Civ DS, is it worth the money?

Hello! I've been stewing over weather or not to purchase this game for the ds. However I've heard a lot of bad blood on this game and after learning there is no hotswap, I'm wondering should I go out and get this game, or should I just stick to playing Civ 2 on my PSP's playstation 1 emulator?

Questions: Is there a 'custom game' option like Civ IV ? ie turning off tech trading , goodie hutts etc.

Is the combat akin to that of Civ 2, 3 or IV, or is it something totally alien?

How long do games last? Is there adjustable game speeds (ie. quick, epic, small map (3 civs), huge map (16 civs)?

Map selection, do you have a good choice of map templates like continents, pangea and others?

Difficulty- I've heard this game goes from two rediculously easy difficulty levels to 3 unbeatable levels, what is your opinion?

EDIT: I also hear you only get A nuke... and only if you research the manhatan project first! Only one nuke a game??? Is this true?

Any other concerns or comments you guys have is appreciated

FourtyTwo said:

Hello! I've been stewing over weather or not to purchase this game for the ds. However I've heard a lot of bad blood on this game and after learning there is no hotswap, I'm wondering should I go out and get this game, or should I just stick to playing Civ 2 on my PSP's playstation 1 emulator?

Questions: Is there a 'custom game' option like Civ IV ? ie turning off tech trading , goodie hutts etc.

No.

Is the combat akin to that of Civ 2, 3 or IV, or is it something totally alien?

It's pretty similar, I think.

How long do games last? Is there adjustable game speeds (ie. quick, epic, small map (3 civs), huge map (16 civs)?

Around 200 turns. No altering that, or altering the map size. 5 civs always, including yourself.

Map selection, do you have a good choice of map templates like continents, pangea and others?

Only one map option. Its kind of weird, snaky continents and such with a lot of water. Its also very small

Difficulty- I've heard this game goes from two rediculously easy difficulty levels to 3 unbeatable levels, what is your opinion?

The first two are very easy, but King is a bit too hard. Could have used a difficulty between Warlord and King.

EDIT: I also hear you only get A nuke... and only if you research the manhatan project first! Only one nuke a game??? Is this true?

Also true. The nuke is much more powerful then in Civ4..

Any other concerns or comments you guys have is appreciated

Very streamlined, very dumbed down. It's like Civ1, sort of! It's fun on the go, but if you already have portable Civ just stick with that.

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Much worse then Civ4.

It's a portable Civ, which hasn't been done before. Infact, 4x style empire games are very rare on portables. There are things like Advance Wars, or Blah Blah Tactics, which are more battlefiled tactics games. The few other empire simulations released on the DS are good in their own right but doesn't come close to what CivRev DS has to offer.

This is also the 3rd or 4th post asking about the DS version. It's worth it. And the bonus is, it plays like the console version. Same map sizes, same units, same game core. Just different presentation.

So what is CivRev? Only one map size. Less micromanegement (no unit support, no corruption, happiness, health problems), more emphasis on battling (because the AI will declare war if you're close to winning or pulling ahead), and even if you play builder you'll need a military to defend from the attacks. but it's a fantastic game. Builder victories can be as easy to pull off as domination ones. Units also don't upgrade outside of a few exceptions.

Further, don't let people imply the DS game is somehow broken but the console versions are not. It's the same damn game.

i'd get it if it was not revolutions, but as i hated it on the 360, i will not now be getting it. I would have prefereed a simple port of civ2 or something, with the stylus i think that would have been a great combination.

Heres where I disagree. if someone hates it on the 360, they should probably rent, borrow a DS verison to give it a shot. The portability factor really changes things and its a strategy game with a game speed that fits the machine perfectly.

FourtyTwo said:

or should I just stick to playing Civ 2 on my PSP's playstation 1 emulator?

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Is that hard to setup? I would love to play Civ 2 on my PSP.

I have the DS version and am enjoying it but to a PC player it's not great. I'd rather player CIV 2 on my PSP, than CivRev on DS.

big Deezy said:

Is that hard to setup? I would love to play Civ 2 on my PSP.

I have the DS version and am enjoying it but to a PC player it's not great. I'd rather player CIV 2 on my PSP, than CivRev on DS.

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Well first you have to unlock your PSP. If your running sony official firmware you'll have to scower the internet to find a website to help you downgrade the unit. Once its downgraded there is software that allows you to emulate PS1 games on your PSP. Then all you need is the image file of the PS1 game which you can make from the original game disk or get from... other sources. Here is a good website for unlocking your PSP http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&feed=psp . Hit the forums and you should be able to figure out how to do it.

I play DS version, It is very very fun with the moblility of DS.
I just play Civ4 with warlord few weeks.
When Civ Rev. release, I buy a new DS to play it and give up Civ4. (my old DS rob. by my girl)
If you are Civ fans, you must love it.
To me, It worth to buy a new DS to play.

I was long waiting for CivRev DS, and I am sorry to say I am disapointed :-(
I agree with NintendoTogepi. It is very similar to Civ 1. And a DS can do much better than an old 386 PC!!!

Graphs look really old and crap, and controls are really strange. You cannot control the game just with the buttons, but can't control just with the stylus either.

I have to say that if you are planing to buy a DS strategy game, better buy Age of Empires, which is turn based and plays a lot like a Civ-clone

I was disappointed at first, mainly with the graphics and it felt kinda slow. After my 5th or 6th game I started to enjoy it more. The graphics are no longer an issue for me, they are functional and that's what matters most (to me at least).

The AI is kinda weak but will provide a challenge for most on Deity. An "impossible" level would've been nice though.

I also agree with OliverFA about the controls. I mainly use the buttons to play, but sometimes the stylus can be much quicker. It's a juggling act if you get annoyed with the slow map scrolling using the D-pad but don't like the stylus for everything either.

I'm having a blast.

What's so amazing about it is that it's pretty much on par gameplay wise with its console cousins. That's the crux of it all. You can knock on its graphics but it's not a dumbed down version of the console game. it's the same game.

What keeps it from becoming absolutely great is that it is missing the civilopedia and a few menus that summarizes your empire information which would be greatly helpful.

I hope they can fix that if and when they release a sequel to this.

OliverFA said:

I was long waiting for CivRev DS, and I am sorry to say I am disapointed :-(
I agree with NintendoTogepi. It is very similar to Civ 1. And a DS can do much better than an old 386 PC!!!

Graphs look really old and crap, and controls are really strange. You cannot control the game just with the buttons, but can't control just with the stylus either.

I have to say that if you are planing to buy a DS strategy game, better buy Age of Empires, which is turn based and plays a lot like a Civ-clone

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Age of Empires is a pretty cool game, and I like the combat animations a lot better too. You're incorrect though about controls. You can play the game entirely with the buttons & d-pad. I think there's a way to do it mostly with just the stylus too (using the meta-buttons), but that is a little awkward.

Maquiladora said:

I was disappointed at first, mainly with the graphics and it felt kinda slow. After my 5th or 6th game I started to enjoy it more. The graphics are no longer an issue for me, they are functional and that's what matters most (to me at least).

The AI is kinda weak but will provide a challenge for most on Deity. An "impossible" level would've been nice though.

I also agree with OliverFA about the controls. I mainly use the buttons to play, but sometimes the stylus can be much quicker. It's a juggling act if you get annoyed with the slow map scrolling using the D-pad but don't like the stylus for everything either.

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It has taken me several games to get used to it too, but now I'm finding I like it quite a bit. Yeah, there's a lot of improvement that needs to take place, but I think all-in-all, it's a pretty good game.

OliverFA said:

You cannot control the game just with the buttons, but can't control just with the stylus either.

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Not sure where you get this. I only play with the buttons as the stylus support is a little iffy.

The graphics are incredibly fugly, but it's worth looking past it. It's pretty fun. Definitely not a replacement for IV, though.

OliverFA said:

You cannot control the game just with the buttons, but can't control just with the stylus either.

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If I'm in the car I use just controls, if I'm at the table I use just the stylus. The only thing you cant do with the sylus is the menus from the start & select button. No big deal.

I enjoy it a lot. It's basically the CivRev experience passed to a handheld (check the other threads if you're not sure of the differences between CivRev and the PC Civ series). It's great though, to be able to hop on a train, play a few rounds, save and return to the game on the commute home.

I end up using the buttons far more than the stylus. In fact, I kinda gave up on the stylus - even for selecting units, I'll just try to use my finger to select.

I didn't like the aggressive AI and was rather vocal about it at first and as a result wasn't pleased with this game. I think it was because I was still wearing my Civ4 hat. Once I took that off, my enjoyment level was greately enhanced. I like it a lot now. In fact, I got this game the day it hit the shelves and my DS and Civ Rev have been powered on every second since that time. I don't even save, I just close the lid when I have something to do and simply open it up and continue playing when time allows. I made a nice big fire on my patio the other night and played civ for hours by firelight. That alone was worth the price of admission.

fishlore said:

I made a nice big fire on my patio the other night and played civ for hours by firelight. That alone was worth the price of admission.

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Cool.

CivRev has been perfectly stable for me so far, and that's including some 6 or 7hr sessions. Even games like Panzer Tactics, Puzzle Quest, Advance Wars DS (not Days of Ruin, that is very stable) have frozen after very long sessions.