Action-Heavy Version of Civilization Heading to Consoles

GameDaily is reporting that Take-Two will be publishing a new Civilization title in Spring of 2008, with a twist. Instead of the traditional strategy gameplay Civilizations Revolution will be an 'action-packed' console game, streamlining the experience for different generation of gamers. They also mention they'll be aiming this game at handheld gamers. "The title will include 16 civilizations, numerous historical leaders to play as or compete against, online play with integrated video and voice chat, more accessible maps, a streamlined time scale for quicker games, and more ... 'Civilization is one of the world's top selling PC game series with more than 8 million units sold, and continues to be recognized as one of the greatest franchises ever created,' added Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. 'We are excited to have Sid Meier getting back to his roots as the game's Lead Designer to carry on its legacy with Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution.'" This seems somewhat similar to EA's decision to offer up a streamlined version of SimCity in their next iteration of the series.

Good idea or not?

[ThisIsWhyImHot]

I was a big fan of the first two civilization games and the idea of making one that is more action heavy is quite mouth watering. I just hope they don't put too much effort into the action and not enough into the planning and strategy that made the originals so good.

Re:Good idea or not?

[spun]

The Civilization IV: Warlords expansion pack adds quite a bit more action. If I want a military victory, I usually play on epic or marathon speed. Building takes proportionally as long, but you have far more turns to maneuver your armies. I think units are produced slightly quicker as well, so you can have bigger armies. Warlords adds to the 'great people' idea with great generals. Some scenarios are virtually all fighting. For instance, in one, a normal game world is generated, the computer players take 20-60 turns, and then YOU play as the barbarians, bent on destroying civilization.

After Civ IV: Beyond the Sword - all is forgiven

[dtolman]

After Civ 4.5 comes out (aka the Beyond The Sword edition), who cares what crap they throw at the console market? CIV IV BTS is going to the definitive civilization version for years to come on the computer - its hard enough for me to break away from the game with just the crappy Warlord expansion - this new version is going to be like silicon crack.

Its their loss if they don't think kids can understand this excellently crafted strategy game - but honestly if they're worried about attention span, just make small maps and idiot AI the default options for the console version, and leave it alone. Civ IV is just as intuitive as the original, which plenty of kids played when it came out 15 years ago - and it has pretty graphics to boot - why wouldn't it work on the console?

That may be why

[Sycraft-fu]

They are doing the "action-heavy" thing. They may have realised that Civ, as it is done on the computer, wouldn't work so well on teh console and thus are using it as a starting point, but changing the gameplay. Sounds like they aren't going for a perfect copy since they know that won't work, and aren't just going to water it down, but rather change it to be suited to the new environment. It'll be interesting to see how well it works.

Just what the Civ series needs

[Digital Vomit]

Great. Just what the Civ series needs. Civilization V: Attention Deficit Disorder Edition.