Review

Das Reviews: Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

August 15, 2008

After four hours of drool-inducing play of Sid Meier’s Civilization: Revolution, on the bus back to NYC, even the 5000-year-old mummy sitting next to me was interested in what was happening on the two little screens under my thumbs. “Does it really take over five years for your soldiers to just cross two squares of desert land?” she asked. “Yes,” I told her, “I chose George W. Bush as my leader.” She frowned at me then turned away and continued to rot in her fifteen dollar seat.

Ok, so I was just playing with her. You cannot choose Dubya as your fearless dictator, and unlike American voters he can’t be forced on you either by way of hanging chads and the good people of Florida. But you can choose from such luminaries as Ghengis Khan, Alexander The Great, Mao and more, to lead you to victory in Firaxis and 2K’s successful strategic gem.

The developers did an excellent job cramming every detail they could into the DS version, unfortunately not the handy Civlopedia or the cool aquatic pastel look of its console brethren, but this shouldn’t count against this title since it provides all the same entertainment value as you race through eras which disappear at a rapid pace. How long it takes for you to move from fighting with swords to Patriot missile systems depends on how much time you dedicate to playing.

To start off you pick to play as one of 16 Civs ranging from the US to Africa and get to conquering pushy leaders, discovering rare artifacts, building wonders of the world and working your little underpaid, malnourished townspeople to a bloody pulp until centuries have past all the land is yours (devious laugh inserted here).

In addition, they heavily amped up the replay value by doling out weekly downloadable content updates in the form of a new map from Firaxis, local wireless multiplayer with up to three other players, and a full online multiplayer WiFi experience. Now you can get the shit kicked out of you by children. If you’re lucky it might be one of the 14-year old boys posing as a member of China’s female gymnastics team!

Truly top-notch entertainment with increasing difficulty levels for the hardcore and a short learning curve for the rest of us, Civilization Revolution is a great game that should stand the
test of time.

Das Gamer rating: This is the scheizer!

–Jonathan Lees

Buy a copy of Civilization Revolution.