Posts Tagged ‘Alpha Centauri’

RPS Feature Sid Meier's Diminishing Returns, more like

The 4X Genre Has Grown Stagnant, Here’s How To Fix It

When Civilization II came out, I spent an entire summer playing it for several hours a day. The only check on my binging was the fact that my parents would eventually come home and force me to pretend, for a few hours at least, that I cared about things other than Civilization II.

I was a senior in college when Civilization IV arrived. I’d barely played strategy games at all for the previous four years, and “senioritis” brought with it a case of intense nostalgia. I bought it in the spring before graduation. It was still consuming my days and nights when the leaves fell later that year.

That was probably the last time my enjoyment of a 4X game was pure and uncomplicated. Lately, I’ve been wondering where that joy has gone, and why so few games seem to add anything essential to those old experiences.

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A Brand New UI: Alpha Centauri Redux

Alpha Centauri is one of the best strategy games ever made. It casts a long shadow, such that a game like Civilization: Beyond Earth [official site] cannot escape comparison, even though it wasn’t intended to be the direct spiritual successor many saw it as. But how would you improve on Meier and Reynold’s sci-fi masterpiece? Keegan Chua has some ideas. His Alpha Centauri Redux project is a fully documented attempt “to completely redesign the look and feel of the user interface in the Sid Meier classic”.

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RPS Feature Beyond Beyond Earth?

Above And Beyond: Rediscovering Alpha Centauri

As we prepare to cast judgement on Civilization: Beyond Earth, Firaxis’ latest voyage into the unknown, we cast out minds back to Alpha Centauri’s treatment of humanity’s future. With a stronger emphasis on narrative, rigid factions and a malleable Planet, Alpha Centauri changed the Civ formula significantly and to great effect. We asked author and Icon deputy editor Will Wiles to examine the impact of future past.

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RPS Feature "It's the worst jello mold you've ever seen"

Firaxis On How Civ: Beyond Earth Really Isn’t Alpha Centauri

Someone’s finally making an Alpha Centauri successor! Kinda. Civilization: Beyond Earth takes Sid Meier’s famed turn-based strategy series (that Sid Meier only kinda works on these days) and flings it into the stars like a colonial frisbee. I got to play a little at a recent 2K preview event, but not enough to render much of a verdict other than, “I really want to see more than just the first 50 turns,” “The affinity system is neat,” “Roaming alien creatures that may or may not attack add great tension,” and “Discovering this universe will be really cool the first few times, but I doubt that part will hold up 5 or 10 games in.” It also kinda feels a lot like Civilization V at the moment, but again, I only got to play the early parts of a match.  

Afterward, I stuck around and had a nice chat with co-lead (yes, co-lead) designers Will Miller and David McDonough, and we talked about why Beyond Earth really isn’t Alpha Centauri II at all, why Firaxis decided against making a direct successor to Alpha Centauri, striking a balance between old-school Civ and more “dramatic” games like Civilization Revolution, games shaping history/culture, mod support, and massive man-made brain monsters that look like jello molds. 

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RPS Feature Alpha Obtainium

Impressions: Pandora – First Contact

The version of Pandora: First Contact that I’ve been playing since last week is far from complete – it’s stable and packed with potential but the tech tree and map generation are just two major features that are due to experience major overhauls. When the game in question is a strategic task of exploration and colonisation on an alien planet not a thousand light years from Alpha Centauri’s neck of the universe, those aspects are important, so I can’t provide an informed opinion as to what Pandora will achieve. But I can say that many of the pieces are in place and it is, at the very least, a pleasing echo of Firaxis’ finest.

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Is Alpha Centauri Set To Return?


The unblinking info-gaze of Eurogamer’s news sentinel has detected NeoGAF discoveries that indicate Alpha Centauri has been trademarked in Europe and the US. One trademark for computer games and one for online gaming. This can only mean one thing: a new FPS is on the way! Ha. My little joke there. Sorry.

Read Lewie’s retrospective for a reminder of why Alpha Centauri is such an important strategy title. We pray that this one is an appropriate remake.

Brand New Colony: Alpha Centauri Retro


Alpha Centauri has a special place in my heart. It’s a sort of spin-off from the Civilisation series (but don’t tell the lawyers), released way back in 1999. It’s not available to buy digitally (EDIT: Now available on GOG.com), but it had a Complete Edition reissue on the Sold Out range, available on Amazon US/UK. It’s essentially Civ in space.

Or is it?
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