Civ Rev isn't terribly difficult, but there is a learning curve. Here's a few pointers
that may help you out some (from someone who hasn't played the console version in a few years, and then had to relearn for ios a few weeks ago):
On the map around cities, hammers represent production, apples are for growing your population, and the little arrows in a circle are trade (which nets you either science or gold, depending on which your trade is set for).
A larger population in a city will let you build faster, or trade more.
Science gets you that next research unlock faster, while gold is used for rushing production, as well as being the path to an economic victory (gold isn't as important if you aren't going for a economic victory, though rushing is always useful).
The strange icons on the map are resources, which will give bonus hammers/apples/trade once you've unlocked the tech.
Culture is extremely important. It may be the first thing you want to cut ignore when you begin focusing on some other goal (ie building that barracks instead of a temple), but culture will bite you in your ass if you ignore it for too long. Culture is represented by purple mask icon, and is generated by your buildings and wonders (you do not allocate workers to generate culture, unlike other resources). With low culture your boarders will shrink, and your cities may decide to leave your civ altogether. With high culture, you may find enemy cities joining your civ on their own.
There are basically just 6 types of units, with upgraded versions simply being more powerful but still serving the same role. They are: foot units (warriors, legions; these are cheap attackers, good only for attacking other similar units, really), mounted units (Calvery, knights, tanks; like foot
units but can move 2 spaces per turn), siege units (catapult, cannon, artillery; powerful attackers with no defense, made for taking cities), defenders (archers, pikemen, riflemen, modern infantry; put these in a square to ward off attackers. If an enemy attacks a square with numerous units in it, the defender will fight first), naval (obvious; these start simply for transportation, but later on if you park a ship next to an enemy land unit, and engage with your own land unit, the naval unit will take part in the fight, increasing your attack rating), and aircraft (good range and attack, these are good for softening up your enemy late in the game). Note these aren't official grouping titles, it's just what I call them.
In addition to the above units, there are also spies. Spies can invade a city and do a number of things, such as destroy buildings, steal a famous person, steal gold, and weaken defense (I believe this removes the fortified defense boost a unit gets when its been made to defend, ie when you make a unit "inactive" by telling it to guard a square). Spies are a great way to soften up that inpenatrable city.
You can defend against enemy spies by guarding your cities with spy armies.
Stack 3 units of the same type to make an army.
If a unit wins 3 victories, it becomes 50% more powerful. 3 more, and it gains an ability. I'm pretty sure if you combine 2 normal units with 1 that has the 50% boost, and/or an ability, the army gets the full benefit.
I know that's a lot to take in, but hopefully it will clear up whatever you weren't getting before. Start on an easier setting, and play a few games to try things out. Don't be afraid to lose these early games, or restart or save/load often. I also might suggest starting off as Montezuma (Aztecs). Each of their bonuses are incredibly useful. Stone Age makes your units heal after battle (so the enemy can't just spam you to soften your guys up, and also you can keep attacking with the same unit and not worry about healing). The +3 science bonus to temples gives a nice advantage to research rates, especially if you have an abundance of cities, 1/2 road costs is pretty nice, and +50% gold production is really useful when going for an economic victory, especially since it comes late in the game when the ecomic milestones get pretty big.