Review: Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution (360)

With three cities under our control, the British armies march towards the French in the hope of overthrowing Napoleon. Gamestyle stormed the first city and achieved a comfortable victory against the courageous French archers. However, unbeknownst to us the enemy had a boat, which they used to capture our city.

Pinned down with enemies attacking from both sides, we build as many legion armies as possible to defend against the coming hordes. In the end our efforts are futile and the only option is to make peace with the French by succumbing to their demands. We may have lost the battle, but we live to fight another day. This was a moment which actually took place while playing Civilization Revolution, and if we retold of all the fantastic battles Gamestyle experienced, then this would turn into a million word review, each word gushing praise.

Civilization is a rarity on the Xbox 360. For a start it’s a game that doesn’t involve murky colours, space marines and unnecessary cursing. But it’s also a turn based strategy title that’s been built from the ground up for consoles, so control wise it’s as perfect as a game in the genre can be. Our hands still cramp up at the thought of trying to play Command and Conquer with the 360 pad.  A little helper pops up if you need him and he simply explains how to control your units, building structures and general tips. Winning the game can be done in four ways. Domination (take control of all capital cities), Economic (make lots of gold and build the World Bank), Cultural (build lots of Wonders and attract great people like Albert Einstein) and Scientific (reach Alpha Centauri). Of course completing one of these requirements is easier said than done.

The game starts off with a small city under your control and a few warriors that are just used to explore and get rid of the few barbarian villages scattered around the area. Soon though you get to create settlers who can build a brand new city as well as various building such as barracks and libraries. Each unit or structure takes turns being built, varying in length depending on how many resources you have. With your warriors exploring the land, which is randomly generated making each game completely different, it won’t be long before you run into another civilization.

Other countries that you discover on the map will be quick to offer their hands in friendship, yet this almost always never lasts. Sometimes they can demand things from you and if you decline it can sometimes start a war. Other times they just get upset at you because of the culture or amount of money you possess and this also leads to an inevitable war. So in order to win you really need to balance your army as well as the culture of your people because without culture your borders will soon shrink and other countries may be able to take the city away from you.

While the single player is where you’ll spend most of your time. You also have a Game of the Week which can be downloaded straight from Xbox Live, offering a scenario where you are able to alter the conditions and multi-player, which unless you have an ungodly amount of free time is best left to the hardcore Civ players. It’s a great package with plenty of longevity thanks to the amount of countries you can control and the higher difficulties.

With a demo free to download on the Xbox Live marketplace there’s no excuse not to check out Civilization Revolution before making the plunge. Even if this isn’t your genre of choice try it and like us you may find yourself pleasantly surprised. There’s plenty of depth and challenge that even the best strategist may find hard to conquer. Controlling a civilization has never been so fun.

Rating: 9 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver