Finally Playable: Civilization Revolution for iPad

First off, I am a HUGE fan of the Sid Meier Civilization series...so much so that I am one of THOSE people - yeah, the guys who claim that Alpha Centauri (Alien Crossfire) is the REAL heir to the Civ series. Still, I love the entirety of the Civ turn based strategy franchise. When the demo for the Xbox 360 version of Civilization Revolutions came out, I downloaded it immediately. I hadn't finished an entire game before I backed out and bought a full copy.

So I was completely stoked when I found out that Civ Rev was coming out for the iPhone. Bought it day one. Now, I'm not trying to say the game is no good. It is a great game. However, you first have to realize that it is a simplified version of what we have come to know as Civilization. In that sense it harkens back to its roots with Civ I....again, not necessarily a bad thing.

The iPhone version has three major differences that make it nowhere near as good as the version on the 360: 1) Downloadable Content (DLC); 2) Multi-player; and 3) screen size.

The third problem is completely excusable - the iPhone has a small screen. Even the DS version suffered from this to a degree, though it was offset somewhat by having two screen to work with. But with the iPhone, it got tedious: zoom in, zoom out, scroll - zoom in, zoom out, scroll - wash, rinse, repeat. And the Technology Tree, that was a real pain to work with.

The iPad version should be a real treat. Much more like the 360 or PS3 versions. You'll be able to see a lot more of the world at once and with more detail. Less scrolling and zooming. I hope. This IS all based off descriptions and screenshots. The iPad isn't actually out for a couple of days so I have no way to play it hands on.....yet. :)

But, again from the description, failings 1 and 2 are not corrected in the new version. Nowhere is a mention of multi-player capability or DLC. Those are deal breakers for me. And the reasons why I still play Civ Rev on the 360 but never fire it up on my iPhone.

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