There are some significant differences mentioned. There is a new economic victory, where you “price your competitors out of the picture”. For the army concept, in Civilization Revolution you can combine three soldier units to form an army, and any upgrades held by the individual soldiers will carry on for the army that is composed of those soldiers. A main difference is in the graphics. The game will feature big, bright cartoonish characters and units. In addition, different civilizations in the game have different architecture for buildings and costumes for units.
Fans of Civ2 will be happy to know that those advisors are back and they seem to be just as fun. The article gave an example in which the “military advisor came onscreen to shove luminaries such as Cleopatra or Napoleon out of the way in order to offer his tactical advice”. 
Lastly, the article mentioned that Civilization Revolution will feature some multiplayer options including ranked games for up to four players (including four-player free for all, 1-on-1 duels, or 2-on-2 team matches), as well as leaderboards and support for video chat.