Customer Reviews

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Complete with Alien Crossfire Expansion

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As much as I hate to do it, I have to write a negative review on this package. Now, I'm not reviewing the game itself, which I have loved since I first started playing computer games. I'm reviewing this particular re-release by EA. I got it, hoping to finally play Alien Crossfire. I installed it, gave it all the proper permissions in the properties menu, and tried to run it. It didn't. I'm not sure exactly why it doesn't run, I have the original game cd currently installed on my Windows 7 machine and it runs perfectly.

It could be that this package doesn't support the 64-bit system I have; but like I said, the original works, so why wouldn't this? I don't understand it and I'm very disappointed.

If you're considering buying this package and you have a Windows 7 64-bit machine, be aware that it might not run.

An excellent empire building and management game.

There is also much dark sci-fi going on.

The variety of customizable factions and units along with the inclusion of terraforming makes replay value high.

Over the years I have played this for an embarrassing number of hours until I just can't play it anymore. Perhaps my highest praise is this: I wish I had never seen it so that I could start all over again.

The only down side I can report is that late in the game, especially on large maps, there is considerable lag between turns. This is reduced with modern CPUs but not eliminated.

The voice acting is superb and there was obviously a great deal of thought put into the tech tree. The graphics by today's standards are crude. Doesn't matter. Get it, enjoy the time to explore it, maybe find Vel's Strategy guide when you want to up your game.

This is Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire. It is an amazing, well-thought-out civilization-style game that is set in the future. If you are into such games and don't have this, buy this one now. Period. Alien Cross is usually very expensive, and this is a great deal.

HOWEVER, be aware that this version is the re-released version sold by Mastertronic. That is not entirely clear from the way this product page is listed - in fact, the box art is a bit different from what is displayed here. The only difference seems to be that it has SecuROM on it. I know some people are paranoid of that.

Still, it is a great game, and it deserves 5 stars however it is displayed.

Excellent hard to find game at a great price. Originals of alien crossfire have been going for $100-$150. The patch for modern operating systems works well when you follow the clear instructions provided by the vendor.

Couldn't get the game to run on Windows 7. Support website had minimal instructions for troubleshooting which didn't work anyway. Maybe great for an older machine.

No, really... I've played this game for 15 years and even though I now "win" everytime it's still a challenge and I'm still finding new ways to play

I've spent countless hours with this game over a period of many years and though technology has moved far beyond this aging classic it is still truly worth spending some time with. It was extremely well thought out and even though the development of each new game remains a bit redundant the challenge is renewed every new play with the variety of maps and factions. I'll probably still be bringing it out for a spin now and again in another 10 years. Enjoy!

I thought this game was a very good game based on what time it came out. It was a little rough around the edges on trying to figure out exactly how to make your weapons. That was pretty much the only thing that I saw that was troubling about it.

I really enjoy this game, and though I thought it could have used a little bit better of an interface, I was very surprised on just how playable the game was. I had never heard of this game, for some reason, but when I was starting collect all the old Civilization games, which I love, this popped up and for the cheap, so I decided to get it. It is not as well put together as Civ II, which seams to be the game that it came after, being that I did not play it during its initial release, and as can be expected it plays very dated. You can tell that it is one of those games where they tried a lot of gimmicks in an offshoot that they wouldn't try in a flagship game like civ, to see if they would work, and maybe incorporate them later. The plus of the game is that it doesn't get bogged down with trying to discover things that are very old, to make minimal progress, like the beginning of civ, which is always my least favorite part of the game, and while it is still turn based in part, it does its best to not feel turn based. The biggest thing for me is that all the this is the future combats do not come in way of grafix, but in way that the game is played. Relearning ideas and sci fi tech is a cliche idea that is played off well and still has a really deep structure, its still not as deep as civ, and though it did a good job of skipping over some of the boring parts, I can tell that it hurt the overall scope of the game. The problem with civ is that it has never been for players that don't get into it. There is no way to dumb it down or to make it user friendly without taking away the parts of the game that fans love the most. I think that this is a good example of that, and definately worth the play, but if you don't get it, you won't have missed it.

A classic that has not lost its addictiveness over the years. This version is easy to install and use. While it does not include paper copies of the original manuals, these are included in pdf's on the cd.

Product arrived very quickly and in good shape.