Great game mechanics, poor interface
posted by DaveBaum (LAKE ZURICH, IL) Sep 19, 2008
Member since Jun 2008
I have been a Civ fan since the original, and was looking forward to a mobile version. On the surface, Civilization Revolution looks like a close cousin to Civ IV (the most recent computer version), but underneath the game has been streamlined for a simpler, quicker experience. Terrain, buildings, wonders, units, resources, and the tech tree are all much simpler than their Civ IV cousins, but the designers did manage to capture the "feel" of a Civ game. Overall, I think they did an excellent job creating a smaller set of rules that still provide a compelling strategy game.
Where the game really fell short for me was the user interface. Portions of it were very good. The controls were straightforward and allowed for easy control of your units and inspection of cities. The city management screen was also pretty good (although considerably simpler than its Civ IV counterpart). However there were a number of interface elements that were missing. I couldn't find any sort of summary screen showing all of my cities and their economy/production/etc, nor was there a world map. As I played longer, I kept finding myself in situations where I wanted some information that is usually readily available in a Civ game, but was mysteriously absent from this one. Eventually, the frustration overcame the fun of the game and I stopped playing.
It's a shame, because a mobile version of Civ would be great. I even enjoyed the simplified rules because sometimes a 1-2 hour game is preferable to a 20 hour marathon. But the frustrating lack of information screens eventually doomed this game for me.
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