Quick Look: CivWorld

CivWorld is the latest attempt by a major franchise to adapt itself to the demands of social gaming and Facebok while also creating an exciting gaming space for those who have loved the Civilization series on the PC or the Revolutions console outing.

The game is now fully playable although the team says that it is still working on it and might tweak aspects of the game from time to time.

After playing for a few days, I can characterize CivWorld as being a smart game, demanding at times but still limited, something that will probably appeal to casual gamers and those who can check in every three to four hours more than it does to the hardcore strategy crowd that is arguing over the minutiae of Civilization V.

Central elements like Food, Money, Culture and Science are present and the player has a lot of control over what is happening in his town but everything is, at least initially, on a pretty small scale.

CiWorld uses a number of mini games, most of them simple but initially engaging, to provide a diversion while resources slowly accumulate and the player gets options about how to use them in the long term.

The social elements are introduced with the fact that multiple players collaborate to steer the strategy of one civilization, contributing research for it, managing various aspects of development, fighting wars and making decisions about laws.

Communication between players is crucial and they will need to take very different development paths for their cities in order to fulfill the conditions for Wonders and Golden Ages.

The interface of CivWorld is well designed and informative, even if at times the scrolling information moves to fast and a number of options for filtering might do the game good.

This is still a beta stage and that Sid Meier himself is reported to be working actively on the game, with the entire team around him paying attention to what the players engaged with CivWorld are saying about it and making changes constantly.