Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution

E for All 2007 Preview

Sid Meier’s Civilization has long been one of the most successful strategy franchises on the PC. The series’ deep and complex take on world history and the turn-based strategy genre has made a generation of hardcore strat fans, so it only makes sense that the team at 2K Games would want to try to capture some of that glory on the console end.

Civilization Revolution will be the series’ first foray onto consoles, offering gamers the depth that the series has made its name on as well as streamlined console-specific elements to make it much less laborious than other console strategy games out there.

The build that GameZone tested out at the recent E for All event was pre-alpha, and there were a fair amount of tweaks in place to make the game better suited for a quick hands-on demo. Still, we were able to get into the game and select our nation and leader of choice. Once chosen, we were given some objectives to complete, which involved positioning our troops, exploring unmarked terrain, and sacking the Egyptian city of Thebes. This was easier said than done, as the city had a defense score higher than our units’ attack scores, so we had to bide our time until a tank was made available (yes, a tank). With our tank, we were able to dominate the Theban defenses and take over the city. While tanks won’t be readily available (it happened to be one of those tweaks that I’d mentioned earlier), you still might come across a situation where you’ll be able to take on ancient weaponry with modern artillery.

Graphically, the game will sport a somewhat cartoony, but has a good amount of detail. The pre-alpha version had some bouts of slowdown and other graphical quirks, but showcased the aesthetic well, and should be quite the looker the closer the game gets to its release.

Civilization Revolution will launch across almost every console next spring, releasing simultaneously on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo DS with a Wii release following shortly after (sorry PC and PSP fans, you’re left out in the cold with this one).