If this belongs in "lounge" I'm sorry; seems appropriate for this category. Ok, the same wanker who brought us the review of Duke Nukem, which he gave a 7.9 score, brings us a review of Civ Rev at a jarring 6.5. And, what oh pray thee dear reader is the main gripe, CONTROLS!?! I'm sorry but I know IGN is pants all around when it comes to any game reviews but God-Almighty at least pull your head out of your ass when you write two reviews back-to-back and one blatantly has severe control issues (Duke Nukem, albeit the dev has responded here on the forum to address these issues, but still they are major issues) and one that has some fundamental skill to adapt to. Honestly, I have both and can say that Civ is a far easier control scheme. The issue of lack of multi-player is legitimate, but, the issue of not running so well is worth mentioning but I personally wouldn't hold it against 2K (I have played HOURS now on my 2G touch and have not reproduced these problems). Sorry for the rant, but, good Lord this one is just sand down my shorts! Oh, the numerous grammatical and spelling errors bugged the hell out of me! Do they even have proof-readers!?
I like IGN reviews but for the iPhone... they just sucks. I don't know if they have new reviewers or if the reviewers are just bad when they play with an iPhone. It's just iPhone, it's not really a console...
To be completely honest, I don't see the big deal here... I think IGN make a valid point. Whilst Duke Nukems controls are broken, they are workable because of the kind of game it is and the way it's controlled... Civilisation is controlled in a much different manner. It's like Sim City in that it requires a much more precise control method (incidently Sim City was critsized for similar control issues). They are two completely different genres so of course they are going to control differently. Bad controls aren't universal across all styles, it all defends on what kind of game it is and how you can work around them.
I might be saying this in defense for IGN because I like them, but I think that people shouldn't take the grades so seriously. Just read the review and try to understand why the reviewer says what he/she does. Flipping out about it isn't worth your energy.
hahahahahahahahaha what!?!?!?!? Duke Nukems controls are easier to go around than Civilizations????? It's an FPS they need good controls because it's happening in real time, you have to react fast. That needs MUCH better controls than civilizations... it's turn based... you can take your time, so the controls have a little bit of leeway. As far as i'm concerned Duke Nukem's control have to react perfectly, why do you think there aren't many FPS on the iphone?? and the ones that do everyone complains that they are unplayable because of the controls (except Wolfenstein).
I haven't read the review, but I'm not sure what the problem with the controls are. I've played the game a bit, but didn't come across any problems aside from occasional non-responsive buttons. I assume that an update will fix that, even though it's more of a minor annoyance than anything else. Lack of multiplayer? Yeah, I'd like it. Maybe it will come down the road. But the matter of the fact is that we got a $40 DS game for $5. Besides, I'm not so sure how well multiplayer would. The game is just so slow-paced and much more epic as compared to other TBS games. I realize that the other consoles did have multiplayer, but they constitute a group of dedicated gamers who are willing to sit through a 5 hour game without budging. I'm not sure what percentage of the iPhone market would do so, which could make it unfeasible for the iPhone.
i thought civ controls where good...well at least good enough to play the game well....but givin it a 6 is just dumb....some one from ign must not like rts
Reviews are based on personal bias...that's just the way it is, and you may not agree with them. Personally, the controls in CivRev are fine so I don't know what the issues are. The controls in Dukem are really terrible, workaround or not. Frankly, when you buy a game, everything should more or less work. Options are good, but "finding a workaround" is pretty lame. Anyway, take reviews for what they are which is part of your research. It shouldn't be your sole source for making a decision.
Since you can save games, it's easy to play a turn or two at lunch, or if they added what CIV IV does - play turns asynchronously - take your turn, then 'beam' the turn info to the next player who does the same, and so on. It's the modern version of play-by-email and we had large games of CIV IV going on for months at work... An ideal use for app push!
It never fails... post something on the TA forums and you're almost guaranteed at least ONE immature response! And as for Duke, you don't have to act fast at all, all you have to do is tap on an enemy to shoot it which pretty much eliminates any precission (sp?) that's needed. I've pretty much beaten the game and haven't had half the problems controlling it that some people have.
uh-oh are we starting to complain about reviews now too? Hmm hopefully TA doesn't become a 9/10 or bust sort of community Honestly though we as humans are very hypocritical. Fact of life. We can enjoy one thing while hate another for the very same reasons. So while the controls of Duke might not be sound he thought it was still fun and the controls of Civ might not be sound he thought it wasn't still fun.
Ign is biased towards anything cutesy. Cutesy games with poor controls or little content still get good reviews from them.
OK. I'm an IGN fan as well as a TA fan, and I take all reviews with a grain of salt. As others here have said, reviews reflect personal experience and bias. Now, to be fair, IGN (Levi Buchanan) reported *multiple* issues with Civ during testing: 1. Bugs - highlighted game crashes that occurred despite device reboots 2. Controls/Interface - noted that moving a unit by dragging had issues because the screen would not scroll with you when you dragged past the current screen. Also highlighted that the menu system requires someone to remember where certain options are. 3. Graphics - 2D sprites, minimal animation 4. Multiplayer - as in...there is none. They reported that they contacted 2K Games about the bugs/performance issues, and that 2K Games is aware of the problems. There were other quibbles as well. The review was heavy handed, but you get the sense that the reviewer was frustrated with what could have been a "slam dunk" version of Civ Rev. Levi also says he's a huge fan/player of the Civ series, so that adds to his personal frustration level. One thing so-so reviews from major review sites also does is to push the dev team to correct the glaring issues. So, seeing a so-so review isn't the end of the world. Besides, that's why we have TA and great forums, right?! --DotComCTO
Something a lot of people don't seem to understand is reviews are basically just opinion pieces. Just because someone has a different opinion or different tastes from yours doesn't mean it's wrong. I've gotten roasted for how I feel about certain games in the past too, it's not really anything new.
ign sucks with iphone reviews. I don't know who runs that ship over there but whoever reviews those needs to be fired because after reading some of their reviews, they just don't seem to know what their talking about.
Some reviewers just aren't good enough gamers to actually experience the entirety of what a game has to offer. Levi from IGN admits in several reviews to getting crushed early on in certain games, so much so that finishing the review is difficult. Usually he'll account for his own difficulty with a specific title, but other times he'll blame the game design itself.
I think IGN doesn't look at iPhone games like they're iPhone games. More like DS games or PSP games. Compared to every other strategy game in THE APP STORE, Civilization Revolution is really good. Compare Civ Rev to other strategy games on the PSP and such, it'll be about average.
The problem with certain reviewers, such as those at IGN, is that they state in some of their "opinion pieces" that one must force a friend to buy a certain game; one must love a certain game, if one calls oneself a gamer or a "guru" in a certain genre; one would be crazy to miss this or that title. They review some games very critically, as if making appropriate comparisons with a PSP or DS title, and cut other title's way too much slack in writing off their flaws. Some dollar games get reviewed very critically for being too little fare, while certain $5-10 games are touted as great values if they offer 4-5 hours of essentially repetitive play.
