Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution Comments by Alec Meer

Thanks @ Stoatboy & Beano

I keep forgetting to set up the US PSN account

I said the game looks good (this is undeniably the feeling the review and score put across). Gene said it's 'civ IV dumbed down', which the review expressly says it isn't.

Is so hard for you to grasp?

@asphaltcowboy: "Is so hard for you to grasp? "

No, I get your point... but doesn't excuse you for calling him and idiot for having a different opinion while not have tried the demo yourself. Is THAT so hard to grasp?

Besides... having played the demo, Civ. Rev. seems somewhat simplified (could be called "dumbed down" I quess) to me also compared to the PC games. Its just not a bad thing in my opinion since I do like the demo a lot and have ordered the game.

Wendelius: while I haven't seen the Game of the Week thing in action, and won't until servers are up, I've played with the other scenarios that ship with the game - it's stuff like more barbarians, victory only by conquest and accelerated research. There's nothing like new unit types or significantly changed mechanics - just largely exactly the same singleplayer game with a few rule tweaks and increased stakes. It's possible Game of the Week will be bolder, but I don't think we'll see genuinely different scenarios/units until DLC or an expansion.
-Alec

Jeez, you bitches still arguing about reviews for games that you haven't played yet?

I *heart* Eurogamer ;o)

I called him an idiot for trolling. Which he clearly was. The end.

The PS3 version has screen tearing in the demo and the frame rate is slightly worse, howeevr this may have been sorted by the time the full game comes out

I tried both the 360 and PS3 demo and didn't spot any tearing in either version. Both versions have a few framedrops when scrolling though. Seems VERY identical to me (both running in 1080p thru HDMI on the same HDTV).

Playing Civ with a gamepad is like watching Lord of the Rings on a mobile.

Now THAT'S trolling ;)

@ Beano, your experience appears to be different to the general consensus on other forums, the Gaf one for example has many reports by PS3 users experiencing screen tearing on the demo

Sounds like it will fit in my collection nicely.

Not clear on one thing though: is there an option to pause or save during a MP game? Could get a bit uncomfortable going 3 hours with a belly full of beer and no comfort breaks. I would also feel a bit annoyed if someone (or I) had to quit after an hour because of family etc.

@GamerG : Ok, I haven't read forums posts on this .. just tried both demoes (once each) and found them to be identical :)

I usually spot these things - for example I got the 360 version of GRID since I spotted tearing and framerate issues in the PS3 demo, so it's not like I'm blind to tearing etc. ;)

@TheRealBadabing - no MP save, only SP.

@ Beano, fair enough!

A lot of it can come down to what cables people are using and in the Ps3's case what resolution you have it set at I guess, but on the forums there are people saying they wont purchase the game until its fixed which indicates to me it must be quite bad for some people. Are you playing in non HD?


Back on track I for one love the demo and cant wait to play it.

Also I really love the conclusion to the review, it really shows what goes through the mind of a reviewer, they know what the difference between an 8 and a 9 means.

"so its basically a civ IV dumbed down for the console 'tards?"

SMACK

Anyone else get really bad slowdown on the 360 demo? Towards the end, about 1000AD I guess, it would take much longer to switch between units and even register button presses. I loved it otherwise, but this is the only thing stopping me ordering it. Could be my Xbox, or the hard drive, I suppose.

@Beano

"So you are calling someone else a idiot for not reading the review but have not even tried the demo yourself? Nice!"

How are the two connected? asphaltcowboy wasn't commentin on the demo, he was commenting on Gene's comment, which he did read.

@kangarootoo : Read my posts - no need to further explain what I meant. Shoud be pretty clear.

@GamerG : So true. A lot of people (and sites) compare games on different video connection (HDMI vs. component) and resolutions which often will cause games to look different req. contrast and colors. Games should ideally only be compared on the same type of connection, input (different inputs can be set up completely different on some TV's) and TV (of course). ;)

\o/

8/10! Perfect! I'll be picking this up then. Sid Meier you wonderful man you, you've done it again! ^__^

I was hoping this would suck. Damn.

(I need to go play outside!)

As a (mostly casual fan) of PC strategy games, I can't put my finger on what doesn't feel right about this game (based on the demo) but there is definately something.

@Beano

Fair enough. I hadn't got through all the posts before posting myself. My bad.

Though frankly, such a pointless trolling post by Gene was asking for some equally mindless responses.

Fuck this.

Civ2 on DS. Everyone's a winner.

I'm sorely tempted, because I love the concept of Civ on PC, but inevitably colapse as soon as I try starting on another nation.

That said, did anyone find the "Simglish" the advisors spoke in the demo to be truly, truly awful?

Shooby Doo Waah

I really liked the demo, but had concerns about the smallness of the game world...

I'm disappointed to hear this goes for the final product as well. I want a streamlined Civ, not a tiny bite-sized Civ.

^I turned the Simglish speech off after about 5 minutes. It's like being in a room full of retards (the game, not this forum).

Yearh.. the sim-speak is a bit annoying and cheap... full english voices would have been much nicer :)

About the screen tearing/framerate in the PS3-version: I like beano played the demo in 1080p and there is no screen tearing whatsoever. But I thought the framerate was a bit so so. So I tried 720p by checking off the 1080p and i boxes in the display settings and it looks like they put vsync off for 720p because it was indeed a little smoother, not too much though (and I think I'd rather have the slightly crispier interface than framerate), and there was screen tearing when scrolling.

So there you have it!

I'll be picking this up when I've finished MGS4 :)

Dumbed down rubbish. Played the demo- this is Civ for 5-year-olds. Give us proper console Civ- they did on Playstation, FFS. I want complex, intelligent non-RTS games like Civ without having to spend thousands on a PC. Am I the only one?

Does civ 4 really have that much PC system requirements? I bet you could buy a PC that would run it thats less than a ps3

koji_m : "so, should I pick this one up for 360 or the PS3...anyone hear anything about differences between the versions?"

PS3 doesn't support the Camera - something to do with Gamespy apparently. The 360 has full vision cam support as you can see your opponents on the Diplomacy screen at any time. PS3 has unlimited save slots, 360 has 10 slots. That's the only differences I've read about whilst lurking the 2K forums since early May.


I've just had my dispatch confirmation SMS from shopto.net, pre-ordered last week after trying the demo. Hope my Postie isn't sick tomorrow. Like many others it seems, I just haven't got 14hrs to play CIV3 anymore so this is a perfect replacement, having said that I've played the demo at least 10 times in the past week alone.

Game of The Week uses an algorithm that sends/receives that weeks' map data from a Timestamp on a server. Your best score can then be uploaded to a Leaderboard - everybody's game (360 or PS3) will be exactly the same for the whole week to allow for fair competition across platforms. 2K confirmed yesterday that the demo also uses this method and will be changing the map weekly for the poor Americans who have to wait for the DS version to be ready.

Dodgymat; ty! to the others who replied, cheers guys

been checking the official forums and neogaf a bit, versions seem to be more or less the same (which makes it even harder to decide :D)

was hoping to see some technical issues with one of the versions, that would make it easy..

"The underlying systems are the same, if hugely (and at times brutally) simplified"

"This slick new Civilization may be more reduction than Revolution"

"This isn't 'dumbed-down', as is the knee-jerk protestation of elitists"

'Simplified'.
'Reduced'.
'Dumbed down'.

Three different ways of saying exactly the same thing.

Heads-in-the-sand games journos refuse to accept the trend of dumbing down (in games) as ardently as, say, universities, examinations awarding bodies and schools refuse to accept the same in qualifications. I never really understand why, though.

well is you want civ on the run, get yourself a psp and a copy of the PSX version of Civ 2 - Its suprisingly good

I've got the demo on my hard drive ,really need to find the time to play it.
Going to happily trade GTA4 in for this at the weekend.

Wasn't particularly impressed with PS3 demo, though it probably didn't help that I'd been playing Civ4 for most of Sunday.

I haven't played the demo as much as I'd have liked, but I still sense this review is absolutely spot on. I don't think this game could have ever been as superb as PC Civ, but blimey Sid and his team have had a right good go at it. And I would expect nothing less.

Its never going to be the same as the PC version (I havent played the demo yet as its not out in the UK), but having played the old Amiga version, there is no way that would translate onto a console without a mouse and keyboard... so yes I'm sure they have had to remove things and change things, but I would suspect that would be for the better... again that is just an assumption.

Havent played the demo :( was hoping to... but as i have some cred's at blockbuster, will be getting it Friday (it would have been Mass Effect last week but they screwed up my pre-order and when it arrived they sold it)... so that will have to wait abit longer.

@WaxBrazillian: If you haven't already - get hold of the Beyond The Sword expansion. It's really very good.

Having said that, could people please belt up with the "dumbed down" nonsense? Do you think Civ 4 is the epitome of strategic thinking? Defeating a bunch of barely adequate AI opponents in the kind of rule-heavy game that AI can put up a half-decent fight at?

How about you fuck off, and come back when you're a chess grandmaster, or better yet, a master of Go? I'll maybe listen to you then (if only to point out afterwards that you'd have mastered games that had much simpler rulesets than Civ Rev, let alone Civ 4).

Basically, if you want to play the intellectual trump card what the hell are you wasting your time with Civ 4 for when there are more worthwhile and challenging pursuits available?

Or do you actually just play it because it's - you know - fun?

Complexity isn't an accurate metric of anything - fun least of all. If you're happy playing Civ 4 that's great. I'm a huge fan myself, and have a game on the go at the moment (Montezuma's hopefully in for a kicking shortly). But I also really enjoyed Civ Rev, and will be giving that a proper seeing to when my pre-order turns up.

I really really enjoyed the demo. Civ 1 on the amiga was a killer game and i spent many many hours on it. This is certainly a little simpler but i really enjoy being able to do everything i want to do with the easy controls.

Remember that article a while ago about companies dumping demos? this is why you need demos

Stoatboy: for many people it is fun to overcome a challenge as absurd as that may sound to nowadays console (next-) generation.

Schachmatt: You seem to have missed the points I was making.

a) simpler doesn't necessarily mean less challenging. Example: Go - incredibly simple ruleset, incredibly challenging game.

b) If you like the challenge of Civ 4, that's great (as I said, I do too). I just don't see the point in criticising Civ Rev because it's simpler. People play at whatever level they enjoy. Do you diss people who play Civ 4 at a lower difficulty level than you? Because if you're not playing at the hardest setting with all settings on random that could be seen as a bit of a cop out tbh.

Good FAQ here:
http://www.civfanatics.com/civrev/info

I played the PS3 demo for about 4 hours last night so will be picking this up at some point. I've haven't played anything like this since Megalomania and really enjoyed it. I guess Revolution's for the likes of me.

Well I was hard for this until I realised it's just yet-another-dumbed-down-and-you've-got-to-fight-and-kill-thi
ngs-all-the-time 360 release.

My 360 is under an inch of dust since I finished Oblivion - do I need to start gaming on my PC to avoid the chavtastic style of what appears to be all 360 games??

LOL. I can't believe even when discussing CIVILISATION people can pull out the "lol spend 2000 quid on a pc I dont think so" bollocks.

You could buy a pc that would run Civ 4 for, as someone has already said, less than a ps3.

I just bought a quad core pc with 4 gig of ram.

Cost me $300 (about 150 quid)

So har de har har