The famous strategy franchise lands on the consoles of Sony and Microsoft after passing through Nintendo Switch
In the eternal list that the desktop consoles, laptops and PCs keep to each other by the work and grace of the players themselves, there is always a small appendix dedicated to where each genre is best played. Of course, the answers are varied, each one more histrionic, since, in the end, the book of tastes is written in white (bad that despite some). That also happens with Civilization 6.
However, it is not obvious to forget that there are points in favor and against each gender within a given platform. It is those characteristics that are inherent in the subject matter. And that is the case, of course, in real-time strategy, a genre that has its roots anchored to the PC for ease of play when using the mouse and keyboard.
When a company announces that it is going to take its strategy game to consoles – and there are not many, precisely, because of the inconvenience that this presents as it was anticipated before -, usually one puts his hands to his head. If the one that communicates this is Firaxis with a game as complex as Civilization VI, one directly pulls the hair.
The best of all? Well, the conversion to desktop has been a success, as we will tell you after trying it on PlayStation 4 thanks to a code provided by 2K Games for this review.
Potholes successfully solved
The main peculiarity of a strategy game is that every click of the mouse is fast. You should access the maximum information available in the shortest possible time. This with a control between the hands slows down … unless at the design level great accessibility is achieved with the interface.
And it succeeds, of course, because this Civilization VI, despite being the same as we could see three and a half years ago on PC, that is, the same graphic section, identical sound plot and similar gameplay, has a representation of the controls on the remote that is worthy of praise.
The Firaxis team has really been ready to use the upper triggers to display the side menus. In this way, the ones on the left are visualized when resorting to the triggers of this particular side, and the drop-down ones on the right do the corresponding with those controls. From here, the sticks, the crosshead and the traditional buttons take care of the rest.
We will not deny that it is slower than in PC because of the idiosyncrasy of the keyboard plus the mouse, but the formula fits easily and does not become heavy. In fact, for this Reviews we were playing for about 20 hours to see what we thought of the control when advancing in the most developed stages of history and more fields arose to “touch” (and, therefore, everything became somewhat more complex ). The result, the same: simple, ergonomic and direct.
In this particular sense, it is especially important to play the tutorial that appears in the main menu. Although at the beginning of a “campaign” the game itself asks the player the level of the strategy and Civilization genre, as well as the main controls, performing the game tutorial becomes almost essential. It is very long, didactic and covers the entire spectrum necessary so that at the first exchange Cleopatra does not stay with your empire.
The only "but" that we put this Civilization VI on consoles is that we have missed the possibility of adjusting the texts on the screen. This adjustment may seem trivial, but it is a game with a lot of visual load on the screen, something that can be fixed by changing the resolution on PC. However, in consoles sometimes you had to stick to the screen to see some of the characteristics or branches of knowledge that existed.
Note before finalizing that this Civilization VI for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One appears simultaneously with the Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions, so there are more hours of play. The only bad thing is that you also have to checkout to buy them, when it would have been good if they were included in the initial package.
CONCLUSION
Civilization VI is the jump to desktop consoles of one of the most franchised strategy franchises. After his good portable step by Nintendo Switch, the adaptation to the traditional command has been well thanks to the work done by Firaxis. Of course, do not expect news of weight if you had it on PC and the arrival of the output expansions is missing.
THE BEST
- Great control, something complex to perform in a strategy title on consoles.
- On a technical level, everything goes smoothly, beyond surprise.
- It remains Civilization, and that is synonymous with dozens of hours of fun.
WORST
- If you played the original, few novelties you will find except the control with command. Same essence of the launch three years ago.
- The expansions should have come with the base game, especially when Rise and Fall is almost two years old.
Very good
Remarkable game that we will enjoy and remember. A good purchase, highly recommended for lovers of the genre. It is well taken care of at all levels.
