As an avid pc player I took a shot at this version for the portablity. So is it worth while?
The pricing for all versions is aweful. At first glance yes this is $20 and the pc version is typically on sale just under that. But the expansion pass is $50 while on pc the complete game is under $50. The whole thing is steep for a niche pc game,and the expansion does add complexity to the formula but the basics are still the same. So the expansions are a wait for a sale but get them kind of deal.
The visuals is a step down than the PC obviously. The UI is greatly simplified which is understandable seeing the game plays portable and only has 720p to work with. On the big screen it looks to be 1080p, but performance is lacking on both ways to play. Frame rate is in the 20s constantly dipping into the teens when docked towards the end, not a deal breaker on a computer board game but not pleasant either. Just expect lowish pc settings that you might not even notice after awhile,it still looks good. But zoom out and pop in takes effect on animals and building complexities. Load times are much longer compared to a pc with an ssd. Even the cpu taking its turn gets noticeable. Its about 4-10x slower. Load into a game and it takes over 2 and a half minutes v.s. just 22 seconds on my pc. Between the framerate and loading this loses a star. Really the frame rate should be fixed, but most likely its a cpu limitation. There are also complaints of the ui being off screen, simply resize your display as its not sized properly and civ6 uses every inch of screen so this is why you may not of noticed it until now.
The controls work pretty fluidly. It makes me wish this was an option on PC for relaxing purposes. But its not as fast or as accurate as a mouse, and the UI was further simplified than it needed to be. Thankfully the real world time is still displayed, because you can look up and its hours later.
The game is a turn based grand strategy game that will take days of steady play to complete one match. I perfer rts games ala Age of Empires II and Cossacks 3, but Civ is by far my favorite turn based anything. It is well polished, and feels more fluid than it should be. I love history and civics so my intrest aline here. Your Civ is like your baby that you see your choice grow and flourish or fail through out time. But if you have never played Civ think about the most complexed board game ever. Every decision you make, opportunity you get, and path you take changes everything. The expansions add a more indepth loyalty system, environmental risks and railroads on top of more nations. So loyalty is more important, natural events, and green house gasses become an issue. It adds more challenges and a more robust experience. So check out some videos of civ if you're new and see if its right for you. For me I love it. A nation betrays me, annexed my city, and one by one I destroy their nation ignoring their pleas of mercy. Or capturing a nations settlers and using them to create a city with rare resources. Or befriending a nation and defending them and vise versa. Its just very satisfying and addicting.
For $20 the base game is an easy buy if its even intriguing. The expansions do not add enough to warrant full price no matter how much I love them, even half price is sort of debatable. As for buying this version its a yes over any non pc version for one simple reason. Playing this on the go is a terrific time waster and lends itself perfectly to the Switchs hybrid nature. I can not stress enough how good this is for the Switch. Its not often that i feel a pc game transfers without losing anything of note to the Switch or any console. It is just a perfect match.
