Review: Civilisation
Score:
83%
Version Reviewed: 1.01
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Civilization is big. Really big. I mean, you may think it's a long way down to the shops, but that's nothing compared to Civilization.
The Ghosts of Games Past
Well, this is a classic, and I use classic in the terms of Charles Dickens, and not redefining a bad marketing exercise of a certain cola drink. Civ (to give its day to day name) was one of the contributing factors that meant I had to resit some exams back in the early nineties - the others being VGA Planets, Doom and Chambers Street Union... (snap out of it Ewan!!! - Rafe). Huh? Oh sorry.
Anyway, Civ is an elegant game where rather than some simle puzzles to solve, or sprites to explode, you have to do nothing less than begin with single group of settlers on Earth and (wait for it) take over the world! You start in 3800 odd BC, and have to build villages, towns, cities and learn skills like "The Alphabet" and "Metalwork" to let every member of your world progress.
It really is huge, in scope, depth, playing time, and file size.
The Ghosts of Games Present
Right, so how does it play? Bloody brilliant. I've dug out the old PC version's manual and I can't see anything obvious missing. Red Shift haven't taken the view that the diminutive 9210 should get a cut down feature list - no it's called Civilization, so everything has to be there.
Thanks.
That's a good thing, because Civ is so layered that whenever you select an option, the ramifications are felt throughout your world, and beyond. Did I mention that alongside you there are other empires attempting to rout you and claim the world for themselves? So as well as learning skills to advance your scholars, your generals are going to be clamouring for men and machinery to wage war. And your traders will want to set up trade routes with new colonys, so you'll need to set them up as well.
Pac Man it isn't
?And because Redshift have put everything into Civ, my free time (which was dwindling as it was) is going to be taken up with fighting the Romans... and what have they ever done for us?
The Ghosts of Games to Come?
RedShift have already hinted at other title they've got coming out, so may I recommend they look at Colonisation, the sequel to Civilisation? Just as detailed and exciting but with a slightly more focussed aim (Colnize the Americas). This would be be even better than Civ in my opinion.
Conclusion
While you can't play it in short burst (Civ really demands a good long train journey or some work-induced constipation), Civilization is a great game. It is definitely not to everyone's tastes (my Dad can't stand games like this) but if long term strategy and careful planning mean more to you than quick reactions and impressive graphics then it's time to free up space on your machine.
Now the score... yes it's impressive, yes it's huge, and yes it has been seen before by the hardened gamer. But...
...something of this magnitude hasn't been seen on any PDA before, it's an almost perfect port and it has huge buckets of relay value.
So I'm going to give Civ two scores and you can decide yourself. If you like this sort of tactical, slow burn, game, the Civ is a must and gets 95%.
If you're into the quick arcade game or want something to play in those short moments you get through the day, then Civ is just too big and too complex; so it gets 70%.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at