Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

Ever wanted to know what it would be like to go back to the dark ages with a couple Sherman tanks and wreak havoc?  Well, Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is the game of choice.  Released in 2008, this game was not quite the blockbuster, but it does have some great features.  A classic display of what RTS has become since the Warcraft and Starcraft days, Sid’s game has immense graphics and colorful backdrops.  With multiply ways to win games, each match can be played entirely different from the other.  It also can be a very easy 1000 gamer points for those who want to get a quick boost in their score.  Here are some quick tips and ideas to get anyone into world domination.

Game-play goes strictly from any RTS game.  Cities produce people, people gather resources, resources build infantry, and infantry invade and conquer others.  Each player starts with a city in 3500BC and has until 3000AD to win the game.  The years goes by quickly until the mid 1950’s.  There are four ways to conquer:  Domination is the hardest and requires a massive to capture 4 capital cities.  Economic victory occurs when the player earns 20,000 gold units and builds a World Bank.  Culture victory requires a very diverse city and earns 20 or more unique people to live in their town.  At that point, the player may build the United Nation to unify the world.  The last victory is very cinematic.  By evolving your technology to the space age, players can build a section a space station and travel to Alpha Centari to colonize the planet.   The game features a turn based system.  This allows players to move their armies around the map, but limits how many place each unit may move.  Also building construction is measured in the number of turns before completion.  If your city has the gold to do it, these buildings and units may be rushed, but it will cost you.  After all moves have been made, the turn ends and your opponents units move around the map.  Some may be engaged in combat with others, some may even be attacking you.  Years advance by the 100s until 0AD, 50s until 1000AD, 25s until 1900AD, 5s until 2000AD, and then its every two years.

Players have many choices along the way to achieve these victories, whether research as much science or mine for gold, while maintaining security for your borders.  Each match has 4 other countries with their own hopes of conquest.  How a player reacts to each culture is entirely your own method, but peace has its advantages.  Players will be able to exchange technology for either more rounds of peace or a for more advance science.  But be careful, each science allows your peaceful ally one step closer to destroying your city.  Different science options will allow players to advance in different directions.  University studies will advance science by 4, it will decrease gold production.  At this point, obtaining another city will become very important.  Settlers can be built in the city to build other cities or your army may just want to attack a near by city to conquer it.  With multiply cities, players will be able to focus science at one and gold production at another. 

War will happen no matter route you decide to go towards.  So a good defense of your cities will let you focus your time on other advancements.  As the years drift by, your army will become more powerful.  Since the starting year is 3500BC, weapons are nonexistent.  Researching certain science fields will give players distinct advantages to victory.  Warrior groups will begin with basic swordsmen and archers.  These soldiers can be upgraded to knights, pikemen, riflemen, and eventually, tanks and troops armed with machine guns.  Army units will advance themselves through combat.  Every 3 victories grants that unit a perk.  Perks range from an extra move per turn to extra defense during battles.  However, land based troops aren’t the only concern.  Airplanes, dive bombers, and battleships can turn the tide of battle sharply in one’s favor when the technology is researched.  Not all countries start on the same land mass, so transporting your army from island to island to hunt down your enemy will create problems if your troops aren’t protected.  With three different fields of combat, defense proves to be an excellent offense. 

Building up your cities is quite important no matter which victory path you plan on winning.  Cities offer growth of the population that obey your request.  The more you have, the faster you will be able to conquest.  There are 5 types of basic buildings:  Science, gold, culture, Food, and production.  Science buildings consist of libraries and universities.  Gold buildings are markets, banks, and trading posts.  Culture is very important.  While your people will obey your wishes, happy workers work better.  Plus with more culture, players have a better chance to gain unique people.  Production buildings are workshops and factories that speed of the creation of other buildings.  Food builds increase your population turnover.  These consist of harbors and courthouses.  Besides the basic buildings, players may also choose to build Wonders.  Wonders are massive structures from the many years of civilizations.  They can include Leonardo’s Workshop to the Internet to eventually the Manhattan Project, giving the player a nuclear warhead in which to dispose of his enemies with a touch of a button.  These wonders can drastically improve the quality of life and production for whichever city they are built in.

Overall, players can expect to play between 1 to 2 hours per match depending on the difficulty of the game.  Advancing your technology the quickest will provide the best defensive base in which to secure your victory.  The game itself can be found online mostly from the games on-demand for download from the marketplace.  If your lucky, you may find a used copy at your local Gamestop for 24.99.  For those for thrive on gamer points, spending 4 or 5 days on this will net you a nice 800 more points without being to invested in it.  For those on the edge, download the demo on the marketplace for a quick sample.  The demo stops at 1250AD, but leaves the player wanting more.  Both myself and Godlywayz SBG have the game, so hit us up if you want a quick game.

One Response to “Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution”

1. Godlywayz says:

   October 28, 2009 at 12:17 pm

   I definitely have enjoyed this game. As a fan of the Civilization series for the computer, I had high hopes for this game. My hopefulness soon became disappointment though when I realized how different this is from the PC version. Still, i’m glad to see them trying to make this work on the 360. I’ve still had a good time with it, but I might have left this to a rent. For those with concerns, yes, it’s still annoying not having the mouse and keyboard, but it’s do-able. 3 out of 5 for me. For those never having played Civ on the PC, definitely give this a shot.

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