"Civilization VI" Switch Edition Review: One More Turn, I Can Still Grind!

Game Introduction

"Civilization VI" was first released on PC in 2016 and has won the Best Strategy Game award at The Game Awards and the DICE Awards. It is also the latest generation of the Civilization series, and now it has officially landed on the Nintendo Switch platform.

Review Preface

I believe many players who have not played the "Civilization" series have also heard some jokes about "Civilization", "After this turn, I'll go to bed!", "I just played one game, why is it dawn?" This famous "time black hole" series has made many players forget to sleep and eat, and once they enter the game, they don't know the Han dynasty, let alone the Wei and Jin dynasties. No matter whether you are good at calculation or strategy, developing a human civilization from a small settlement to a continuous city group, the entire development process is in your own hands, such a game experience is enough to make people indulge in it.

At the end of last year, the iPad version of the series' legitimate work "Civilization VI" was officially released. The iPad version has a high degree of restoration of the PC original, just right touch screen operation mode, and the portable advantage of the mobile platform, which allows players to no longer be limited to the PC platform and can enjoy the fun of this strategy game anytime, anywhere. However, in order to ensure the smoothness of the machine, the iPad version has made some concessions in terms of picture quality and graphic details, such as the leaders of each civilization are displayed as static images, and there are no construction images when buildings are built, which is a bit regrettable.

Now this work has landed on the Switch platform with stronger game performance. It also has a portable mode, the combination of Joy-Con handle and touch screen mode, and better picture quality and graphics technology will bring what kind of performance let's take a look.

Just Right Transplant Improvement

Thanks to the iPad version before, the performance of "Civilization VI" landing on the Switch platform this time is also very good. This work not only retains the original content as much as possible, allowing players to experience the original "Civilization VI", but also makes appropriate improvements and optimizations for the hardware functions of Switch such as buttons and touch screens, making this game look like it was specifically tailored for Switch.

Whether in handheld or console mode, the picture performance of "Civilization VI" on Switch is quite good. In close-up mode, the details of terrain, buildings, and various types of soldiers are exquisite and delicate. And the dynamic effects of leaders in the PC version are also retained, as for the day and night alternation system, players can check the "dynamic time screen" in the game options to turn it on. In addition, this work has made a large adjustment in the interface, and the contents of science and technology, municipal administration, diplomacy, and force intelligence are placed in the trays on the left and right sides of the screen, and players need to press the L\R button or touch the screen to open the tray for selection. The development progress of science and technology and municipal administration, which are more important, are directly marked on the upper bar with various resources, and players can see at a glance. Of course, I personally feel that if the tray bar could choose to always expand, it would be even better.

Before playing "Civilization VI" on Switch, I always thought that it would be difficult to get a good operation experience in this kind of rich content strategy game with the current game handle mode. But this time, "Civilization VI" on Switch has done a very good job in the use of joysticks and button operations. It not only allows players to easily master, but also the combination design with the touch screen is quite harmonious.

Firstly, the game provides very clear and beautiful button prompts in each interface, whether it is upgrading science and technology, operating unit movement, or skipping turns, viewing information, players can quickly understand and adapt, without having to frequently check the button prompts. The second point is that the layout and logic of buttons and menus are relatively reasonable. The index finger operates the L/R key to open the tray, and the thumb controls the left and right joysticks and A/B/X/Y keys to move, skip, cancel and other commands. The menu level is not redundant, and the rapid and clear button response makes the overall operation feel of the game very comfortable. Moreover, the game fully supports pure touch screen operation. Even if there are some buttons that are not handy or unclear, you can directly select the buttons in the picture to play the game. In terms of operation experience, "Civilization VI" on Switch is really到极致.

More Attractive Handheld Mode

Between the two modes of "Civilization VI" on Switch, the portable handheld mode is more attractive to players.

The turn-based gameplay of "Civilization VI" and the game mechanism and characteristics that can be played and put down at any time are very suitable for the mobile platform. Whether you are taking the subway, waiting for someone, or want to lie comfortably in bed, the mobile handheld mode allows players' game space to grow exponentially. You don't have to sit in front of the computer all the time, go anywhere and play anywhere, enjoy the fun of issuing orders and building kingdoms anytime and anywhere, this kind of free feeling is something the previous PC version has never had. Unfortunately, the endurance of Switch's handheld mode is average, so please prepare a mobile power supply before going out.

Of course, no matter which version of "Civilization VI" will face the problem of slow game response due to large calculation in the later stage of the game, and the medium and small maps of "Civilization VI" on Switch have a very smooth experience in the early stage. I personally recommend that everyone should not choose too large a map in the game, and the AI setting should be around 5-8 people, so that the game can basically proceed at a suitable speed before more than 300 rounds.

Review Summary

This time, "Civilization VI" on Switch not only retains the original content as much as possible but also makes full improvements for the buttons, touch screen mode, and performance of Switch, allowing players to get started quickly and have a complete operation experience. As a strategy game with relatively complex operations, this is very valuable. This is worth learning from other strategy games on other consoles. Thanks to the portability of Switch and better hardware performance, players can experience a more authentic "Civilization VI" anytime, anywhere.