Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS)

Sid Meier's Civilization franchise has delivered some of the most popular and beloved PC games of all time, but their overall complexity and seeming dependence on keyboard and mouse controls have kept them from moving from the study to the living room -- until now. SID MEIER'S CIVILIZATION REVOLUTION is a completely revamped version of the PC Civilization experience, designed to take advantage of traditional console gamepads and deliver a simplified, faster-paced brand of turn-based strategy/society simulation that's better suited for couch-bound play.

Much of the magnificence of the Civilization games has resided in their enormous scope and the breadth of options they provide players, which, combined, all but guarantees that no two games ever feel the same. Thankfully, Civilization Revolution retains both of these features. Which leader will you be? Cleopatra? Gandhi? Lincoln? Each comes with his or her own set of advantages that result in military, cultural, and economic bonuses. How do you plan to win the game? Through scientific enlightenment, cultural growth, brute militarism, or greedy capitalism? All are possible, and players make strides toward each every time they decide to invest in the development of new technologies, consruct new cities, build new world wonders, or train new military units. Simply put, the key elements that define the essence of a previous Civilization game are here, and they've been expertly implemented.

Nonetheless, not everything found in the PC games is present. In bringing Civilization to consoles the game's makers have wisely decided to simplify several of the franchise's more byzantine ingredients. Workers, for example, now do their own thing -- we can't set them to develop specific plots of land or work on particular bits of infrastructure, such as roads. What's more, some of the options available in the creation of new games -- such as the size and form of the world we fight to dominate -- simply don't exist. And PC fans will undoubtedly lament the lack of modded content and expansions -- scenarios created both by the game's original makers and other players -- that are available for other versions of the game. Still, given the platform it was made for, it's hard to ask for more than what we've been given in Civilization Revolution. Turn-based strategy gaming on a console has rarely been so good.

Available on: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS
Available online
Genre: Strategy
Developer: 2K Games
Released on: July 8, 2008
Price: 30-$50
ESRB Rating: E10+ for Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence