CIV REV DEMO....First Thoughts

bzeppelin

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Hey Everyone...now that some of us lucky ones who haves consoles with internet have had the oppurtunity to play the Civ Rev Demo first hand I wanted to give my own thoughts on it and hopefully hear other peoples thoughts.

First off I want to start by saying I think the games was a lot of fun to play. :) It is definitely different from playing older PC versions though and it is certainly not a CIV5 which I think could only properly be done on a PC still.

My first impressions have been though that they games moves way quicker. Everything is speed up. Teching, building units, starting combat. It's hard to appreciate it having just read the online reviews but once you play it you understand how games can only last 2-4 hrs. The nice thing about this is that it keeps your interest in the game easily. I think this will also be beneficial in getting other gamers to enjoy playing CIV. My brother for one has never liked strategy games and hates PC games, exspecially ones where you have to think. But he played it last night and was upset when he got to the end of the demo because he said it was starting to get real fun. Which is amazing if you know my brother cause is a hardcore first person shooter fan and that is it! This I think is great because Civ Rev may be able to pull a whole new class of gamers into its addicting grasp:crazyeye:

Another great thing is the control system. Anyone comfortable with their console controller and knowing previous CIV games will adapt real quickly. I was able to flip through units, check city screens, and make modifications within seconds of playing. This is a real bonus and props have to go out to the development team for being able to do this.:goodjob:

Its a little hard to get into all the other changes having played just a little bit so far. Basically because there are so many of them. Just in terms of how you control your gameplay. No more sending workers out to build roads, mine resources, etc. etc.

The combat system is much better though and definitely entertaining to watch. Being able to put three units of the same type together to form and army was both fun and capable of great destruction. But the AI builds them too and you get some great 9x9 battles. The combat animation is entertaining and if you have a unit far superior to the one your attacking it animates your unit just running them out of the tile and puts text on the screen saying "Over run" and if your next to water those units just jump into their own watery grave:lol: It is also important to note that combat occurs quickly. As soon as you start the game you have barbarian huts to attack and claim prizes from and it only takes a couple seconds before meeting a neighboring civ. Making it one reason why games end quickly:nuke:

There are a whole lot more unique things about this game but hopefully some other people will point those out for everyone who doesn't have the oppurtunity to play the demo.

Finally I want to state some concerns about the full game release and things that may be consider cons:

Modification and customization has been done away with to a great extent. This for many CivFanatics:king: is going to be a big bummer. Part of the reason Civ is great and has dominated TBS games is that it is highly customizable and you can change everything from the map to the civ. It appears at first glance that this is not that case at all with Civ Rev. There is suppose to be only one map size (while the map itself changes) and the same number of civs each game. So really the only changes a player can make are which Civ they choose to play as and what victory they choose to pursue. This I think will limit replayability which has been a cornerstone for former Civ games. This is my biggest concern. But who knows. I have only played the demo and I want to keep playing it over and over to try different things.

Anyways I hope some of these thoughts entice other gamers to give the game a chance and maybe the full version release will be more than what the skeptics expected. I for one will be buying immediately and playing as much as possible!
 
I don't think the number of civs playing or the size of the map will limit replayability...from what Firaxis people have said, there's over 1 million different possible maps in the random map generator.

I definitely think that CivRev can get different people interested in Civ. My wife wants to play the demo next time we get a chance to play a game.
 
The main thing I've discovered is how powerful roads are. They are really really good in this game and critical if you want to complete a domination win by the end date (I finished in 500 AD but wouldn't have been close if my armies had to move 1 square at a time).

It isn't obvious but units move the entire distance between cities in one turn with a road. So if you set up an advanced post ahead of your rush, you can "teleport" armies to the front very quickly. Everything goes very very quickly even with no micromanagement.
 
I like the roads too. Now there will be no more roads on every singl square on the map...

Otherwise I quite liked the game though micromanagement definitely isn't here anymore. But it didn't prevent the "one more turn" thingy.. :lol:

I think the demo has a bug. It is normally pretty short (100 turns or so ?). But during one game I manage to play muuuuuch longer. In fact I even had time to research powder (and believe me, I didn't take the shortest way), and build quite many armies. I had discoverd 3 of the artefacts and build quite a few wonders. In fact, the game only stopped when I crushed all the other civilizations. I wonder, if I hadn't, how much longer I could have played (maybe till the space area?) But though I had powder and other stuff, I was still playing in the same era.

Anyone else had the same thing ?
 
So this game looks good for us who prefer short civ games(I always play small or tiny), or what?

I was at first a bit unsure, but now I think I'll buy a DS because this game.
 
I'm still not that convinced... player Civ4 again after completing the demo for the 4th time, and i stilly much prefer Civ4.

It's just a very light version of Civ4 for quick arcade games... but not really a sim any more.

Just my personal 2 cents for now... still waiting for the full version though.
 
what about it isn't a 'sim' when compared to civ4? civ4 isn't really a sim either....that's why they are called Turn-based Strategy games, not simulation games.
 
what about it isn't a 'sim' when compared to civ4? civ4 isn't really a sim either....that's why they are called Turn-based Strategy games, not simulation games.

Well, thats a question of the right definition i guess. For me a simulation is something that simulates a specific condition, reality or whatever. Civ4 simulates a very detailed and comprehensive development of a nation, its cities and its connections to other nations.

If you say that only something like "the sims" is a sim, than Civ4 doesn't fit in.

But anyway, i guess you got my point, right? ;)
 
I suppose I did, but using your definitions, Civilization wasn't a sim until Civ4, as the previous versions all lacked in the simmy nature you are describing in much the same way CivRev does.
 
I suppose I did, but using your definitions, Civilization wasn't a sim until Civ4, as the previous versions all lacked in the simmy nature you are describing in much the same way CivRev does.

Well, a few things were included even in the early versions of Civ, like City-Micromanagement (correct me when i am wrong).

But you are right, most things came with Civ4... and my comparison was only related to Civ4...
 
as far as I can remember(having not played Civ1, 2, or 3 in a long time...since 4 came out), CivRev has the same type of city micromanagement that they did. you can indeed micro in CivRev if you desire to...just click manage workers and then go to custom at the very bottom of the list. it will let you put the workers wherever you wish to put them.
 
i may be dammed... if this is true, i've never seen it...

But still, there are lots of other details that have been lost, like Worker Management, Religions, ... has been said often enough now.
 
I'm really impressed by how easy it is to make specialist cities in Civ Rev. As Thrallia as pointed out there's the custom button that allows you to micro, but above that there are also buttons to prioritize food, science, production, culture and gold. I know we've got the same sort of setup in Civ IV, but with Civ Rev the overall slickness of the controls, and the speed in which you can micro on the fly, just makes the feature seem so much more useful and appealing than it is on the PC.
 
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