Civilization Revolution iPhone iPod Touch review

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Civilization Revolution is a groundbreaking app for the iPhone and iPod Touch that is a port of the popular PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 game.  It is currently one of the top downloaded apps on iTunes and it can be downloaded for $4.99.  The 360 version was great and surprisingly,  the iPhone version lived up to the standards of the popular Civilization series.

Civilization Revolution puts you in the shoes of a historical world leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Catherine the Great of Russia, Mao, Elizabeth I of England, and many more.  The game plays like Civilization Revolution on the consoles.  It feels like a handheld game, but it has almost all the features of the console version.

The controls were great.  Touch screen controls were used to do everything and it is better than a mouse.  You will make an occasional mistake but you’ll learn to avoid it.  One problem with the app was that it can crash and with no auto save, you will lose your progress.  The best way to combat this problem is to save often.  I’m sure an update will be released to fix this anyway.  My biggest problem with Civilization Revolution was the drain it puts on the battery of the iPhone.  It drained my battery from 80% to about 25% in 45 minutes.  I hope this can be improved.  If not, then make sure you have a means to charge your iPhone on the go.  I recommend car chargers or bringing your sync cable with you.

The graphics were pretty good.  I’d say on par with the Game Boy Advance.  The battles even remind me of Advance Wars for the GBA.  It runs well with little lag.  There are definitely apps with better graphics but no apps with more gameplay on it.  The sound is also good.  There are good sound effects and music in the game.

Here is a video showing the gameplay of Civilization Revolution:

Civilization Revolution is a very good app. The gameplay is solid and has a great presentation.   It is expensive at $4.99 but if you love the Civilization series it is worth the money.  For people not into strategy games I’d skip it or wait for it to go on sale again.  For Civ lovers, it will become one of your favorite apps.