Games produced and/or inspired by Sid Meier have given me untold hours of enjoyment over the years.
But Firaxis is becoming sloppy, and has even started down the slope of ruining the Civ brand with make-a-quick-buck shovelware. Civilization Revolution, while far from shovelware itself, was nonetheless a harbinger of that trend...and also of the dumbing-down of titles, apparently to woo the console crowd. (How often have we heard Firaxians pining for their liberation from the hated PC!)
And that's not all. I was disappointed to see Colonization show one of the hallmarks of EA/Maxis asshattery--i.e., relying on user-created patches to render the released game playable--and I'm still bitter over the disappointment that was Sid Meier's Railroads!
We do not need to be encouraging them right now. So I voted for Sins of a Solar Empire. A solid product, whose developers are showing more commitment to continual improvement, and more loving attention to fit and finish, than anyone associated with Sid Meier has shown for years.
(What happened to your pride, Sid? It's time to either step up your game, or--if you just don't have it in you anymore, either the talent or the give-a-damn--retire gracefully before you do any more damage to your once-Olympian reputation.)
Online newspaper The Age is conducting a poll for Best Strategy Game of 2008, and Civilization Revolution is one of the nominations. CivRev, released this summer, brought the Civilization series to consoles and introduced many individuals to turn-based strategy games. Other games in the running are Spore, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Tom Clancy's EndWar.
