Having been a fan of the Civilization series on the computer for a long time, I was very excited to try it out for the PS3.They did make the size of the map in the console version a lot smaller than the computer, which leads to somewhat faster game play. I believe this to be a very smart decision, because playing strategy games is a lot different on a console than on a computer. I have no problem saving my game on a computer and plugging away at it every now and then. However, when you start having to use the TV, you look more for fast paced action. This is especially true if you have roommates (or live with significant others), because if you play a strategy game, and it takes an extended period of time, they will let you know, because now you are blocking off time they could be using watching their favorite show, or watching a movie (plus its not that fun for others to watch you play). So by shrinking the worlds, and not having to worry about all the small things like: building roads one square at a time, or having to manually cut down trees and irrigate field, really makes this game more action oriented.
Playing online with friends is also fun, I have a couple buddies that have the game and we tried it out online, and it was pretty fun. A couple challenging things, is that because the worlds are smaller, it's harder to move units around with allies because they tend to bottleneck near rivers and canyons.
The only other thing that I found annoying, is the combination of your advisers and leaders of other civilizations. They feel that it is necessary to say the same things over and over and over. If you are at war with another civilization, they will say something like "Your civilization is no match to ours, prepare to be destroyed". Ok, so maybe not those exact words, but they will always say something at the beginning of the turn to remind you that they don't like you. Advisers will almost always say the same thing, for some reason my science advisor said that every technology was a military technology.....not sure how pottery could be used in battle I guess.
All in all, I felt it was a very fun game, I am glad that I was able to rent it instead of buy it, because it did not take long for me to figure out the game, and for it to get repetitive. Plus you can only build 1 nuclear missile!!! Where's the fun in nuking someone only once?!
-Pfieffer
