Civilization Revolution is the first serious attempt at a Civilization game for the console. Civilization 1 was also released for a console, but it was little more than a port that suffered terribly in the media translation.

The first thing you will notice about Civilization Revolution if you are a fan of the series is that this game looks and feels different from previous Civ games in almost every way. All of the technologies you can research have completely new functionality. Units stack and move differently, combat is resolved differently, workers get different results from working familiar land, and commerce and culture are almost unrecognizable, and so on. This is NOT Civilization 5. This is something entirely different, designed to meet the wants and needs of console gaming. For these reasons, this is the last time I will refer to previous versions of Civilization when reviewing this game, because Revolution deserves to be reviewed on its own merit.

First: the graphics. They’re functional and fun, but not breathtaking. There is no attempt at ultra-realism here, but the style is gorgeous. There are dozens of different characters you will see showing up on the screen to negotiate with you, taunt you, or give you advice, and every one of them has an appealing, unique look. As your cities grow, you can see the new buildings appear, and the architecture change with the times. Wonders are especially attractive and make your cities look unique on the game map. The game is very visually appealing.

Next: the controls. For a turn based strategy, the game handles incredibly well. Revolution solved the map navigation problem that had previously made PC the best platform for turn based strategy. To do this they used lots of new innovations, including thumbstick sensitivity that allows you to move either fast or slow depending on the pressure you use, an easy zoom-out feature accessed by simply holding left trigger down, and most importantly an extremely simple “quick select” feature accessed by using the left or right bumper, to move straight to a city or unit.

Finally: the balance. For strategy games, balance is the only thing that REALLY matters. As anyone who played Call to Power realizes, even terrible graphics, controls, and bugs can be overlooked in strategy games. The only unforgivable sin is imbalance. Strategy games rarely get this right, because small advantages typically snowball quickly into insane tech advantages that have you shooting at pikemen with your stealth bombers. Revolution doesn’t have that problem at all. Tech is only one of many different types of advantages you can get. If you have a tech advantage, but your opponent is able to produce more than you, his inferior units can still compete based on their sheer numbers. Attacking in any era is very difficult, but especially so in the early eras. This is actually my biggest complaint with the game, but I will go into that later.

Another way Revolution has resolved balance issues is also part of their solution for the dozens of hours that typical PC strategy games can take, which would be unthinkable in a multiplayer console game. Revolution has been balanced to be smaller and faster than PC strategy games. The interface is much more streamlined, and there is much less micromanagement. This is all great news for people looking for the best console strategy game of all time, but bad news for people looking for civ5. In the game I played online with my friend, we got into the modern era and won a domination victory in a little over 3 hours, our first time ever playing. It would probably be shorter if we were more familiar with the interface to start.

One problem with the “short and sweet” aspect of Revolution is that the game punishes you for trying to win early. A civ that spends 100 resources on defense will beat 500 resources worth of attackers in the early ages. In later ages, this discrepancy is much less apparent because of all the ways you can increase your attack or reduce the enemy’s defense, but you can tell that the designers seriously didn’t want people to win in the first hour or two of playing. This makes the whole first part of the game seem sluggish, because you know that nothing you can do with your military really matters until the industrial age. Its the biggest glaring problem I have with Revolution, and it’s enough to keep me from giving it a perfect score. In almost every other way, my experience with the game has been outstanding.

If you are reading this review, chances are that this game is for you! If you’re tired of watching your 360 collect dust because the only game type that ever seems to come out is first person shooters, treat yourself to Civilization Revolution. It’s the least intimidating, most accessible, most enjoyable strategy game you’re likely to ever play on the 360.

Score

B+