Revolution Previews

Steve Butts said:

We've been anxious for more details on Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution ever since we first saw the game at E3 so it's lucky for us that Scott Lewis and Tim McCracken from Firaxis are here at the German Games Convention to show off a bit more of the game. This time around, the presentation revealed more details on combat, the use of spies, wonders and artifacts, as well as giving us a brief look at the new trophy room.

We'd already seen the lively and dynamic combat animations but we hadn't seen exactly how the combat works under the hood. With his Roman army stationed outside an Egyptian city (and against Scott's protests) Tim decided to attack the Egyptians. Just before committing to the battle, two windows pop up showing the armies' relative strengths and bonuses. The defenders gain cumulative bonuses for fortification and the presence of a great general and a palace.

To even the odds, Tim sent in a spy unit to actually steal the enemy general and bring it over to his side. Now that he had the general (and his enemy had lost it) Tim had basically doubled his effectiveness against the enemy. He could add more bonuses in his favor by bringing naval units adjacent to the battle. This not only adds to the options an attacker has when attacking a city, but also adds real teeth to the naval game.

Scott pointed out that the triremes in the game are particularly touchy targets. Having no defense whatsoever, they're a sure victory for your side -- as long as you're willing to become the aggressor. Predicting just when your opponents are about to declare war on you will definitely be the key to your success when using this strategy.

Units that defeat units of equal or greater strength automatically become eligible for promotions and there were a few more revealed this time around. The Blitz promotion grants units an extra move after a successful attack and the March promotion allows a unit to move twice per turn. Again, the possibilities of combining these bonuses in a three-unit army seem even more attractive.

After indulging his warlike tendencies, Tim completed work on his Oracle at Delphi wonder, which granted him knowledge of a nearby ancient artifact, the Ark of the Covenant. These ancient relics are very powerful items that should encourage players to explore the world around them. The player who claims the Ark, for instance, immediately gets free temples and cathedrals in all of his or her existing cities. Scott explained that this is actually one of the weaker artifacts in the game so we're excited to see what else they'll be able to do.

We also managed to get a look at the trophy room. In appreciation of Tim's destruction of a barbarian village, Prince Hector of Phoenicia sent him some amazing acrobats. You can view the acrobats doing their tricks in the throne room at any time you want. We didn't get to see much else in the throne room beyond a group of dancing girls. And honestly, once you find the dancing girls, why are you even looking for something else?

During the course of the demo we also managed to confirm that Alexander the Great and Isabella are both in the game.

Civilization: Revolution is due out next Spring for Xbox 360, PS3 and DS and the following Fall for Wii.

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Will Freeman said:

Sid Meier's Civilization games have a reputation for anything but humour and tongue-in-cheek wit. Instead they are famed as deep, involving god games with a seriousness and complexity anchored deep in the pursuit of realism.

Which all makes Civilization Revolution a thoroughly pleasant surprise, as it takes the world of Civilization and remixes it into a decidedly easy going pastiche of the original game. From the outset it appears to be what might be best described as 'CIV Light', to use some jargon from the snack foods industry.

What strikes you first about Civilization Revolution is the visual flair. Compared to the more traditional instalments in the series, Revolution is bold, bright, and clearly inspired by games that are presented through cartoon imagery and deformed scale. Of course all Civilization games have at the heart of their signature style a huge disproportion between the landscapes and the buildings and characters that inhabit them, meaning Revolution's exaggerated imbalance of scale could be understood as sly self-referencing.

If this kind of in-joke is commonplace then there should be something there for the diehard Civilization fan to enjoy, as without, the game mechanics demonstrated so far point to a title pitched squarely at those unfamiliar with the intricacies of the genre, which would likely upset most established Civilization players.

The template though, mimics that of the classic Civilization very closely. Starting at the dawn of civilised man's time on the planet, you must select one of 16 classic empires to command, including the likes of the Romans, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Mongols. Focussing on combat, research, and ultimately expansion, you must take your tribe all the way to the space race.

At first you must defeat any uncivilised nations that populate your area, before moving on to establish technologies and propagate your culture. Interactions with NPCs and other civilisations are done through a simple conversation system that also allows you to decide who to attack and who to defend.

As always, either diplomacy or warmongering can be used to progress, though of course the fun to be had lies firmly with the latter. So far we're essentially looking at the basics of any Civilization game, which is of course exactly what this is. The real distinction only really comes in the presentation, and the lightened list of game rules and adjustable factors.

Spying, for example, involves sending forth a covert agent to steal secrets and personnel as is the case in the new Civilization expansion pack, but in Revolution your heavily stereotype-laden detective is accompanied by toy piano tip-toe music and mischievous animation.

The melees too are filled with over-exaggeration and outsized gestures, and become even more ludicrous as you progress, letting you see Roman legions squabble in slapstick fashion with futuristic guards carrying machine guns, again parodying the series' more nonsensical moments. One point for fans of the series here is that for the first time you won't see unrealistic mismatches of firepower. Previously you might have noticed the odd occasion when archers were successfully holding off jet fighters, but now that has been changed, which is rather ironic considering Revolution's general disregard for reality.

There is still some depth to indulge in, from the aforementioned research, which sees you develop everything from the alphabet to space craft, and features like the ability to race to create wonders of the world, which increase you cultural significance and lure people from other societies to your clan.

But still, the overall idea here is that the pace, if not the tone, is similar to a typical first hour of a traditional Civilization game throughout the entirety of a Revolution game. That idea is an enticing one, but just who will buy Revolution is unclear. For hardcore god gamers it may just be a little too basic, and for newcomers it may feel a touch too entrenched in the Civilization world.

Nonetheless it looks incredible fun, and goes someway to revitalising what has become a rather stilted genre. If it truly is smaller and more compact than a typical PC equivalent, it could be a particularly exciting prospect for console owners who feel they have been missing out.

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Elisa Di Fiore said:

Developers and gamers alike have been wondering for years whether PC strategy games will ever find their way onto consoles without major compromises. Warcraft II was the perfect example of what not to do when porting strategy games from PC to other platforms, but lately a few companies have been trying to approach this matter from a different perspective. Controls are one of the main problems to solve, with complex interfaces and menus also having a big part in it. In this regard, simplification seems to be the answer that many developers have decided to follow. Even Sid Meier, the king of strategy games, is joining the army of experimenting designers with his new installment in the Civilization series, a title that may just become one of the outstanding examples in the genre.

Designed for PS3 and Xbox 360 only, Civilization Revolution features a cartoonish style with big characters alternating on-screen in funny dialogues and simplified menus in a large font. Every character has several animations that change according to the situation, offering not only a nice graphic touch but also a practical help: players can read their behavior and understand whether they are weak or strong enemies, subsequently deciding to attack them or to sign a peace treaty. The 16 available civilizations are well differentiated and for the first time in the series players can choose the Egyptians, whose distinctive traits are pyramids and their fiery queen Cleopatra.

In the demo we were shown, we tried to conquer the Egyptians, but Cleopatra was extremely confident in her powerful army, as her aggressive attitude suggested. In order to win, we had to choose a different strategy. We sent a spy to bribe her general, and then another one to destroy the city fortifications. Without these two elements, the Egyptian army was definitely weaker. Another helpful element in the game is naval support, a feature that plays a more important role than in the past. Ships can approach cities and bomb enemies in addition to normal ground vehicles and soldiers. As for vehicles themselves, Civilization Revolution seems to have fixed one of the biggest complaints in the past, the overrun feature. This time tanks and other heavy vehicles can be used to overrun troops without it costing extra turns.

Every victory unlocks a trophy that can be viewed in the trophy room, similar to the throne room in the old installments of the series. The automatic upgrades at the end of a successful battle let players pick their favorite choice between the two available. Should you choose a Medic to heal units or March to double the number of movements per turn? The Tech Planner is important too, because every technological discovery leads to a practical improvement. Researching bronze working, for example, allows players to have better weapons. Special buildings, too, are unlocked and set automatically, but each of them is only available for one civilization to use. If Mongolians build pyramids, Egyptians can't have them.

Civilization Revolution will feature both local and online multiplayer with global rankings and a Game of the Week option that lets players compete in the same scenario. Multiplayer matches will allow players a limited time to think of their next move; if they don't do it in time, they'll have to skip their turn and other players will take advantage of it. Even with this limited time option, however, matches can last a long time (sometime between two and four hours); fortunately, participants will be able to suspend them at will and resume later.

Controls should be easy to manage: the left analog stick is used to pick an action and another button (A in the case of Xbox 360, X for PS3) confirms it. Once players are in their cities, they can open the menu by pressing up on the d-pad. Simplicity and variety of gameplay should help Civilization Revolution prosper, as we were told by the Firaxis representatives who showed us the demo. They also added that they don't see Halo Wars as a direct opponent, as their game lets players choose a more varied approach, without having to be necessarily as aggressive as the Bungie title promises to be. Battles are important, but sometimes diplomacy is the better path to victory.

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Andy Eddy said:

The name Sid Meier at the front of a game title certainly means quality and depth that only comes from a veteran designer. And the Civilization name has stood for rich, historical strategy games for more than 15 years.

With Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution in the works for the Xbox 360, the concern was that it’d be hard to bring that franchise’s appeal and intensity to a title intended for a console—where the level of entertainment seems to need to be higher. However, a recent peek at the work-in-progress tells us that Meier and his crew at Firaxis Games are going to bring a Civ unlike any that’s been seen before.

According to Barry Caudill, the game’s executive producer, Meier has of late been playing more console games with his teenaged son, which inspired him to consider how he’d bring an installment in the Civ series to the console masses. What appears to be his realization is that Civilization Revolution should be over-the-top in its design and presentation.

For example, the leaders that pop up with updates and information are more animated than ever before, and if there’s an encounter with more than one, they’ll jostle and push each other for your attention. While it’s still an historical strategy game, there’s no doubt that the humor has been increased as well.

You’ll also see that the in-game units are highly animated and their appearance is more like a caricature. You can’t help but have them catch your eye as they move and battle and live in their world on your display. There’s plenty of emotion and emphasis that they exude, and there’s more interaction from them as you go about your business. For instance, Caudill took his group into battle, and in the upper corner of the screen, Cleopatra was watching the action, often making gestures with the knife in her hands.

But Caudill also noted that Firaxis is taking advantage of the high-level capabilities of the Xbox 360. By using such effects as depth of field, post-pixel processing and other graphics tricks, it adds, as he described it, “lots of fireworks” to the game’s appearance.

For instance, depth of field is used to help draw your eyes to things that need your attention or are otherwise important. In a cooler example, the “fog of war” is in fact volumetric fog that dissipates when you move into a new area. And instead of instantly refilling an area you’ve just left, the fog gradually pours back in, as if it were a real cloud moving back over the landmass you’re viewing on the map.

While Civilization Revolution is being built from the ground up, Caudill stated that it’ll take elements from all the Civ titles that have come before it. Research of new technology will still be key in the game in order for your civilization to make it to the Space Age. You’ll choose how to improve your people (which you’ll choose from the 16 different civilizations that’ll be offered), taking advantage of the 12 different upgrades available.

Similarly, exploration is essential. If you’re the first one to discover a new area, you’ll receive bigger rewards.

The depth of previous Civ titles will be present here as well. According to Caudill, complete single-player games will take about anywhere from two and a half to three hours. Firaxis is also banking on its experience crafting compelling multiplayer to make that portion of Civilization Revolution play well also, with the typical matchmaking, ranked games and even video chat that’s becoming standard fare for Xbox Live contests.

The hope is that the game’s makers will also be able to build a rich community as they have done with other installments, most notably the most recent PC title, Civilization IV. One aspect that Caudill mentioned along these lines is the hope to do a “Game of the Week” offering, which will be a single-player game that’s structured with set conditions. Players would all compete using the same game set-up, making it easy to see who’s the best in that scenario.

There’s still plenty of time for Civilization Revolution’s features to be nailed down, including the hope that the game will support user-created maps (which will require Microsoft’s okay). We expect to get a few more looks at the game in the next three-quarters of a year, and we’ll surely pass on those impressions afterward.

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Steve Butts said:

We've been anxious for more details on Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution ever since we first saw the game at E3 so it's lucky for us that Scott Lewis and Tim McCracken from Firaxis are here at the German Games Convention to show off a bit more of the game. This time around, the presentation revealed more details on combat, the use of spies, wonders and artifacts, as well as giving us a brief look at the new trophy room.

We'd already seen the lively and dynamic combat animations but we hadn't seen exactly how the combat works under the hood. With his Roman army stationed outside an Egyptian city (and against Scott's protests) Tim decided to attack the Egyptians. Just before committing to the battle, two windows pop up showing the armies' relative strengths and bonuses. The defenders gain cumulative bonuses for fortification and the presence of a great general and a palace.

To even the odds, Tim sent in a spy unit to actually steal the enemy general and bring it over to his side. Now that he had the general (and his enemy had lost it) Tim had basically doubled his effectiveness against the enemy. He could add more bonuses in his favor by bringing naval units adjacent to the battle. This not only adds to the options an attacker has when attacking a city, but also adds real teeth to the naval game.

Scott pointed out that the triremes in the game are particularly touchy targets. Having no defense whatsoever, they're a sure victory for your side -- as long as you're willing to become the aggressor. Predicting just when your opponents are about to declare war on you will definitely be the key to your success when using this strategy.

Units that defeat units of equal or greater strength automatically become eligible for promotions and there were a few more revealed this time around. The Blitz promotion grants units an extra move after a successful attack and the March promotion allows a unit to move twice per turn. Again, the possibilities of combining these bonuses in a three-unit army seem even more attractive.

After indulging his warlike tendencies, Tim completed work on his Oracle at Delphi wonder, which granted him knowledge of a nearby ancient artifact, the Ark of the Covenant. These ancient relics are very powerful items that should encourage players to explore the world around them. The player who claims the Ark, for instance, immediately gets free temples and cathedrals in all of his or her existing cities. Scott explained that this is actually one of the weaker artifacts in the game so we're excited to see what else they'll be able to do.

We also managed to get a look at the trophy room. In appreciation of Tim's destruction of a barbarian village, Prince Hector of Phoenicia sent him some amazing acrobats. You can view the acrobats doing their tricks in the throne room at any time you want. We didn't get to see much else in the throne room beyond a group of dancing girls. And honestly, once you find the dancing girls, why are you even looking for something else?

During the course of the demo we also managed to confirm that Alexander the Great and Isabella are both in the game.

Civilization: Revolution is due out next Spring for Xbox 360, PS3 and DS and the following Fall for Wii.

Click to expand...

To call Civilization console-agnostic would be a misnomer. In actuality, it's just been a long damn time since Sid Meier's turn-based world-beating sim last made a console appearance. Almost a decade, in fact — Civilization II for PSone popped up in 1998 (following the original Civilization for Super Nintendo in 1994), and since then, the closest the series has come to escaping the clutches of computer gaming is an N-Gage version that quietly shipped early last year.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when Civilization Revolution was announced a couple of weeks before the E3 Media & Business Summit, where 2K Games gave us a brief look at the console/handheld-exclusive reinvention of the long-running PC franchise. Several reasons for its genesis were brought up over the course of the demo, and the first might surprise some in its utter simplicity.

"Sid really just started getting into a lot more console games," claimed Barry Caudill, executive producer at Firaxis Games. "His son started playing; he started playing."

As Meier delved into the world of console gaming, he started thinking up ways to bring the Civilization experience into homes without relying on established PC gaming archetypes. "He started getting ideas, like 'I think that we can make a game that more accessible than the PC stuff,'" said Caudill. "If you're a guy that's never played Civ and if you're just going to sit down for the first time and play Civ IV, it's a daunting thing. You really need to be indoctrinated into the Civ world to jump into that."

"So, we decided, well … let's go for a new audience," said Caudill. "Let's make it a little easier to get into. Let's make it more inviting. Let's up the display. Let's really make it so that it's an engaging game that invites you in."

Several of those proverbial birds were axed with a single stone in the form of a significant visual overhaul. We were shown the Xbox 360 version of Civilization Revolution, and while it had the look of a game still several months away from release, it also bore an appealing design aesthetic that was slightly cartoonish and in some ways similar to claymation. Little touches give the game a little something extra, whether it's the individual arrows that stick out of a character during (and after) battle, or the altered outfits that adorn upgraded units.

When dealing with rulers of other civilizations, players will no longer see a static image. Instead, icons like Cleopatra and Napoleon are represented by fully animated character models that react to your every strategic whim. Their reactions will differ depending on the situation, as evidenced by a pair of dealings with Napoleon. At one point, he bristled when our pointer was over the option that would lead us to war, but later on, after he had accumulated more resources, he was cockier when the option was being considered. Should you choose to battle such an opponent, a smaller version of the character will appear in the corner of your screen, mocking you endlessly or panicking in defeat.

Along with a visual upgrade comes a definite simplification of gameplay, as the developers want players to be able to conquer the world without leaving the game screen. Not only does this mean that pre-rendered cinematics are out — so are menus, for the most part. Additionally, many of the units in the game will adapt to situations, moving into position to attack when needed. "We don't want you to have to micro-manage," said Caudill. "If the ship is in the right position, and battle happens, and it makes sense for it to fire, then it fires."

Civilization Revolution will ship with 16 playable civilizations, with each taking about two to three hours to complete. Each will be marked by distinctly altered architecture, units, and play styles, giving players incentive to conquer each and every civilization thrown at them. And what greets you upon your domination of the world? A victory dance, complete with fireworks, dancing characters, hydraulic-rocking tanks and catapults.


"Sid actually really wanted this, and he came to us and said, 'You know what would be great is that after you've won, the units all dance,'" said Jacob Solomon, programmer at Firaxis. "And we were like, 'I don't know about that.' But he's the big guy, so he gets what he wants. And actually, when we put it in, it was pretty cool." A quick glance around the map revealed that recently fallen foes had reemerged and were also partaking in the celebration. "These guys look like they were born to dance," joked Solomon.

Caudill claims that Civilization IV came the closest to delivering the best possible multiplayer experience for the franchise, but fell a bit short — something they want to rectify with Revolution. Scaling it back a bit was a major priority for Firaxis, and as such, Revolution will support just four simultaneous players. Free for All, two vs. two, and one-on-one duels are all planned, and Caudill expects that a multiplayer match should take no more than two to three hours to complete (much like the single-player civilizations).

Downloadable content is also expected for the game, including gamer pictures (on the Xbox 360), new multiplayer maps, and possibly even new single-player civilizations. And while nothing is confirmed, Caudill noted that Sony has been sending over information and assets for Home with the hopes of integrating the forthcoming social network with Civilization Revolution.

The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo DS versions of Civilization Revolution are currently planned for release next spring, while the Wii iteration will follow in the fall. As the Wii version was not originally planned, it will take Firaxis a few more months to get it out to retail, as everything is being done in-house and Meier is directly involved with the development across all platforms. Stretching their talent across four releases (along with other, non-Revolution projects) meant that a potential PSP version had to be passed over, though Caudill admits to being a huge fan of the handheld.

Firaxis is blazing new trails with Civilization Revolution, both for the franchise and for the console strategy genre. "We're bringing something to the current gen of consoles that really hasn't been done," said Caudill. Added Solomon: "We think this is the way to do strategy on the consoles."

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