Great Console Version of Civ
Let me start out by saying that the gaming pad works really well for the game and you almost could operate any commands with just one hand since it is a turn based strategy game. Simple commands bring up options with right and left bumpers and city management is almost done for you. The focus of the game is where it should be.
There are sixteen playable Civs and four ways to win the game; domination, financial, cultural, and technology. When playing, it becomes more and more obvious that you will need a set strategy for whichever way you want to win. For example, if your strategy is to win on a technology victory, then you will most likely want to micromanage your cities and build more universities and libraries. These types of buiding allow you to research more and faster, thus, advancing your civ faster than without. If you want to win a domination victory, you need to build little more than a barracks and keep pumping out troops.
As you progress through the game, you will notice that the game gets a bit harder at the more advanced levels. The King level (middle level) will offer most Civ players a challenge; especially depending on your initial placement on the map. Civ uses a random map generator so "no two maps are the same" even though i have played a couple of the maps several times. Your proximity to potential enemies during this placement phase often decides the type of victory you set you Civ to win. If you are alone on a sizable island, you might have a good change at setting the conditions to win a tech or financial victory but if are placed right next to a hostile neighbor, you might want to take them over culturally or by brute force.
Drawbacks to game is that it can be repetitive. Every game can be a race to research key technologies such as fuedalism (which gives you knights and a military advantage). On harder difficulties, the AI is downright cheap. They advance so much quicker that they will literally be sending tanks to attack city while you still trying to defend with archers. The AI chatter can get pretty annoying but luckily there is an option to tuen it off in the main menu. Also the graphics are cartoonish rather than realistic. It is in this setion of gripes that I must mention that all of the achievements are only available on the single player mode and not online.
Overall, this a great game. i look forward to more iterations on the console of the series.
Graphics- 7
Gameplay-9
Sounds-7
Replayability-9
Overall- 8