Like Cinderella at the ball, Civilization Revolution makes an impression with its debut on the consoles.

Civilization is a franchise that has always been a multi-day affair testing one’s tactical brilliance. Asking players to conquer the world or bring it to harmonious peace through diplomatic means, Civilization can be played a variety of different ways. Always favoring development on the PCs, the long-running series has finally made its debut on the consoles and it does so in remarkable fashion.

Civilization is a turn-based strategy game that allows players to choose their culture/civilization and begin the race to world domination. Starting out as a small village taking out barbaric tribes, the franchise covers every important age of mankind – from the development of gunpower to the rising and falling of nuclear bombs. With an assortment of diplomatic options, players can always turn to peaceful manners to advance themselves through science and reasoning rather than with force.

If you hate micromanagement, Civilization may not be the best choice since the majority of your time will be based on figuring out what’s the best move and what technology you want to begin research on. Civilization Revolution does not differ from the standard Civ title, although it’s been built from the ground up for the consoles. Civ Rev is likely the most user-friendly Civ title there has been and it should attract a bunch of newcomers to the genre who may have missed out on the franchise on the PC.

Starting out with the option to choose from 16 civilizations, all with their own perks, players will see the pristine faces of history’s greatest leaders and rulers to choose from such as: Napoleon Bonaparte of France, Abraham Lincoln of the U.S., Otto von Bismarck of the Germans, and of course Genghis Kahn of Mongolia. Each civilization has their bonuses and special units, so choosing wisely is a natural must.

If you are a returning player of Civ titles of the past, you’ll notice distinctly how short the games run in Civ Rev. After a few hours of gameplay, you should be able to complete your world domination as opposed to the ultra-long games from the PC. There are five different difficulty settings to change up the gameplay, all of which will make the game longer due to the higher computer A.I.

Other changes include the randomized maps, decreased city management, fewer victory conditions, and the stripped down version of diplomacy. The diplomacy itself was the most disappointing of the bunch as it has basically been narrowed down to trading technology, entering war and negotiating peace. It’s also quite easy to persuade (or shall we say trick) opponents into declaring war on each other so you can reap the benefits of their battles. Usually the enemies will be so concentrated on the war, they’ll continue to lose units while you are able to stockpile on yours. This allows for you to attack the victor of the previous war to strike them when they are at their weakest.