Civilization Revolution - iPhone

The Civ series is a game of heritage: starting back when computers could only do one thing at once, it is arguably the best turn based strategy game out there. Although not for the faint of heart, the 'Build a Strong and Balanced Culture' game was always a quite intensive strategy affair, taking many hours and much planning to become the most revered civilisation out there. As such the decision to bring the game to such a small device as the iPhone does beg the question: 'What has been left out?'

For those not previously exposed to the videogame-smack that is Civ (to those at least a little bit predisposed to strategising) the basic concept is just that: guide your culture from Barbarian to Spaceman, dealing with all the other ancient races and all their foibles along the way.  While this sounds simple the balancing act of keeping your population happy while expanding, researching technologies, keeping the neighbours buttered up all the while fending off Genghis-bloody-Khan is ingeniously addictive.

There are many ways to win at Civilization, this has not been watered down. You can go for Economical goals, technological or cultural, or just plain aim to wipe out the rest of the world. But while you barter and bargain your way through time, you have to keep a check on the opposition - one foolish trade of technology could set the opposition up to get to one of these goals first.

There isn't a whole lot that has been squeezed out of the game to make it fit. The control of your cities is still detailed, offering up enough options to allow for some deep strategy, although a number of presets are kicking about for those less managerially inclined.

Controls work well, utilising the iPhones zooming and dragging skills to navigate around the decent sized maps (although they are smaller than on a proper computer) and moving units about the shop. The look of the game is slick: cartoon styled graphics keep things nice, bright and clear - each unit is easily distinguishable and all the menus are easy enough to navigate. 

with slightly smaller maps and a little less detail there is a huge amount of game here - especially for three quid. Five hours worth of playing on beginner mode and a further four levels of difficulty allow for a greater challenge if desired; there is a lot to play with in this slick little package. So much so that you will have to be careful you don't miss the bus while invading Paris, it gets annoying, especially the second time.