Will the DS version be worth it?

[Warrior of Wales]

Ha sanyone managed to buy the DS version in Britain yet? Amazon.uk and Play.com are still quoting 29th August as the release date

Anyone in Euope having the same problem?

I see that it's available across the pond though.

 

[Mivo]

Yes, the European release date is August 28/29. For DS games, that's pretty close to the US release, really. Normally it takes longer than just six weeks.

Well, I played the game for a bit today. It really is simplified quite a bit and seems focused on warfare mostly. The graphics are pretty decent for DS standards. Not played enough for a real impression, but so far it's decent for what it is meant to be. Not a replacement to the PC Civs, though -- not even close.

 

[dojoboy]

Make that 3. I can honestly say if it weren't for Civ Rev, I would not have bought a Nintendo DS.

By the way, did you guys see the art on the inside cover yet? (Napoleon Poster )

I bought my DS in January, because CivRev was coming out. I've enjoyed some really good DS games since then.

 

[shadowplay]

For me, a portable Civ has been a holy grail of sorts. Civ3/4 on laptop comes close, but the DS is about 1/5th the size of a small laptop so its really going to be great being albe to Civ anywhere.

Preach it, brother! Amen!

(1) There is no way to patch the DS version, other than producing a patched cartridge. So, those of us in North America should feel grateful on the month delay in release dates. Hopefully, the Euros did a nice job beta testing it for us.

True enough for Ps3 and Xbox360, but I don't believe the DS version is out in Europe yet. I was hearing end of August.

 

[Capt Ajax]

I got it yesterday and played for a few hours last night as the Aztecs. It was really great for a DS title. No complaints so far. I mean.....it is a hand held so you can only expect so much.

 

[dexters]

Whats amazing is they kept pretty much the game the same as the console versions.

A few things are missing here and there and the graphics are 2-D instead of 3-D but its the same game!

 

[shadowplay]

I wish the map wasn't so blurry on the DS version.

 

[Cornstalk]

My wife adores Civ on the DS. She's been playing it constantly.

I find it to be a poorly made slap in the face.

Luck of the dice is intolerable and enraging in revolution. Combat wise it's like a painful return to Civ 2 with a Phalanx killing a Battleship. As far as the early parts of the game... goodie hut/barbarian camp gobbling is ridiculous. You can have such an extreme amount of good luck early on (especially if you know how to abuse it) that you can have legion armies knocking on your opponent's doors when they've barely had enough time to spit out an archer.

If I wanted that much random factor butting in to the game play, I'd go back to Mario Kart on the Wii... Yeah, I went there. :\

It's Civ... sort of. It's fun... sort of. Just like cheap beer. Somehow I'm always left with a bad taste in my mouth and an upset stomach no matter how well the party went.

 

[a space oddity]

[...]
Also:

(1) There is no way to patch the DS version, other than producing a patched cartridge. So, those of us in North America should feel grateful on the month delay in release dates. Hopefully, the Euros did a nice job beta testing it for us.

We'll be getting the DS version end of August, so the actual situation is reversed.

 

[dojoboy]

My wife adores Civ on the DS. She's been playing it constantly.

I find it to be a poorly made slap in the face.

Luck of the dice is intolerable and enraging in revolution. Combat wise it's like a painful return to Civ 2 with a Phalanx killing a Battleship. As far as the early parts of the game... goodie hut/barbarian camp gobbling is ridiculous. You can have such an extreme amount of good luck early on (especially if you know how to abuse it) that you can have legion armies knocking on your opponent's doors when they've barely had enough time to spit out an archer.

If I wanted that much random factor butting in to the game play, I'd go back to Mario Kart on the Wii... Yeah, I went there. :\

It's Civ... sort of. It's fun... sort of. Just like cheap beer. Somehow I'm always left with a bad taste in my mouth and an upset stomach no matter how well the party went.

I think once the bulk of us move up in difficulty after some test games, this may not be as prevalent. Those huts & barbs are designed to force the player to explore (And, when playing against a human-controlled Mongol civ, you better go get them first!). The 3 ancient artifacts play the same role, but I think they're found to easily. You meet a hut or capture a barb cap, and they tell you about an ancient civ and then it's location is shown to you. Hm, that's a bit too much information.

 

[XxtraLarGe]

I think once the bulk of us move up in difficulty after some test games, this may not be as prevalent. Those huts & barbs are designed to force the player to explore (And, when playing against a human-controlled Mongol civ, you better go get them first!). The 3 ancient artifacts play the same role, but I think they're found to easily. You meet a hut or capture a barb cap, and they tell you about an ancient civ and then it's location is shown to you. Hm, that's a bit too much information.

I got messages about the ancient civs being unfound until I found a hut that was close to the artifacts, then they were revealed.

 

[Mivo]

Well, I played some more, and I'm unhappy with the AIs. Totally war-centric, and apparently only hostile towards the players, so, all AIs against the human. I guess you could circumvent this by playing against humans only per wifi, but Civ Rev is something I'd play when I'm not around my computer (and router), so good AIs would be helpful. I'm probably spoiled by the Civ4 AIs, though. For a DS game it's still well done, but there are precious few DS games that I really enjoyed (AW, Anno, Clubhouse Games, Puzzle Quest, FF3).

It's better than nothing, but for mobile Civ it may be better to buy one of those sub-laptops (Acer Aspire One for example) and put Civ 1-3 on it. Sure, larger than a DS, and twice as expensive, but still fairly small and light (less than two pounds / one kg).

 

[dojoboy]

Well, I played some more, and I'm unhappy with the AIs. Totally war-centric, and apparently only hostile towards the players, so, all AIs against the human.

I'm not pleased with this either, reminds me of Civ2. However, I'm rather enjoying my current game, has me on edge a bit.