Civilization Revolution (Multi Format)

1996 was the year insomnia gripped me, I had removed everything from my diet that would have created it, coffee, tea, sugary foods but still it persisted; there was very little stress in my life even - No the answer was obvious and it lay in a large cardboard box... Civilization 2 had been released!

After the galleons had long since faded from the inside of my retina I thought it would be safe to venture back into 'normal' gaming. Little did I know that Sid Meier had one more dastardly plan under his sleeve, the quite brilliant Civilization revolution. Sleep would never be the same again.

This iteration of the Civilization series, has departed from its PC roots and instead opted for a more 'Console friendly' path, with the game being released on both the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo DS. This may initially cause concern amongst gamers, however those fears are immediately dispelled.

The main reason for this is the extremely intuitive control scheme, with the majority of options being controlled by the shoulder buttons. This proves to be a master stroke as once your settlers have created several cities (Guestopia and Guestropolis in my case!) it offers easy navigation across all your kingdom, making the turn based gameplay into a surprisingly quicker experience.


The game though doesn't overly hold the gamers hand before playing, maybe in a nod of respect to the hardened Civilization players, and rather than the mandatory tutorial a science type character pops up offering you a tutorial, which when opted for will fully detail unit types and their various strengths and weaknesses, as well as offering advice when a new experience is made available to the gamer, such as building a 'wonder' for your citizens.

This was extremely refreshing as the game didn't patronise the gamer, and rather allowed them to opt for assistance as and when they needed it, but moreover allowed the gamer to digest the game's 'ethos' and strategy before moving on within the game.

The only slight quibble with the tutorial, was that although it described the unit types it was at times unclear how you actually create a unit, making a read of the instruction manual a vital companion to the gamers' initial steps within the game.


Civilization has always been a 'thinker' and even the most hardened Civilization fans, for which there are hundreds, will say that it has never been a 'looker'. This has dramatically changed for this incantation.

The graphics are vibrant, rich and a delight to behold, with the world and in game terrain being beautifully drawn with a cartoonish brush. This extends to the in game characters - tribes people, Barbarians, World leaders; each has a wonderfully characateuristic quality, where they will visually show their disapproval or support for your decisions.

This cartoonish style also extends to the unit types, with each unit such as pike men being unique, and furthermore when the unit is upgraded this is reflected visually, allowing the gamer to feel a greater sense of attachment to their units, through their personality and individuality.

'But what about the gameplay? Civilization is nothing without gameplay!' you cry, and this sentiment is fully correct, and is in part why I chose to talk about the gamplay last. The fact is that regardless of all these new graphical touches, new bells and whistles that have been mention above.. this is still an authentic Civilization game, and at the core of it beats the same heart that was in Civilization 2.

The game gives the user command of a huge cultural list (16 in total) ranging from Cleopatra's Egyptian Empire through to Abraham Lincoln's good old USA. These aren't just purely cosmetic differences, far from it, and instead each civilization offers strengths and weaknesses whether it be Ghandi's diplomacy skills or Julius Caesar's military might.

Once the decision has been made the gamer must set out to achieve success for their blossoming Civilization, and success can be achieved in 4 differing ways economic, cultural, technology and domination, with each option having specific criteria to achieve success.


The only slight criticism of this is that due to the map being quite small, yet still having 5 different Civilizations; it means that war is inevitably on the cards and it is at times extremely difficult to keep things peaceful!

This often results in games being won by domination, and when playing I couldn't escape the feeling that it was all to easy to win in this way. This may be Sid Meier's attempt to cater for a console market which is perceived to want instant action, but the continual interruption irritated, especially when your sole intention was to be peaceful.

It is worth persevering with the winning goals other than domination, as from a curiosity point alone it allows you to see your research reach its true potential.

Overall Civilization Revolution is a brilliant re - imagining for the series, which does its up most to cater for Old and new fans of the game alike. The game is also extremely good value coupling together free play, scenarios not to mention the online multi player. Whether or not this version will make it to the PC is another matter, but console fans can rejoice in having a thoroughly deep and absorbing strategy title to play. It seems my insomnia is set to start all over again!

Soulcalibur 4 (Multi Format)

Fighting games or the often more referred to Beat - em - up, sit precariously on a knife edge within the modern era or 'Next gen' gaming; you see there's something overly familiar with the genre. Far removed from the gimmickry of waving a Wii remote or the stupidity of six - axis controls - the fighter sits you down with a game pad and asks you to slavishly devote yourself to button combinations.

This premise has remained largely unchanged since the glory days of Street fighter, but what has this got to do with Soulcalibur you may say... well its the fact that Soulcalibur takes this and sugar coats the pill to such a degree that the game is like drinking Honey from the moment the immortal words "The legend continues" can be heard on screen.

What instantly grabs you is the visual style of the game, its as if the head of Namco ordered colour to be cranked all the way up to 10, as the graphics from the environments to the in game characters and menu screens are beautifully rendered.

The characters, or perhaps the range of choice within the character select screen, is what is most impressive, sporting 34 characters from old favourites such Siegfried and Nightmare to newcomers to the series such as Algol and Shura, there should be no reason to feel there isn't a character to suit your personal taste, with each game character offering a unique fighting style; ultimately shaped by the weapon they use whether it be broadsword or foil.


For this iteration of the game Namco has sought the galaxy far far away and recruited 3 star wars characters Darth Vader (Playstation 3 exclusive) Yoda (Xbox 360 exclusive) and the Apprentice (no not Alan sugar!).

Namco certainly has a tradition for incorporating other franchises into Soulcalibur such as link or spawn within Soulcalibur 3, but its a strange, albeit welcome decision to include the Star Wars characters.

Its hard to believe the designers of Soulcalibur understood the concept of a Lightsabre, a blade that is so strong it cuts through any object. We didn't see Obi wan in starwars take 90 seconds and someone uttering "fight!" to chop the arm of the space pirate did we? no it was one quick strike before the Cantina band got back to playing and Luke decided to catch a lift on the Millenium Falcon! so why are the sabres nothing more than glowsticks?

The lightsabres do in fact look pretty, but there is no visual impact of using a Lightsabre on the opponent armour, any more than if it were a club.

This trend is continued with the ability to use the force, with each of the Jedi respectively having a 'Force Meter' to use. Obviously for the balance of the game a meter needed to be used otherwise one force choke and the opponent would be dead, but the limiting of their powers kills thier 'super hero' like quality, and further reinforces that the decision to include them was a choice made more with selling games in mind than their suitability.

This is only a minor gripe and if the Starwars characters do only one good thing it is to erase the horrid memories of playing Starwars: Masters of Teras Kasi!

It is in the Beauty of the game mechanics that the game truly shines through allowing both the newcomer and the honed veteran a game to explore.

There are several game modes available such as Story mode, arcade, and Tower of souls mode which sees you ascend and descend a torturous tower where in order to progress you must fight waves of opponents. Story mode and arcade are relatively easy and had this been all that was included it would be reasonable to feel shortchanged, but Soulcalibur 4 has gone further adding online options, with ranked matches and leaderboards allowing you to measure your skill and progress.

The only slight criticism of the gameplay is that you can progress relatively far into the game if you button bash. This obviously allows new gamers a chance to progress, but dilutes the skill needed to 'beat' the game and in some ways the sense of achievement that the gamer would get from honing their fighting abilities, in the way that say a Virtua Fighter or Street fighter would offer.

Soulcalibur 4 is certainly a return to form, and easily matches the gameplay offered in the Dreamcast original, it moves the genre on a step offering a wealth of depth from online options through to character creation, while at the same time offering traditional fighting that all hardened Beat - em - up fans will be happy with. Soulcalibur 4 performs an amazing balancing act of old and new, refashioning it for the 'Next gen' crowd and is essential for fight fans!

-Guesty81