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In-Depth Fun for Turn-Based Strategy Fans

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 02, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Fans of turn-based strategy games usually simply go by Sid Meier's name--nearly everything that has his name on it is a highly enjoyable product. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (SMAC) is no exception. Unlike many games, it works at two levels. You can enjoy it as a macro-level management game, where you are concerned with fighting and diplomacy. You can play it as a micro-level game, where you decide how your cities will develop. And, of course, you can play it as both.

Many features allow you to overlook things you may not care about, such as building units or constructing buildings. There are governors and automatic programs that do that for you. The game also features factions--differing organizations with vastly different goals. This is what makes the game different from the Civ series.

The game is also surprisingly balanced. Certainly, some factions seem to be better than others, but it all depends on how the game progresses. Become too powerful too quickly, and you'll have to fend off even those players who would otherwise be your ally. Sit back, and you'll be too weak to win the game. I've won with Miriam (by general concensus the "hardest" faction to play as) and lost as Skye (the easiest). There are also four (!) ways to win, giving you, as a player, much more flexibility.

Bad things? Well, there are a few, but not enough to cover such an engrossing game. First off--the game is *ugly*. Awful. Your eyes will hurt after playing for a while. But you get used to it.

Secondly, the factions are, perhaps, a bit too aggressive. Pact brothers suddely get mad and declare war for no particular reason. Opposing ideologies can trigger unreasonable anger in other players. It is unrealistic that a relatively weak faction will declare war on the strongest faction in the game simply because you're a police state and he's a democracy.

The aforementioned governors--which automatically build up your cities--can also get irritating as well. Usually they do a fairly adequate job, but at times they want to produce sea units en masse for no particular reason. Occasionally, they decide that *every* city in your empire needs a Covert Ops Center, so everyone starts building one. Usually, though, it does pretty much what I would do; it just gets irritating to have to stop the game and relist all of the cities' build queues.

There are a few other minor irritances--the game has a not-so-subtle bent against capitalism, and preach to you about "eco-damage"--but these are minor compared to how much you'll enjoy the game.

A sequel was made, Alien Crossfire. It is recommended as well, though it has its own problems.

Excellent concept, but not smooth enough

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The game is Civ2 in a new world (so I guess we could also call it Civ2: After our rocket landed). The interface is pretty much the same, if we neglect optical changes. From 30 nations we got 7 factions, which are specialized (in Civ2 there were no special abilities), so you have to know from the beginning, to which type you are most suited. Automation is by my opinion not very helpful, the most helpful thing is building queue, which enables you to forget many smaller cities until they grow to size 4 or 5 (then you must check every such city or bigger ones regularly, if you want to make enough progress). Great bonuses can be won from the seas (not usable in Civ2) and City improvements and Wonders are little more numerous than in Civ2. The whole scene is almost too dark and morbid (Alpha Centauri is a sun, therefore a planet could at least have a little light!), it runs very slowly (units travel as they would take sedatives all time) and the diplomacy is very limited (as is perhaps in real life, but every faction leader is tremendously aggressive). Therefore best start for you is even more essential than in Civ2, if you fall back at the beginning, it will be very hard for you to gain back what you missed. The terrain is extremely unpleasant and it can also be of great importance, where you land. I had best experience with the science faction (Zakharov), because I was able to overcome my opponents through technology. The game is very uneven from the beginning (if you don't get a good draw, you are soon in trouble) and it could run much faster. That took away one star for her. Otherwise - if you like Civ2 and if you don't mind too much about this lacks, it's no question - buy it. If you expect another revolution form Sid, lean back, play another Civ 2 and wait for part 3.

Civilization jumps into outer space

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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.

Still the best, after all these years

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

Every thing Civ II was, and more!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: November 26, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best games Sid Meier has ever made. This game is very much like Civ II, but even better. It's so addictive that you should be prepared to spend hours and hours on playing this game. If you like Civ I and Civ II, and the other Sid Meier game, this is a must buy!

Civilization goes wrong

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 13
Date: April 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Sid Meier is a true artist in the realm of software, but with each new addition to the Civilization family the games become more oriented toward conflict and less fun to play. In AC the Believers will appear on your borders within the first 50 turns and you will never really be at peace again. Forget about the fun of managing a nation: this is a non-stop Darwinian struggle to keep your head above water. (Some players might like this, but I find it tedious.) There's no point in trying to negotiate with other factions because they'll just turn right around and violate your territory or declare war. Then after you have spent decades trying to build up your industry, when your output reaches a certain level the planet itself will being to attack you with an inexhaustible supply of mindworms. *Every* game of AC is a race to achieve the victory conditions before the planet itself defeats you, and there's not much sense of satisfaction in that. Add to this the fact that the game runs unbearably slowly. You will spend more time watching units go plod-plod-plod across the screen than you will playing. I really wanted to like this game, but after a while its defeatist atmosphere and tedious play just got too wearisome. Let's hope that in his next game Side remembers that growing an empire is more fun and challenging than beating one.

It gets better the more you play it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 11, 1999
Author: Amazon User

My first few games of Alpha Centauri did not overly impress me. The gameplay was slow on my computer, the tech tree wasn't as interesting as Civilization and the ecological storyline wasn't compelling to me. The game was good enough to keep at, though, and now that I have a faster machine the game is much better paced. Once you pick up the tech tree the game makes far more sense. Letting the governor run your cities is anathema to many players but I experimented and have found the AI to be fairly solid and you can let the AI governor run your cities and you can just keep an eye on them while concentrating on achieving your goals be they militaristic, technological or economical. I do like the various ways victory can be achieved. It adds variety and winning economically provides a challenging diversion after playing a "conquer-the-world" type of game.

The greatest strategy game of all time?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

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...

The game that wouldn't die! (and that's a good thing)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Released in the late 1990's, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, now resting only inches away from the abandonware bin, cannot even hope to compete with newer strategy games in terms of graphics, though the ingenious and well-thought out storyline, which is told through futuristic "historical accounts" and quotes coupled with the ever-present pop-up notifications of newly researched or, in some cases, stolen technologies, still has something to offer for the "modern" gamer.
An intensely cerebral, and strangely addictive title, Alpha Centauri casts you as the leader of your choice of one of eight separate factions, all with their own unique abilities and all desperately trying to lay claim to the newfound planet of Alpha Centauri. Play starts simply, a single base, (your headquarters, which, as with all your future bases in Alpha Centauri, supports a custom name,) a single scouting unit, supplied to protect your HQ from falling victim to Alpha Centauri's vicious native life forms, the Mindworms, and a single technological upgrade that differs between factions. From there, game play elevates to steadily higher levels of strategy, from signing and breaking treaties or truces, to forming Pacts of Brotherhood (or Sisterhood) with other faction members, you soon find yourself wrapped up in the storyline. Technological breakthroughs lead to better units and a steadily more refined means of pulling minerals, nutrients, and energy resources out of Alpha Centauri's surface or even from space itself. Learn to guide your researchers, change your social structure, or even complete secret projects before your rivals to provide yourself with the ability to build superior units and influence, manipulate, or even conquer your fellow faction leaders.
But the gameplay goes deeper than just second-guessing the easy-to-predict, if not primitive A.I. of the game; in Alpha Centauri, one must learn not only to tame his/her rivals, friends, and Pact Brothers, but also the planet itself. A primitive neural network held together by the rampantly growing clusters of Xenofungus, Voice, as it is called, contacts you in event-triggered interludes, growing steadily more wary (and dangerous) as it studies the human race and it's seemingly inherent need to destroy the ecosystem of planets they colonize. As time passes in the game, Alpha Centauri's natural defenses are steadily increased, the Mindworms, evolve into both aquatic and airborne monsters, allowing "Planet" to hit you (and the other factions) with a three-pronged attack of increasingly more numerous (and deadly) specimens.
In the spirit of Human tenacity and the need to tame this new planet, terraforming has also been built into the game, allowing you to build steadily better terrain modifications that can cut down the movement costs of your units, feed your bases, provide cover for your troops, or even pull water from an otherwise ungenerous sky.
Alpha Centauri is by no means a graphically superior game; rather the opposite, actually. The maps, units, even buildings give a rough illusion of three dimensionality, but in truth, the entire game, much like other, older strategy titles, such as "StarCraft," is composed of the harsh, two dimensional graphics we have come to expect from classic games. That's not to say that Alpha Centauri's two dimensional graphics are not good. It's art is very well done, and it's smoothness carries a sort of dignity and artistic quality that is lacking in the polygon-rich environs of today's strategy games.
A lot of Alpha Centauri's sounds are stock- that is to say, common, cheap, and obvious. The sound used for weapons fire is the same sound I've heard countless times in several dozen other applications, such as car commercials, and low-budget films. But it does have an extensive library of ambient beats, simple little files that play in the background, giving the game an eerie, alien feel that changes as the gameplay progresses, picking up during "high stress situations," and slowing during calm sessions of planning, plotting, and research.
Featuring multiplayer and map-creation functions, Alpha Centauri's capabilites don't end at the singleplayer level. Play online with your friends, (that is, if you know anyone who still plays this game,) or make new maps to be tamed, not just by your faction, but by the seven other computer controlled factions as well.
All things considered, Alpha Centauri's gameplay and storyline more than make up for it's inferiorities in graphics and A.I. I definitely recommend this title, that is, if you're willing to spend time fully immersed in an ocean of hard-core strategy that has the wonderful capacity to be utterly different everytime it is played; if not, it's still worth a try, who knows, maybe you'll end up enjoying it as much as I do.

Still Works Great In WinXP

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

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