Anyone who’s ever played a Civilization game (particularly the two most recent PC titles) will know how much of a time-sink they can be. The most epic games can last for hours and hours on end – hardly ideal for a modern console audience. With Meier taking a much more handson approach than expected with this new multiformat version, hopes were high that it could live up to its computerbased brethren. But is its streamlining of Civ’s complexities a step too far?

In truth, it’s all going to be down to personal taste. While Revolution is certainly an entertaining game, and much faster-paced than most of its forebears, some will see that as a good thing, while some will be irked by what they consider a dumbing-down of this popular franchise. For our money, we can’t help but feel that veteran strategy fans might be better sticking with the PC version, yet we also believe that Civ Rev is a perfect fit for the 360 in its current form.

The solo game – essentially a streamlined, quicker version of your standard Civ campaign – will generally last players between three and five hours, depending on their quickness of mind and thumb. You get your pick from several great world leaders, ranging from Gandhi through Cleopatra to Alexander The Great, each with their own personal strengths which tend to affect how you approach the game. So Romans get half-price roads in ancient times, while American civilisations get triple the amount of factory production in modern times. The object, naturally, is to dominate your opponents by becoming leader of the world. This can be accomplished in a number of different ways – Domination requires you to capture all enemy capitals, while a Cultural triumph needs you to acquire 20 Great People or build the same number of Wonders. It might seem strange to see the Colossus of Rhodes in Delhi, but that’s all part of the anarchic, anachronistic fun.

The tutorials (which can be turned off for those familiar with the mechanics) are thorough, clearly explained, and actually very entertaining. Your advisers – and the opposing leaders – are represented by a series of large characters who pop up at the bottom-right of the screen to offer helpful hints and suggestions. They’re well-animated and their dialogue is often wryly amusing. We particularly enjoyed dismissing the complaints of our uncultured citizens with a curt “the ungrateful sods!”.

Though the graphics (which offer a cartoonish take on Civilization’s slightly more sterile look) are a little basic, there’s a certain rudimentary charm to them, and the interface in general is clear and concise. Whether you’re adjusting your city’s production focus, or forming three of your units into a larger army, it’s all done with simple button commands, with very little menu navigation required. Scrolling across the map is a little slow and awkward, though swapping between units requires just a tap on the D-pad. This can become a problem when you keep a unit static as they’ll be classed as inactive and therefore ignored, until you find them manually and activate them so they can be moved again.

With numerous ways to win the game, no two games of Civ play the same, particularly if you try it above the lower two difficulties, on which it seems a little too easy to score victory via sheer brute force. Certainly if you happen to come up against leaders who adopt a more cultured approach, their capital cities can fall without too much opposition. You’ll be offered peace whenever you venture close to an opponent, though it’s all too easy to break your truce and attack. Accept a treaty for a monetary reward or knowledge, however, and you won’t be able to venture into enemy territory for a certain number of turns.

Though it doesn’t take too many hours to see the credits, you’re actively encouraged to adopt a different approach on your next turn, with the game telling you how many (or rather, how few) leaders out of the total you’ve defeated, or how many Wonders you built or Great People – famous explorers, thinkers, scientists – you uncovered during your quest. And the game thoughtfully provides a set of very different scenarios to try, ranging from Attack of the Huns which adds several Barbarian encampments to the map to Beta Centauri which challenges you to be the first to colonise a new world. Not only that, but there’s a Game Of The Week, which allows online-capable players to try the same task, with their best scores uploaded to leaderboards. The robust multiplayer options set time limits on moves to speed things up yet further – a good idea, given that even the much shorter average game time is still off-puttingly long for most.

A game with such subtleties and fine detail as Civilization IV would never have worked on a console, and so while purists might carp at Revolution’s necessarily stripped-down feel, its injection of pace makes for a more exciting – if marginally less cerebral – strategy game. And more importantly, it’s still as life-suckingly addictive as ever.

Chris Schilling