Customer Reviews

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

And it is! I had always loved Sid Meier's Civilization II, and the idea of playing this game with better graphics and in a science-fiction setting sounded great to me: wouldn't that lead to almost endless possibilities? And Alpha Centauri does not disappoint. The story is based on the following: in the end of Civilization II, a space ship is sent to the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to colonize a new world. But then, the passengers in the ship separate into different ideological groups. Right before the landing on the planet, the ship encounters technical problems and all passengers have to leave it. Of course, what'd you expect, all seven factions are spread equally over the planet and the whole familiar game of colonizing a planet starts all over again. But now in a completely different setting: space.

The makers have tried to copy many familiar Civ features to this game: the pirates have become `mind worms': natives of the planet that attack your units now and then. The goody huts are also present, in the form of wrecks from the spaceship that sometimes contain nice stuff. The landscape looks a little different (by the way, it's in 3-D, unlike that of the later game Civ 3) from Earth, the resources have other colours, but in the end it's very easy to recognize. It is again possible to build things like mines, roads, irrigation and much more. Maybe the most important difference considering the terrain options is the fact that you can build sea towns later on in the game. Oh, and cities are now called `bases'! The familiar system of city buildings (now called improvements) and Wonders still exists.

Considering the units, there is less variety than in Civilization. But it would be impossible to include as many units as the original has: this game starts in the near-future, after all. The makers have done the following: there are a few basic prototypes (infantry, artillery, fast cars, air jets, ships, etc.) that can be upgraded all the time through the game. This was an excellent idea, as too many weird new units would make the game very confusing. Also, it is now possible to construct your own units with the various upgrades!

One unit I mention in particular: the Planet Buster rocket. The name says it all: it is a devastating weapon that blows away entire bases and leaves behind nothing but water squares. So this is a much more powerful weapon even than the infamous nuke missiles from Civ. But this WMD is considered as a crime against humanity (quite logical, eh?) and the use of it will turn all other nations against you. But it can be declared legal at the Planetary Council.

As said, there are seven factions, such as the University, the Spartans, the Human Hive, the Peacekeepers, the Believers and so on. Each faction has its own characteristics: the University researches very quickly (therefore it's my favourite side); the Hive (sort of communists) has a very loyal people; the Spartans can sustain armies easily etcetera. Also, during the game you can twist the characteristics of your own faction endlessly. But the different groups also have their own behaviour. For example, the Believers keep demanding all sorts of things from you and often declare war after a refusal. On the other hand, the Peacekeepers and the University are nearly always trustworthy friends.

The existence of so many complex factions makes a good diplomacy inevitable, and this is where the game excels. You can talk almost endlessly with your neighbours and use your friendship for many things. For instance, when two neighbours are at war, you can kindly ask them to end these reckless activities. If you have built up a good reputation during the game, there's a good chance that they will stop the war. This is a great aspect of the game: especially on the higher levels it makes you feel like you're a great diplomat! On the other hand, when you're not considered trustworthy (which happens when you start wars against friends too often) they won't even consider listening. The programmed texts are also very funny, especially those in the conversations with the Believers! There is also a Planetary Council in which all nations can vote for a proposed measure. And it's often just as divided as the UN...

There are several ways to win the game. Of course, it's possible to kick all six competitors out and conquer the entire planet. That's probably the most challenging and funny option. It is also possible to build the greatest of all wonders: the Ascent to Transcendence. This wonder, believe it or not, creates a new kind of human beings and ends the human era as we know it. A less complicated ways to win, is gathering a lot of bucks and conquer the global market. And finally, the members of the Planetary Council can elect you General Secretary, which makes you the democratically elected ruler of the planet.

The presentation of Alpha Centauri is simply great. Notice the nice flap-out box. It also has a very thorough manual and a nice poster of all technologies in the game (at least, in my version). The in-game setting is also very good. The terrific Wonder movies of Civ II (often I built Wonders just to see those clips) are back, now even better and very `informative' about the world you have built. The music is not as prominent: most of the soundtrack consists of dark background music that fits the science fiction setting of the game very well.

Well, I could go on for hours about this endlessly complex and fascinating game but it's enough for now. Alpha Centauri is every bit as interesting as its earthly predecessor Civilization and that should be enough to convince every fan of the franchise. But a warning for those new to this kind of game: it's... pretty addictive!

For those who have freqented the worlds of Sid Meier before, this purchase should come as second nature: you will not be disappointed. Alpha improves all of the original concepts of Civilization 2 and adds some of its own- such as borders, social engineering and unit design. Territorial borders is a simple improvement that is just plain wonderful. Social engineering takes some getting used to- I was a sceptic -but after a few tries it is a necessity and adds a new standard to the genere. The technologies also will confuse those of us who are not physics and advanced microbiology/genetics majors; however, the general idea will not take long to grasp. Trade is improved and varies in ways that the far surpasses Civ 2. Unit variety is, well. . . amazing. The Graphics in game play are well done and the cinematics that appear throughout are top notch. One slight downer is the diplomatic relations: a few more choices, but not much change overall. When advancing the difficulty setting Alpha still falls into the old trap of just making the computer's units stronger, which can be frustrating. On the other hand, perhaps it is just reducing the advantage the player's units hold in easier settings.

A word of warning: this game can be detrimental to one's GPA if not used with caution. Addiction will follow quickly if moderation is not enforced. I recommend having a friend or roommate hide the CD on occasion.

Few games will provide as many hours of enjoyment as this one will. More fun for your dollar!

Awesome game from Sid Meier and Brian Reynolds. The division of factions by ideals instead of nationality, the great AI and diplomacy, the complex technology progression with its divisions of Explore, Discover, Build, and Conquer, the thousands of options available, and all the differing levels of management from almost complete automation to micromanagement make this game enthralling. I am not particularly into science fiction and wondered if I would like this game, but they did such a great job with it that it is very fun. There were several things they could have improved, including the tech tree, making more ways to win, and some slight improvements to the factions, especially the religious faction, but it is worth 5 stars nonetheless.

This is easily my favorite computer game of all time, and I have logged the countless hours to prove it. What I find so compelling are the defining differences between this and other resource-based war games. 1)war is incidental, as in the real world, and not the sole raison d'etre; 2)the philosophical orientations of the factions, which have individual strengths and weaknesses based on their core behaviors; 3)the technological advances and terraforming are very thoughtfully constructed, forming a cohesive continuum that is as plausible as any advanced in science fiction literature or theory; 4)you can allow your bases and units to be computer "governed", or micromanage on an almost SimCity scale; I could go on but you're probably getting bored... I did not give the game five stars because 1)the gameplay gets bogged down as you proceed (although I don't know how the designers could have done a better job); and 2)at least on my computer, the game gets "hiccups" sometimes, especially in the sound (I have an AMD version of the Pentium MMX microprocessor and 32 MB DRAM). Overall, I love it! I can't wait to get the sequal "Alien Crossfire!"

Every year, it seems like turn-based strategy is given it's Last Rites. Sid Meier comes through yet again with a clear winner. For anyone who is a fan of Civilization or Civ II stop reading this review and buy the game now.

Alpha Centauri is a solid game -- there's a lot of detail to the game and in the classic case of Civilization it is extremely replayable: at different difficulty levels or as a member of one of the 7 factions.

This game adds features that: makes the game easier to manage (especially in later stages), add depth to some of the options (i.e. government types) and overall enhances the game play.

A word about multiplayer: It's operational, but the update routines on a turn-by-turn basis run extremely slow over TCP/IP with the version of the game that comes out of the box. As a result, multiplayer games become unplayable after about an hour just due to the game-induced lag.

Despite lackluster multiplayer performance, this game still has what it takes to be a classic.

Civilization II was the first turn-based stategy game I ever played. Heck, it was the first strategy game I ever played period. And it was amazing. Take control of a civilization and guide from the dark ages all the way to the launch of a space ship to an alien world. The only way you can possibly describe a game that attempts to simulate all of history is EPIC. Civilization II was greatly loved, and with good reason. It was quite possibly the most addictive strategy game ever when it was released. So when people heard about a sequel to what many considered the greatest game of all time...

Alpha Centauri. In my opinion, this IS the greatest computer strategy game ever, to say nothing of the greatest turn-based computer strategy game ever. There is just so much to love.

First, this game is amazingly engineered. It had VERY low system requirements when it came out, and runs fantastically on a modern machine. The interface is brilliant. The graphics are clean and detailed. The background sounds are perfect. When a technology comes up, you get a voice reading about it, when you build a wonder, you get a cool movie to watch.

And there are so many ways to play within each game. You can micro-manage everything, telling your formers exactly what to do, telling every city exactly what to build, designing your own unit types. Or you can set formers, cities, and units to be completely automatic.

And of course each leader you can choose has distinct advantages and disadvantages, lending themselves to different playstyles. It would take quite a while to master every faction and playstyle in this game.

And I haven't even gone into the multi-player, the senarios, and the fact that almost EVERYTHING in the rules of the game is customizable. I believe there are about seven or eight ways to win! But of course the the harder ways take longer and give a higher score...

In conclusion I will say this. This would be a great game if it were merely civilization in space. But what makes it the best of all time for me is the story. There is a sci-fi storyline to this game, and when interacting with other faction leaders you almost feel like you're watching a historical epic with you as one of the main characters (at least that's how I felt the first time I played). I once even found myself daydreaming about conversations I was having with different faction leaders. Maybe I had just gone a little too long without sleep, maybe I was just playing a little too much, or maybe...this is the greatest strategy game ever made. Now to get back to reading the prologue I downloaded off of the offical website and download some wallpaper...

A friend let me borrow a demo cd with this game on it when I was thirteen. For two years I was addicted to this game until I got a new computer and no longer had the demo. Unfortunately I was only playing the demo so did not get to play all of the characters or go the whole game through so finally, at age nineteen, I stumbled upon the game here on Amazon and must say that the full version is double the excitement of the demo. It has a few new characters and a few missing ones from the demo. Two of my favorite factions "the progenitors" and "the nautilus" were cut out of the full version of the game that I have so I was dissapointed there but otherwise this is a very engaging game that I reccomend to anyone interested in colonizing their own new world and fighting for it against other very unique and objective driven factions with their own different personalities.

I have played many types of Civilization type games - from the original Civilization to the current Civilization III and everything in between.

But I keep getting drawn back to the fantastic Alpha Centauri by Sid Meier and company. Although sort of a sequel to Meier's highly popular Civilization II, it is just different enough to be easily the best civilization type computer game currently available.

From it's highly interesting beginning at the start of the colonization of a totally Alien world, you can take your choice of factions to total Transcendence - going beyond humanity and almost becoming a god. There are more different ways to play this game then there is space to review it. Do you want to try you luck as the Scientist and research your way to the top? Or do you want to have Peace with the Peacekeepers? Or do you want to conquer the world with a religious fervor? These are just a couple of the great factions available during game play.

The interface is one of the better ones available, and allows you to choose from many options which will help you when saving and playing the game. Turning on and off the sound, the secret project movies, and custom tailoring the game to what you want it to display is fairly easy. There's even an "Auto-Save" feature which is a nice touch if you need to break away form your game quickly. There are still many people that play and use this game online, and the online interface is just as easy to use as the rest of the game.

The science fiction setting gives a totally new way to look at a colonization game. Although some fans of sims might find the units and their names a little strange, you can and you will get into designing your own military might quickly. The unit design feature is a nice touch - it allows you to create a unit with exactly the type of weapons, armor and abilities you want to use in your next encounter with your neighbors.

Meeting with your neighbors has never been more challenging - the AI for this game is fairly intuitive and you will find yourself wondering how the computer knows to make each faction react the way it does. Do you want to trade with your neighbors or just conquer them? The richness and vast number of choices to make may seem overwhelming to someone totally new to colonization games, but the depth of what is available will keep you coming back for more.

It's unfortunate that the expansion disc, "Alien Crossfire", seems to be unavailable. But even without that expansion disc, what other computer games have spawned a role playing game? Steve Jackson Games recently published a GURPS version of Alpha Centauri, and that alone should give players a warning that this game will have you hooked quickly.

My only dream is that both discs will be released as a single package someday. Still one of my most played discs. One of my very highest recommendations.

This is still he best Civilization game even though it is not called that. I own all Civs and all expansions and while I like Civ IV immensely, this is the most playable. The factions are truly different. Playing with Gaia, for example, requires completely different strategy. The units can be designed as you wish, a feature that doesn't exist in any other version of Civ. You can create your own "flying laser Bronco" and give it your own name. The victory conditions are all truly reachable. The graphics show a bit of the game's age but are still very acceptable. The production queues are easily manageable and the AI for production control is easily controlled making it the best version to manage large civilizations and not having to worry about little details and focus on the game itself.

I played this game a LOT when it came out in early 1999. Recently, in March 2007, I've gone back to it. I thought it might be helpful to some people to learn that the game works just fine in Windows XP. At first, I wasted a lot of time trying to get XP to run it in Win98 mode; or to follow complicated instructions translated from the German that I found on the net; or to install the latest patches, including one that Firaxis created specifically for WinXP.

None of that worked for me.

But I found that if you just install the original CD (in my case, I think it's version 1.01j) it works fine. When you start the game, at first you get a black screen with two white rectangles. One assumes that one is hosed when one sees that. And one would be wrong! Just click the left rectangle! It starts the start sequence, and after that everything works perfectly.

This really is a cool game, way ahead of lots of more recent stuff. The sci-fi elements are very well represented. It's very interesting. I recommend playing on the Huge Map of Planet--and expect a long game.