Alpha Centauri

Civilization II ends (for the non-warmongers) with the colonization of a planet in the Alpha Centauri solar system. I remember completing the journey for the first time and being sorely disappointed that I was not able to oversee the colonization of the new world -- instead I got a short cinematic. With the release of Alpha Centauri, civers everywhere finally got the chance to finish the job.

The game is remarkably more complex than its predecessor. Ideological factions take the place of nationality-based civilizations; a myriad of "social engineering" choices are available instead of simplistic governmental options; units are now customizable to an absurd degree; diplomatic tools are more plentiful; the list goes on...

Also superb is the atmosphere generated by the game's numerous snippets of wisdom, cinematics, and back-story. Each new technology and facility acquired is accompanied by a quote from one of several literary works, both real and fictional, or some other appropriate sound byte, usually read convincingly by one of the voice actors who portray the faction leaders.

I can think of only a couple of complaints. The game has a steeper learning curve than do the Civilization games. While this is due in part to the increased complexity of the game, another factor is lack of intuitiveness. With Civilization, it wasn't hard to remember the purpose served by the various units and improvements, because they were all drawn from history. In Alpha Centauri, the game is based in large part on the imagination of its designers, making it more difficult to get the hang of the game's components. But once you play your first several games, you'll be frightened by the number of the game's nuances you are unable to forget.

Another disadvantage of the game's complexity is that the AI isn't particularly adept at finding and exploiting the most powerful strategic configurations. Population Booms, Supply Crawlers, and certain customized units are game-breaking strategies, which are rarely if ever employed by the AI factions and the result is that games are not terribly challenging unless you stack the deck against yourself intentionally. The AI tries to make up for this by being overly aggressive, which detracts from the realism of the game. You have to shake your head when the "Peacekeepers" and "Gaians" (environmentalist faction) start tossing around PlanetBuster ("quasi-nuclear") weapons like cheap firecrackers. However the AI isn't much better at tactical planning than it is at civic planning, so this doesn't increase the difficulty of the game substantially.

This is a very-well-made game that takes a big step towards transforming computer gaming into an art-form. With the retail price of this game down around $15 as of now, you can't go wrong.

This is truly a great game. Civilization 2 was a good game, but Alpha Centauri simply blows it out of the water. The idea of the game is deceptively simple. Choose from one of seven factions, (factions, not nations like in other games, so the player can pick the faction with the same goals and morals as the player.) The very basic gameplay is the same as Civ II, Explore, Build, Discover, Conquer, but with WAY more options. The way the tech trees branch out is really the games only downfall. In Civ, if you had the choice between inventing gunpowder and philosophy, it was an easy choice, since you knew what what gunpowder and philosophy were. In Alpha, if you have the choice between Polymorphic Software and Superconducting Fiber, you can feel a bit helpless. These fears are gone once you play a few games though. One of the most interesting thing about the game is how the factions ideology will often conflict with each other. For example, the Spartans, who are a war-like faction, automaticly don't like the Peacekeepers, whose name explains their morals. From graphics to sound to overall gameplay, this game rocks.

This game has it all. Action, adventure, intrigue. The soundtrack is what you'd expect. It has a soothing, mysterious sound of deep space. The mood and tone are basically this whole game. Where I criticize the game are that later in the game, the play space gets cluttered. As you can imagine, the game is very buggy, even the patched versions, due to its immense complexity. However, it makes up for that with a creative storyline and character development. Another problem is that the playable characters are extremely uneven! Easy difficulty and new players will choose 'peacekeeper' faction, while all others are much harder to achieve the game's goals with.

Although the title says: Sid Meier's, the true genius behind this epic piece of art is Brian Reynolds. The game, which in many ways is so much more than merely a "game", takes you to the colonization of planet Chiron. More of an inviting novel than a classic strategy-game, the events of colonization are unraveled to the player as he struggles for survival for his faction in a new world filled with both dangers and wonders.

The voice-acting and design are stunningly atmospheric, and draws thoughts to great sci-fi stories such as Dune. The essentials of all faction leaders are delightfully pictured in the many "fictional" quotes from their life works. I have just recently begun reading the books by Michael Ely, spawned from the game itself, and all I can think is; "When will someone make the movie"? Not that it could ever surpass the genious of the game, but with the right people and ambitions, a movie could be formidable. Dina Meyer is the self-written person to play Corazon Santiago for instance.

A game, and more. A masterpiece...

/ Emil Kraftling

Games journalist, PC Gamer Sweden