Revival 2 Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

The review is finally here.

The reason this review is about two weeks late is that I'm still playing the game. And even though I'm on holiday and should be taking some time off, I'm still playing the game. In fact I'm still on the training mode. But don't let that put you off as this really is a brilliant game.

The first thing I have to say about it, is that the game is massive. I mean really massive. The blurb says there are over 2000 maps, and I believe them. There aren't too many instructions in the game, but it doesn't matter too much as the training mode takes you through everything you need to know.

You start off with the basic God game scenario, you have to create a town and make it prosper. You can create more than one town as these are founded by units called Immigrants. They wander around with limited movement, but once you've found a decent spot you will be given the option of creating a town in a "scary" place.

I had to add that last line in, as the game does have a fair amount of humour in it. Which, for a translation done by a Russian developer is quite impressive. The humour is in the form of sarcastic comments, but these are entertaining nonetheless. Once you've founded your town, you can create things around it. And you can't have towns too close to each other which does add some tactical element.

Buildings can be created such as schools, pharmacies, markets, blacksmiths, plantations etc. These all do different things, but you are taken through their uses when you play the training mode. You can research new buildings or troops to allow you to build them. And with workers you can establish watchtowers or mines (bringing you precious resources). The troops you get to build certainly advance through the ages as you go through the game, and pretty soon you will wonder what the old spearmen could have done against attack boats and even robots.

There is another very cool added element to the game in that you can form alliances, exchange science and maintain neutrality with other opposing clans. This adds complexity and allows you to survive situations through devious means sometimes. After all, it's cool to be neutral with someone while you are building up your army to crush them! Just don't let you crush them first!

Combat is turn based and can be a bit strange. Each troop unit has limited movement (also dependent on the terrain they are on) but when faced with an enemy (structure or troop unit, it doesn't matter) has an X option to attack. Battle occurs and the more powerful unit usually wins. I say usually as it's not always the case. And sometimes it seems that when units of the same strength battle the outcome can be very random. Of course, if you set your unit to just defend, they add an extra 10% to their stats.

This brings me neatly on to the two aspects that detract from the game. Firstly the movement is completely isometric which takes a bit of getting used to. You will eventually, but sometimes in battle I accidentally move the wrong way when not thinking right or attack the wrong thing when not concentrating. This can be a little frustrating but the longer you play the game the more you should get used to it.

The second thing that could be improved is that movement is required for every unit and there's no end turn button. Or there doesn't seem to be. So you often end up moving things forwards and backwards just to waste the movement spaces (listed in a box on the unit itself) for each unit. This is ok if there aren't too many units you have around, but during some battles it can be a bit of a chore.

But these are minor quibbles as the game is fantastically addictive. The training levels vary in length and difficulty and in one there was no battle at all, but a race with robots! As you get better, you realise the depth of the game and the fact that even though it has all the aspects of your standard God game, there are a few more tucked in there for good measure.

Sound is catered for with a few different tunes and some small effects in battle. Graphics are pretty decent for large playing area, as although the units are small, you can easily tell what they are. And the shortcut buttons of # and * to scroll through your units and towns become lifesavers after a while.

To conclude, this game is huge. It's packed in everything we've come to expect and added a couple of interesting additions (like the negotiations). The number of levels are enough to keep anyone happy and once you get used to the controls and movement you will keep coming back. You can save at any time and although we weren't able to try it, apparently you can play together using one device. If it weren't for the minor quibbles this would get an ice cold, but a gold award from us is still a great achievement! One for all fans of God games.