Video Game Vintage Title: Civilization Revolution

Civilization Revolution

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution is a 2008 iteration of Civilization developed by Firaxis Games with Sid Meier as designer for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Windows Phone, and iOS. A Wii version was originally expected but was put on indefinite hold. The lack of a PlayStation Portable version was attributed to a lack of development manpower.

Sid Meier was enthusiastic about this installment, being quoted in both the press release and trailer as saying, "This is the game I've always wanted to make."

A demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace and the North American PlayStation Store on June 5, 2008. The demo allows players to play until 1250 AD on a fixed map as Cleopatra or Julius Caesar, and also allows multiplayer play. A similar demo was released for iOS that allows play until the "Modern Era" as Julius Caesar, Abraham Lincoln, or Genghis Khan. It is also available on Xbox Live Marketplace as a fully functional game, without the use of a disc.

Civilization Revolution Gameplay

The main game of Civilization Revolution begins in 4000 BC, with a lone settler in the middle of a little-explored region. That settler has the capability to found a city, which, depending on its specific mix of geographical surroundings, begins harvesting food (for the continued growth of the city), production (for the creation of units and buildings), and trade (that can be then turned into either research points or wealth). In the early stages of the game, you will encounter uncivilized villages consisting of primitives such as barbarians and friendly villages. Over time, further settlers can be created, forming new cities; buildings can be built to improve each city's overall productivity; military units can be formed, focusing either on defense, offense, or exploration; technologies can be researched, allowing for newer buildings and units; etc. Buildings in a final category, "Wonders," provide major advantages to the civilization that builds it, either across their entire empire or just in the building city, depending on the Wonder. Meanwhile, rival civilizations are encountered, which can be both valuable trade partners, strategic allies, or dangerous enemies. Ultimately, each civilization competes for land and resources with the purpose of eventual military, technological, cultural, or economic domination.

Civilization Revolution is a turn based strategy game, with every "turn" representing the passage of several years within the game, which changes from 100 years in the beginning to two years by the end, reflecting the faster pace of contemporary society made possible by technological advancements. Later-era units and buildings are also more "expensive" to build (in terms of production points) than earlier ones, which is matched with cities' increased efficiency and population. Where the early game tends to be focused on exploring and expanding one's empire, the later game is dominated by the interactions forced upon the player by rival civilizations.

A victory can be achieved in four different ways. Unless specified in a scenario, all four victory conditions are open to be used. Different civilizations have distinct advantages over others depending on their bonuses.

Domination: The player must capture all of the other civilizations' capital cities and hold them for one full round; but they do not need to destroy or capture every city.

Culture: Obtain a total of 20 great persons, wonders, and/or converted cities in any combination, and build the United Nations wonder.

Economic: Acquire 20,000 gold and build the World Bank wonder.

Technological: Research all technologies necessary to build and launch a space ship, and be the first to reach Alpha Centauri.

If the player's civilization is nearing one of the above mentioned victory conditions, all other civilizations will declare war on them in an attempt to delay or stop them from winning. The construction of the World Bank, the construction of the United Nations, and the launching of the ship to Alpha Centauri can all be stopped by capturing the enemy's capital and palace.

Players can control one of 16 different civilizations, each with a different leader. Each civilization starts the game with a different special bonus that can be either a technology, a Great Person, or a special ability. As the game progresses through time, the civilizations also obtain new abilities after researching a specific number of technologies. In a given game each civilization can have up to four bonuses that vary from civilization to civilization. Many of the civilizations have specific specialized units that only they can build but unlike previous installments, these are for looks only. Special units do not possess stats beyond the normal unit but may have varying abilities.

There are also NPC barbarians who will declare war on any civilization they encounter, regardless of that civilization's strength or their own. In contrast to the barbarians in previous installments of the Civilization series, the barbarians in Civilization Revolution live in villages and generally attack from them, although they occasionally venture toward nearby units or cities. Also, the level of barbarian activity cannot be adjusted as in previous installments, although the level of barbarian activity changes in certain scenarios.