Demo time: Civilization Revolution (Xbox 360)

The new Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution should be out in shops today, but a demo for it was released already last week. As a longtime fan of the Civilization series it's definitely a game I've really been looking forward to and was excited to get my hands on the demo. As they've been saying all along, it's not just Civ4 ported to the Xbox but a whole new spin-off game designed for consoles from the ground up. While it still feels very much like a Civ-game, it's clearly not of the traditional variety.

Maybe the first thing that pops up are the simple, colourful and childish (some would say ugly) graphics that make the game look like something made for the XBLA. Unfortunately after a while into the game you begin to notice that the graphics aren't the only aspect where they have chosen this path. The moment you run into the different characters and advisors in the game you begin to question whether the game was meant to be played by adults at all. Also the general gameplay is much more simple and faster and the maps are smaller which take away most of the epic feeling we've got used to in the previous games. It's not really all that bad though. The gameplay works pretty well and it's still a fun game to play. Just if you're a fan of the series, don't expect to sink into the world of Civilization for many hours at a time like you used to, and really try out the demo to find out whether this one's for you.