CivRev
I have been playing Civilization since version 1 although I haven't played version IV or any of the version III expansions. Nor did I play on deity level. So I guess I'm not a hard-core Civ player.
But that's a good thing, 'cause Civilization Revolutions isn't for the hard-core Civ players. Unlike the rest of the Civ seies which added complexity with each version increase, Civ Rev tries to make the game more fun by removing complexity. This isn't to say the game is easy (although experienced Civ players shouldn't have much trouble) but I bet you won't be missing what was removed.
So, what has been removed? Terrain improvements to start with. No more micro-managing your settlers or engineers to irrigate, mine, road etc. Instead, terrain improvements are tied to building a city improvement. For example, building an iron mine automatically gets you the equivalent of a mine in any mountain squares. Roads are simply bought and provide only one step movement between cities.
You can still micro-manage what squares your city population works or use the resource type presets. Cities also only require food for growth, not size - so no starvation. (Although settlers still consume population.). No pollution either. A lot of negative effects have been dropped.
The size of the world is small, especially compared to the largest maps in the previous Civs. Oceans are much smaller, but this makes galleys (triremes) capable of exploring more than the coastline of the island you start on - especially since they come with a crew which can explore inland. However, ships can't attack land targets directly, but they can support land attacks - adding half of their attack strength.
The tech tree has been stripped down to about half the size as other versions. But the important technologies like gunpowder and combustion are still there. Being the first civ to complete a tech often gives a nice bonus - like one of the unit you can now build.
On the flip side there are some additions from the earlier versions or Civ. The big one is the concept of culture. Temples and cathedrals now add to your culture rather than making happy citizens. The more culture you have, the farther your borders extend from your cities. (Other civs can't enter your borders without declaring war.) And if your culture is high enough you can cause cities to join your empire. (The converse is also true - you can lose a city due to insufficient culture.)
My biggest complaint with Civ Rev is diplomacy. You can buy and sell techs with the other civs, but more often the other leaders will be demanding techs, gold or great people; then declaring war when you say no or offer them something less. So even if you're trying for one of the peaceful victory conditions, you'll probably still be at war much of the time. Doublely annoying, you're rarely given the opportunity to make your own demands.
So, in conclusion, Civilization Revolutions isn't as complex as Civ on the PC. However, it is still the Civ we know and love and is fun to play. Plus, it looks very pretty on a 52" 1080p HDTV.
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