Cid Meier's console version of Civilization is in the classic Civ style, but of a very watered down sort.
The game, as I have said earlier, is definitely Civilization. It looks, feels, and plays like Civilization (I'd like to point out how well Firaxis adapted the controls to work on a console controller). But as mentioned earlier, it is the core elements of Civ, and nothing else. There are a myriad of game types and scenarios to complete, however they are barely customizable. You can't even change the map size, a critical element to Civilization games. This leads to each game you play being quite similar.
The similarity of each games is also pushed along by the atrocious (at least by classic Civ standards) enemy negotiating system, coupled with their simplistic AI. Almost every turn once a game gets going, AI Civs are either demanding technology, money, or great people (especially great people). Failure to comply will almost always result in war being declared on you, almost without fail. It is impossible to prevent your civilization from going to war constantly. Enemy pacts and treaties also last short times (along with the games themselves), and flip flop so often that the world feels completely fake. Diplomacy, which plays a major part in the PC games, is basically useless in this game.
The game does look very nice, and plays smoothly. There are enough features such as armies and military unit upgrades to keep you interested for at least 15 or 20 hours. The game is as mentioned earlier, very simple to master. There is pretty much one strategy to win every game, and it boils down to military might. Shrewd diplomacy and trading will only get you so far, and it's to the point of being almost completely useless. The constant barrage of demands from other civs gets to be just flat out ridiculous. It may seem like I'm being hard on the game, especially since I gave it a decent rating of 7.0, however I had alot of fun playing the game... up until I mastered it, at which point every single game was the exact same, and nothing new ever happens.
So my bottom line on the game is that it's good. It's a decent little game that will keep strategy enthusiasts at least entertained for a double digit number of hours, but then it will be shelved almost indefininantly, probably forever. It just lacks the scope and depth that makes Civilization the premier empire building series. It was nice to see it make it's way to the console, but come on guys, console gamers aren't THAT dumb compared to PC gamers. Give us the full game! We can handle it! :)