Originally published at: http://statelyplay.com/2018/10/04/civ-vi-moves-to-the-small-screen/
iOS Universal, PC/Mac/Linux, Switch (in Nov) •
Last year’s surprise release of Civilization VI for iPad was big enough that I was compelled to buy a new iPad just to play it. I haven’t regretted it, with Civ VI being my most played iPad game since. Last week I received a pre-release copy of Civ VI for iPhone and, I have to say, I’m starting to regret that iPad purchase. Sure, a game as big as Civ shouldn’t work on a tiny screen, but Aspyr pulled it off. Don’t believe me? You can try it for yourself today.
Civ VI for iPhone isn’t just a sloppy port of the iPad version shrunk down to a new resolution. Like they did with the iPad version, they’ve reworked the UI to fit the device and it works rather beautifully. Unit and city details are pushed off to the side on their own panel where they’re easy to read and building menus are broken up into sub-menus, keeping relevant info on the screen and hiding stuff you don’t need. Other than the UI changes, it’s still the fantastic game we’ve come to know and love on our laptops and iPads. The full thing, right down to all the expansions that have been released on iOS thus far.
Of course, those expansions don’t yet include the biggest of them all, Rise & Fall. When pressed for info regarding that making its way to mobile I was told that they hope to release it in the future with subtle threats that any more questions down that path would result in bodily harm. My guess would be that work on mobile Rise & Fall happens after the Switch version of Civ VI ships in November.
The iPhone version of Civ VI is simply a Universal update to the existing iPad version, so if you own that, you own them both. All your expansions should be live on both devices. The only thing missing is cloud saves so you can keep playing on whatever device you have close at hand. That, actually, seems like a no-brainer and I wonder why it’s not there. Or, maybe it is, and I’m just too dumb to notice. [it’s happened before -ed.]
If you have an iPhone 7 or later, head to the App Store and download Civ VI for it now. You won’t be disappointed and it’s way easier to sneak turns on a phone while in the office than on an iPad. Or so I’ve heard.
https://youtu.be/1P1KznZ_DNM