right? Wrong, imagine my disappointment when, after I was announced the victor, the end credits start to roll! I think this is the biggest flaw in the game.
I really really wanted to keep playing, because just after launching my spaceship, the Russians, Germans(Who had surrendered), and Zulus all declared war on me for no apparent reason, there was nothing I could do to appease them, and things looked set for a global conflict of truly epic proportions! I mean who knows, we could have brought out the Nukes! This was going to be fun! But no, just as it was about to kick off, all I got was, "You've won a domination victory, thanks for playing, bye!".
This is where I feel really short changed. Another gripe I have: What the hell happened to being able to customise your world? Why can't you choose a map size any more? The map they give you is way too small, and you can't choose how many opponents you have. I have to echo what has already been said, this is a fun game, but it doesn't feel like proper Civ, as someone else here said, its Civ Lite. I can only hope that the online game is more fulfilling, when I get a ethernet cable for my PS3 I'll find out.
Overall, fun game, but way too limited and short.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun while it lasts..., 15 Jun 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I bought Civ Rev on the back of what I felt was a decent showing from the US PSN store demo, as positive reviews overall from sites like Eurogamer. Unfortunately, the demo's shortcomings are even more evident in the full game. I would really, really love to avoid using terms like 'it's a dumbed-down version', and maybe use words like 'simplified' or 'streamlined' - but essentially they all point to the same issue - this is no 'revolution', it's just Civ Lite, or Diet Civ, or whatever you want to call it. And the fact that the publishers are passing it off as 'what console gamers want' is bull, and subsequently the reason that it manages to avoid the top scores. I'll admit, the last Civ I played was Civ III, as I could never afford enough ram for IV - although it's required spec are probably not so substantial nowadays - and so I may be out of touch with drawing parallels to Civ Rev's most recent PC incarnation, but I never remember Civ III lleaving me feeling so... unfulfilled. In Civ Rev, the map size has been limited and timescales for research and construction shorterned to inject pace into the game and to allow for the world to be conquered in an afternoon, which sadly betrays the depth in game that Sid Meier's series is famous for. Everything works as it should, the control interface is slick and logical, the gameplay allows for the player to win by various means and thereby tailor the experience to the player's requirments. The problem is, it's all over far too quickly. With games like Elder Scrolls, or GTA IV, the Final Fantasy series, or Pro Evo's master's league - it's not a complete shock to find a game taking in excess of 40 or 50 hours to get the most out of. And these are all console games - so it's a bit of a sickener to find that Civ Rev's brevity is almost used as a selling point when it becomes the game's ultimate weakness. I can afford to lose a few weeks wiping the Aztecs off the map, giving the Russians their rightful place as world leaders - so why won't the game let me? To be fair, though, the game length suits the multiplayer mode well and may well prove to be Civ Rev's lasting legacy - much like Call of Duty 4, another case of an awesome and re-playable multiplayer experience saving a game with excellent but brief single player mode. Having played previous Civs, it is hard not to feel short changed by this latest version, and even newcomers may be disappointed by the lack of a game of substance to really get absorbed into. Ultimately, what has been included makes a great game, but there just isn't enough of it to warrant the top marks. Maybe next time around the developers will allow the player to choose how much of the Civ experience they want.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just one more go!, 23 Jun 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Okay, it was obvious comparisons were going to made between Civ 4 (the last instalment of the series) as well as earlier versions. What you've got to remember is that this NOT continuing from these series, this is Civilisation Revolution, a new start (we hope) and a new franchise, aimed towards a new market and hopefully take some existing fans with it.
I don't fall into either camp, I did have Civ4, but it was a bit long-winded (althought excellently executed), butI certainly don't have 60+ hours to invest in global domination..
So first the bad... yes, the maps are a little small (but not overly), the online aspect still appears to be work in progress (as I cannot connect to any game as of yet, but that's not too much of an issue, there's plenty to keep me going in the meantime!), yes after extended play there is a tendency for military might over and above culture / technology, but a little bit of skill and strategy and you can still build the United Nations and win...and yes, you could argue it's over too quickly (although, personally - 3+ hours is sufficient for one game for me!) finally, yes, a little more customisation certainly would have been appreciated...
And now the good... excellent controls, you can really notice how this was built for consoles, it's so easy to control..the advisors are always entertaining... big, bold, colourful graphics (1080p support) and entertaining battle animations, great sound, chunky fx and good range of music (even the original Civ4 theme is in there!) and the replayability of this is infinite.. I've been hammered so many times (on King level no less) and thought 'right, time to start again, my tactic this time will be...' - it's so involving! And the complexity is I think set just right, yes it would be good to be able to tweak a few other things in the cities, etc. but this is a new start and those are what will no doubt come in the sequels... Finally I want to address a comment made about this game 'you have seen everything there is to see after a few games..' - that's only partially true, and actually is a plus to this...Personally I want to see the effects of everything (Manhattan Project, etc.) so that I can choose to include / exclude it in my overall strategy...
As you can see, this game is going to generate a lot of debate, the demo is available on both Xbox Live and PSN - it's definitely a try before you buy... I bought it as soon as I'd played the demo, it really is that good.
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