So what are you loving? Not loving?

[Karegak]

Ok, I made an account just to be able to list this.

The good part:
*Nice colours
*Good immersion
*Simple enough and yet fun
*Less city micro managing (this is what's been keeping me from the PC-line).

The bad part:
*Why are they even allowed to call that poor slip of paper a manual? I want something that an help me, not something pointing to the ingame civilopedia. If I didn't find it there, why the *beep* do you think I'm looking here? (This goes for all console games unfortunately). E.g: If I've never seen a desert tile, how do I tell one apart from for example a plains tile?
*Special units without special stats/abilities? Then why on earth include them? Shouldn't be bragging about them on the cover anyhow.
*Stupid, stupid AI. All act like their in a team against you. Which would be fine if they were, but they're not!
*No world overview, in either map or zoom.

Now I've played games with a steep learning curve like Hearts of Iron 2 and such so I don't mind a game that takes a little time to get into but this lousy manual sure is my biggest gripe on the game. It feels like I have to spend time trying to figure out boring details rather than winning stratagems. (Still new to the game). I like still it and I don't see that changing in the near future but I hope that developers listen to fan base before making sequel. There are a lot of good ideas around here.

 

[disturbed1]

I'm not loving that they nixed the Wii version. Cheap-o's I don't want to pawn up $500 to buy a system that I will never use except for Civ Rev.

 

[snowfort75]

Loving
- portability (have the DS)
- naval support
- not having to build roads tile by tile
- relics
- tech bonus system

Not loving
- the graphics. I thought I was prepared for bad graphics on the DS, but they are awful
- no movies for the Wonders or end of the game - epic feel is missing
- can't upgrade (aside from the limited LW Wonder) or disband units (on the DS anyhow)
- okay, it's been said a million times, but the AI, not being able to move stacks, the wonky combat system

I will definitely still be playing it for "one more turn" though!

 

[806slidingdoors]

Ok, I made an account just to be able to list this.

The good part:
*Nice colours
*Good immersion
*Simple enough and yet fun
*Less city micro managing (this is what's been keeping me from the PC-line).

The bad part:
*Why are they even allowed to call that poor slip of paper a manual? I want something that an help me, not something pointing to the ingame civilopedia. If I didn't find it there, why the *beep* do you think I'm looking here? (This goes for all console games unfortunately). E.g: If I've never seen a desert tile, how do I tell one apart from for example a plains tile?
*Special units without special stats/abilities? Then why on earth include them? Shouldn't be bragging about them on the cover anyhow.
*Stupid, stupid AI. All act like their in a team against you. Which would be fine if they were, but they're not!
*No world overview, in either map or zoom.

Now I've played games with a steep learning curve like Hearts of Iron 2 and such so I don't mind a game that takes a little time to get into but this lousy manual sure is my biggest gripe on the game. It feels like I have to spend time trying to figure out boring details rather than winning stratagems. (Still new to the game). I like still it and I don't see that changing in the near future but I hope that developers listen to fan base before making sequel. There are a lot of good ideas around here.

The early PC Civ games had bigger manuals (one version even had a wall chart for technologies) but it was difficult to find what you wanted. I find the Civpedia in CivRev really easy to use. I pop in & out of it all the time. It is much faster than referring to printed manuals. I guess it just comes down to personal preferences.

 

[phillip1882]

likes:
short. can win game in about 1 to 2 hours rather than 1 to 2 days.
graphics. (got x-box version)
easy to learn, difficult to master.
wonders more useful. i especially like the oracle. though in my opinion the effect it gives should be in game automatically for every civ.
controls well done.
very little mirco management as far as cites go. though if you were willing to automate workers, this wasnt very bad in civ 4.
dislikes:
many of the things already listed by previous posters; pretty much have to go for early domination victory at king and diety.
units not very well balanced, liked civ 4 more in this respect.
tophy room is nice for laughs but not really nessicary part of game.
late techs dont feel as unique as they did in civ 4.
maps feel too small most of time. i often get one or two capatails right next to me, and i like being able to expand some. also most maps seem to be pangea with some islands, no real contient setting like in civ 4.

if i had to rate the game id give it 2.5 stars. the annoyingness of it outwieghs the fun. i'll play it if im bored but that's it.

 

[PeteAtoms]

Likes:
-Graphics
-Because the maps are sized are smaller, the waiting period between your turn (the AI's turns) is a lot faster. I remember waiting several minutes for my turn to come up again on larger maps in Civ III/IV
-Though the gameplay has been dumbed down, it will bring in a new crowd of gamers.
-Absence of corruption and pollution.
-Ever since I started playing Civ3 so many years ago, I almost never created air/navy units. I never saw the need to (except as transport). But CivRev actually makes it worthwhile to create a strong navy and airforce. It's an element of game play that I am just now starting to enjoy (as opposed to Civ 3/IV)

Dislikes:
-Again, it needs to be said, the AI can only be described of as shallow. The player could be sieging the AI's capital, but they will still demand your tech's. If you're winning in any way, they all gang up on you.
-When I pay an AI civ to go to war with another AI, nothing happens, or they sign a peace treaty 4 turns later.
-When a city is being culturally flipped into your empire, there should be an option to deny it, instead of it being automatic.
-Unable to update units (warrior-> legion, spearman->pike, etc.) without a wonder.
-Lack of game customization. Like choosing your opponents or turning off some victory conditions. I want to be able to play an only domination game.
-Those advisor's are cute, but I would REALLY like to be able to turn them off.
-An ability to skip through the combat (maybe make the (Y) button a skip button)
-No mini-map.
-The zoom-out feature should be better. When I get 7+ cities, the camera zooms around to each one for build-orders, and it's hard to tell which part of my empire I am looking at.
-When armies start invading empires, it is REALLY easy to not see some of them. Units should stand out a little more from the terrain, like a flag or something.
-The diplomacy is REALLY lacking. No mutual-protection-pacts? Trade Embargos? Right of Passage? Military alliances?
-At the end of the game, I'd like a screen that shows a little more information on it, actual statistics of the game. Like how much gold each nation had, their # of units, how much culture, etc.
-And is it just me, but do all the maps feel the same? I know they're not EXACTLY the same, but they all have the same snaky shapes and feel to them. What about pangea maps? Or archipelago (islands)?
-I know the game is meant to be simpler, but I think they shouldn't have removed resource trading (oil, uranium, horses, iron, etc). It was a realistic strategic element in other Civilization titles, that didn't deserve to be excluded.
-It is IMPOSSIBLE to win the game without at least a strong (defensive) army, all thanks to the over-aggressive AI.
-Need more than 16 civ's. Hopefully some are included with future updates or as DLC.
-The trophy thing is kind of stupid. I don't really care about tenors, dancing bears or contortionists...
-And I've said it once already but it annoys me, the ability to turn off the advisers. If I have to see that advisor one more time about what a republic does, or what their favorite tech is, I'll go crazy.

 

[Sirp]

Likes:
- The game is simpler. I don't think it's been "dumbed down". Simply made a different experience to other Civ games.
- I like the aggressive AI. Its attitude helps prevent the player from just playing a farmer's gambit.
- Winning conditions aren't too difficult to obtain or take forever and ever to reach.

Dislikes:
- The algorithm for placing workers around cities is very poor. Additionally choosing 'custom' placement is very awkward (have to scroll to the bottom, etc).
- Some strategies seem to be overpowered. For instance, being able to purchase things with gold combined with the improvements and wonders that increase gold production is a very powerful strategy.

 

[obscurereferenc]

Likes:
- They’ve made civ work amazingly well with a control pad – I actually find it more comfortable than the keyboard and mouse interface on civ 4! If civ 5 were released on both the xbox 360 and PC, I’d actually prefer to buy the xbox version!
- No workers to manage!
- So many great little tweaks to civ conventions, such as: All ships can transport units, road movement, less unnecessary numbers and stats
- wonders & great people are powerful and satisfying
- improved victory conditions
- I like the other civs being so talkative (although not always what they’re saying!)

Dislikes:
- No multiplayer save! This is by far my main complaint, and unfortunately makes multiplayer unplayable for me. My brother and I like to play CivRev online, but we just don’t have the ~4 hours it takes to finish a game in one sitting. Either make it possible to finish games in under 2 hours, or please let me save it! Currently our options are: to quit halfway through a game, leave the Xboxes whirring away for 24 hours with the game paused (which can’t be healthy!), or to play something else.
How do others in a similar situation cope? I’d honestly like to know!

If they allow me to save a multiplayer game I’d be happy, the other problems are less of a big deal for me, but…

- Make the AI better at using diplomacy, like stop them making ridiculous demands in exchange for peace when I’m clearly winning a war. For me the thing that immerses me in civ games is my interaction with other leaders. It’s simple to understand and doesn’t take up much game time, so encourage it! For similar reasons, more diplomatic options please!
- Can the AI at least superficially treat other AIs the same as me? I hardly ever hear about AI civs declaring war on each other, but they’re always declaring war on me. Again, it comes down to the feeling of being immersed in the game world.
- The idea of grouping together units and controlling them completely as one is a great idea, but giving them special bonuses actually rewards and encourages unit spam. Suddenly I don’t need one catapult to kill an enemy unit, I need 3! Allow player to group together units, but as many they like, not just an arbitrary number, and do it to save time, not for extra rewards.
- Seeing as the focus was to streamline the game (an excellent idea, BTW), it’s strange that features that sped up previous games have been removed, such as: Capitulation, auto explore, advanced start.
- The trophy room is just weird for many reasons! That’s fine though, I can just skip it. I hope they don’t spend too much time on this feature in the next game though!

CivRev 2 (or civ 5 on the xbox, I don’t mind which) will be perfect I’m sure!