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The brightest star in the strategy game constellation

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you like strategy games you've probably played Civilization II. Not doing so would be the same as saying you like desserts but have never tasted apple pie. Alpha Centauri is a rare treat for your strategy gaming taste buds. This game takes up where Civilization II left off - humanity departing Earth, heading for the star Alpha Centauri and it's planetary system to start afresh. We begin in typical human fashion - divided - the colonists have split into 7 factions, each seeking to develop their new home in their own fashion.

Gameplay is similar to Civilization II. As head of one of the factions you start with a single city, the first objective being exploration of the surrounding darkness and establishing your civilization. Quickly you encounter others and are faced with decisions. The game demands that you strike the right strategic balance between the imperatives of exploration, research, building and conquest. How will you seek to win? Through economic victory, military conquest or achieving transcendence? The ability to achieve different victories underlies one of the strengths of the game. Each faction has well developed philosophies and ideologies and their approach to life on Planet is influenced by these biases and it affects gameplay. For instance the Morganites emphasize economic development, the University faction pursues research, Gaians have an environmentally friendly approach to living on the planet and the UN group seeks peace and harmony. Beliefs affect behaviour and interaction between factions is excellently managed through a sophisticated diplomacy framework. Dealing with the Lord's believers and the militaristic Spartans is an exercise in patience and a lesson in managing aggression.

Another very sophisticated element is the ability to engage in social engineering which allows you to subtley shift your civilizations philosophy. Other strengths are the design workshop which allows for customization of units and the 'Governor' which can be fully automated to carry out city life according to the assigned imperatives (build, explore, research or military).

If the coming 'Empire Earth' lives up to it's promise, this game may be topped, but until then Alpha Centauri continues to shine as the brightest star in the strategy game genre.

strategy and resources management for fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: October 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you're looking for quick gratification, look elsewhere. But
if you want a game you'll still play years after you bought it,
Alpha Centauri (and its expansion pack, Alien Crossfire) is your
ticket. It's easy to be put off initially by the complexity
that this game can provide, especially if you are new to this
style of strategy; but with the same software you can play games
as different as your imagination allows. Multiple victory
conditions (destroy all you enemies, or be elected as supreme
leader, or become the economic tyrant, or transcend to a higher
existence . . .); civilization ratings in technology, industrial
production, ecological savvy, wealth building, social
engineering and more; factions with built-in likes and dislikes
and many more nuances create a life-like simulation game.
To give an idea of the subtlety you will need to manage,
consider that you may want to renounce some higher ratings for
your civilization to maintain a strategic alliance with
a party that dislikes certain types of advancements and
thereby defeat a common, but stronger, enemy threat. I'm now
having as much fun trying to lead to victory some of the
weaker factions as I had years ago trouncing everybody
when running a strong civ at an easy difficulty level.
Mastering the game requires years, and be prepared for
games that will last months. There is nothing like
Alpha Centauri except perhaps the forthcoming Civilization III.

The rumors are true

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I had heard from a number of people beforehand that SMAC was better than Civilization. I now believe that.

What is better is difficult to sum up, but the easiest thing to put a finger on is the variety of improvements that can be made to cities, terrain, and even troops. In Civ you had the occasional chance to update your troops to one standard breed of soldier. Now, along with the ability to create troops and vehicles from the ground up, a person can pick and choose what sort of force they want to create, down to even fairly small details.

Another thing I feel is an improvement is the research system. What is researched is not a simple selection of a technology, the existance of which the player and his civ should not even know about to begin with. Instead, players select what sort of advance they want, such as military or construction technologies, and let things go from there. This helps to some degree keep things interesting, as there are no absolute garantees that you get what you wanted.

The planetary UN-type convention is another interesting feature. This should probably have been included in Civ 3, as well, as it gives a very good way to see how an individual is fairing in international relations, and also opens a door to new diplomatic ties not possible with simple one-on-one talks.

Many enjoy the story line given in the game, but this is something the game did not absolutely need. That is, through the discovery of technologies and information about the world, the story could have unfolded on its own. Instead, a person is yanked from play in order to read a story line supposedly centered on the player's character. If they were going to go this far, it would have been nice to have more personalized stories and endings for each player, rather than having in the end everyone with the same fate in store.

All in all, I can find no real problems with the game. It went beyond my expectations, and made it just that more difficult for me to be impressed by even Sid Meyer's other work.

Sequels....Never Quite As Good...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: August 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Having been an avid player of both CIVILIZATION I & II, I was very excited about the prospect of this game. Hasn't everyone who finally achieved victory in the space race in Sid Meier's immortal Civ series wondered what happened when the space ship finally reached Alpha Centauri? This game picks up where the last one left off and shows a world where your colonist forces have factionalized upon reaching alien shores. The faction motives are all quite compelling and realistic and the inclusion of aliens is a nice addition. The game play is very reminiscent of its predecessors, albeit with high tech impetus that only grows more sophisticated. It, like its predecessors is a highly customizable scenario which makes it very replayable. So. Why only a 4 star rating instead of the 5 that I rated CIVILIZATION? Well, it lacks a lot of the charm of the Civ series with its lack of Earth-bound nations and leaders. One of the things that was compelling about Civ was its possibilities of the Roman Empire co-existing with the modern United States, and similar situations. Another problem is the very speculative technology race. In Civ, the tech advances were easy to understand and relate to, given that they were all actual discoveries through the course of time. Maybe this bias is a betrayal of my roots as a history buff, but it was a distraction for me. This is a very well done game with a lot of possible strategization. Whether or not you would enjoy it as much as its legendary forebear is really a question of what draws your interest to a game. If you are a sci-fi junkie, this might be right up your alley as long as you keep in mind that it is a strategy game.

In theory great but in actuality just ok

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: September 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is one of those games that looks great on paper but when you actually sit down and play it, is not all that fun after a while. I've played "Gettysburg", another Firaxis/Brian Reynolds game, and these games are very similiar in that both have a lot of detail, great ideas, a lot of cool things you can do, good multiplayer ... and both are not that fun.

The game is basically Civilization 2 at the core but that seems to be it's strong point. Other than that there is not much to recommend. Although there's all sorts of options you can use diplomatically, economically, and militarily, I believe you will find that you will find you are for the most part funnelled into a fairly narrow set of behavior by the way the other nations and the planet act towards you. I'm sure you can beat the game many different ways but that doesn't change the fact that 1) all your allies stab you in the back in the end, 2) the beginning battles are won by the first to impact rovers, 3) the computer has no clue with air warfare, 4) the planet basically kills you immediately if you use nukes. There are all sorts of other little balance issues throughout the game that just get on my nerves as well. The sheer number of options you have are spoiled because the game just isn't put together well. I read an interview with Sid Meier recently and he said when he put together Civ1 he was just trying to make a fun game, making changes by ear. Maybe that's what went wrong here.

I must say, I DID have some fun in the multiplayer games I played. Diplomacy and combat are actually quite fun when there is another human on the other end. That said I never finished a game (too long), and there is no online community (that I can find), so your mileage may vary.

Bottom line, it's a flawed game, and not tons of fun. But it is Civ2 at the core, so at a low price, it might be worth it for you.

A classic of the same caliber as Civilization

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: November 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Alpha Centauri is a classic, and with good cause. Every innovation that this game introduced to the Civilization series (to which this game doesn't exactly belong, but it might as well since it's by the same people and it's so similar) significantly improved the playability and entertainment value of the genre. For instance, unlike the first two Civ games, Alpha Centauri incorporates seven completely different factions into the gaming world, resulting in a much wider spectrum of possibilities. If you choose to dominate the globe's economy, you might choose the Morganites. If you are more of an aggressive, militaristic player, you might decide to go with the Spartans or the Believers. Or, if you would rather take a more diplomatic approach, you might play as the Peacekeeping Forces.

The introduction of distinctly individual factions to the game is just one of many improvements this game introduces to turn-based strategy gaming. Others include a more comprehensive and realistic combat system, the establishment of territories, a highly advanced technology tree, a much more flexible system of customizing governmental policies (you get to choose your political system, your economic system, your faction's values and even your ideal future society) and the implementing of unit creation. You can even create your own unique faction, although this requires that you edit the game's text files. But it's actually not complicated at all--anyone can do it.

There are so many things that are right about this game, but still there are a few reasons you might not want to buy it (even though it is ridiculously cheap). First, as is the case with almost all turn-based strategy games, Alpha Centauri gets a little cumbersome after hundreds of turns because there is just too much micromanagement. To be fair, though, you can always have your cities managed by local governors. Also, a game like this won't appeal to everyone. If Civilization wasn't your thing, neither will Alpha Centauri be. If you're more of a hack and slash or shoot 'em up kind of gamer, then this one's not right for you.

If you liked the Civilization games, or if you're interested in trying an epic strategy game for the first time, Alpha Centauri will not let you down. Of course, if you don't want to spend hours at a time sitting in front of a computer screen, or if you have scruples with becoming addicted to something, you just might want to steer clear of this game. It's that good.

Finally... better graphics!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

In one word, excellent. Easily worth at least double the price. One of the best games ever; far outdoing its predecessors (Civilization, Civilization II), and even (loosely) continuing the storyline of CIV2. --
Definitely recommended.

The original sequel to Civilization 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you ever played Civil 2 you might have built a huge empire and launched your spaceship to colonize Alpha Centauri... but what happened next???
This game is the sequel of the award winning game Civilization 2 and starts where the other ended.
The spacechip desintegrates before the arrival in Alpha C. and the colonists are disgregated all over the planet.
You can choose any of the surviving group of colonists to found your base and start building your new civilization.
Each of the groups or "tribes" has their own peculiarities: warrior, scientific, diplomatic, etc...

The game is pretty much the same as Civilization 2 regarding building cities and colonizing the world but brings some features within that will later be available in Civilization 3 such as diplomatic victory for instance. Plus the possibility of customizing your units.

I really recommend it and assure hours of fun and joy.

Mind Altering

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

In my opinion, Alpha Centauri is the best game ever made. Of course if you've never played a Sid Meir game before it'll take you a while to learn the controls, but it's well worth the effort. A very entertaining game, that has changed or made new life philosophies for me, with all the concepts it introduces and investigates.

A masterpiece...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: December 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I must admit, that when I first played Alpha Centauri I did'nt think too much of it. I got it of a friend, so I had to learn all of the controls without an instruction book. Now THAT is challenging. When I learned to play, however, I realised that this game could not have been made less complex than it is without slicing away some important pieces of the gameplay. The complexity is fascinating in itself, and the fact that the game is turn-based provides a relaxed feeling which is well needed in the current computer game climate. Alpha Centauri is an amazingly good game, on the border to perfection. It's time consuming, no doubt, but anyone with a bit of patience has countless hours of interesting gaming ahead of them.

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