New 'Civilization' not as good as predecessors

• By JOSHUA WASCOM
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Aug 6, 2008 - UPDATED: 4:10 p.m.

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“Civilization Revolution” is a heavily streamlined version of its PC counterpart. In some areas, in fact, it is polished to the point of wearing away most of the depth of the original. While the initial experience captures a lot of the fun of the original (particularly for those new to the series), this entry lacks much of the ability to replay of previous games.

No matter what else is said, “Civilization Revolution” is a Civilization game. For those unfamiliar with the franchise, this means that the player takes control of some civilization from history, and controls that culture as they make their way from the ancient past to the near future, managing, building and conquering cities and armies.

A common problem of strategy games on consoles is the implementation of the control scheme. Many aspects of managing large groups of units and resources are simply much easier with a mouse and keyboard. Revolution excels more there than anywhere else. The controls are very well thought out, and after just a few minutes with them, they fade appropriately into the background.

The presentation of the game is fairly simple, but largely successful. The graphics overall, and the animations of units in particular, are pleasant enough, and the sounds are good, distinct from those of the past while still maintaining certain familiar rings (except the nonsense speech of the various advisors and foreign dignitaries, which rises quickly from faint annoyance to rage-inducing).

The gameplay itself has been ruthlessly streamlined, probably with the goal of keeping games simple and short. This works very well for the first few games you play, as you quickly learn the basics and begin to dominate the computer. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that there simply is not much to the game besides the basics. In previous games, the player would explore a vast, randomly generated world, engage in complex and intriguing negotiations and battles, and make thoughtful decisions about what to research and what to build. While all of these elements are still present, they have been shrunk to absurd degrees.

The research tree has been pared down significantly, but it still maintains a semblance of its older self, and various technologies that the player chooses from at any point are presented very well, showing quite clearly and efficiently the direct benefits of each.

Diplomacy has probably been hit hardest by the simplification process, as the options presented now are limited to the extreme, with what few options the player seemingly selected arbitrarily and sometimes with no clear logic. Combat, the other side of international conversation, is little changed from previous entries, though some more advanced concepts have been removed. The basic system is instantly familiar to fans of the series though, as it remains one of the few places where a few guys with bows and arrows can sometimes prevail against a modern tank, much to the consternation of the owner of the tank.

The world is almost comically small, severely curtailing the joy of exploration. Barbarians and friendly natives still exist, along with intriguing artifacts that bestow very useful gifts on their discoverers, but these are all located and acquired rather quickly. The greatly decreased size of the world also tends to enforce much shorter games, as there is simply no room for vast empires to arise and struggle against one another.

None of this would be at all a problem if they were simply optional ways of playing, as many of them have been in the past. Indeed, it is the lack of customizability that is most keenly missing from the previous entries.

Even with the sometimes interesting scenarios and multiplayer component that are available, the smaller, simpler scale of "Civilization Revolution" just can’t support nearly so many replays as its predecessors are so famous for. It’s fun for a bit and serves as a good introduction to the series, but most players will quickly find themselves wishing for a bit more depth.