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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (Mac)

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (Mac)

List Price: $29.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Alpha Centauri: another masterpiece from Sid Meier
Review: Alpha Centauri is a great game, like Civ II. Fighting Mind Worms, The Isle of the Deep, and The Locusts of Chiron is great, and customizing units in the workshop is awesome. All in all, A.C. is a great game, like its predecessers.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Alpha Centauri is outstanding
Review: As a big fan of Civilization 2, I had high expectations of Alpha Centauri. It definitely doesn't disappoint. The overall structure and gameplay are similar to Civ 2, making it fairly easy to learn, but the details set it apart. Units and technology advancements are very unique. The 7 factions you can choose from have strong personalities of their own, and solid AI. If you enjoy Civ 2, this game is a great step forward. One negative is that it's too addicting!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great game
Review: AWESOME game, took Civ II and improved EVERYTHING! I'm very happy with it, although I wish the graphics and set up were a little more colorful. Dull brown earth and red fungi gets a little hard to look at after HOURS of playing. I highly recomend this product!

Looking forward to Civ III too!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sid's going down hill in this one
Review: Civilization was much much better. It plays the same, and the controls are nice... actually a lot of it is very nice, but the problem I have is the personalities. There are only a few, and when you learn them, it's the same every game. Beware the religious nut and the power monger. The rest you can walk on, unless they somehow get super strong.
Even when you choose the random personalities, it just changes the pictures. I was hoping it would change parts of their personalities (ie. Religious, power hunger, but honerable. Or scientist, nature freak, likes friends). If they had multiple layers to their personalities that randomised, then it would be better.
Play it a few times, and it get boring.
Coolest part of this is nukeing people, it changes the landscape.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Of the Sid Meier games.... the worst
Review: Get one of the other games Sid Meier made before this one. Civilization is MUCH better. THIS game takes everything from Civilization and dumbs it down.
Most of the stuff is exactly the same, except they gave new names for them (future names).
Wow. you guys are inventive. Instead of having around 12 races you can choose from in civilization, you get 9.
All are extremely predictable, even the shuffling of character types does nothing. They should of
had it shuffle several basic traits in the characters, not just their pictures. If you run into the religious
zealot, no matter what the picture or name, you know how they are going to react to everything. They are
just too predictable.
Also, the game takes about a month of gaming to finnish, and at that point you want to stuff it in
a box and never look at it again. I gave mine away after several started games, and 2 finished ones.
I say again: get Civilization instead.
It's a shame they don't make many good Turn based strategy games. :(

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Of the Sid Meier games.... the worst
Review: Get one of the other games Sid Meier made before this one. Civilization is MUCH better. THIS game takes everything from Civilization and dumbs it down.
Most of the stuff is exactly the same, except they gave new names for them (future names).
Wow. you guys are inventive. Instead of having around 12 races you can choose from in civilization, you get 9.
All are extremely predictable, even the shuffling of character types does nothing. They should of
had it shuffle several basic traits in the characters, not just their pictures. If you run into the religious
zealot, no matter what the picture or name, you know how they are going to react to everything. They are
just too predictable.
Also, the game takes about a month of gaming to finnish, and at that point you want to stuff it in
a box and never look at it again. I gave mine away after several started games, and 2 finished ones.
I say again: get Civilization instead.
It's a shame they don't make many good Turn based strategy games. :(

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a computer game worth getting
Review: I admit that I have never played any of the Civilization games, so I don't know if this is big step down, or not. What I do know is that this is a great game, and I love playing it. The plot is that there is something wrong with the plant Earth, so a colonization ship is sent out to find themselves a new planet. Something goes wrong and the captain is killed and the survivors split into 7 factions that land on the surface of a plant in the Alpha Centuri system. The factions then battle for the dominance of the planet. You get to pick to be the leader of one of the factions, and then it is up to you to lead you faction to victory. You build cities and discover new technology. The graphics are good and this is a great strategy game. I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: One dimensional
Review: I had to take this game back to CompUSA. There was no real option for interesting management of tactics and resources. Military units are for the most part solitary (i.e., not much large scale strategic opportunity), and they will sit there and attack forever with seemingly no result on each other.

I know I'm not providing much details, but it was a while ago that I tried the game. I like better Starcraft.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very, very impressive (far better than Civ:CTP)
Review: I really thought this would be a dud: gee whiz, Civ in space, whoop-de-doo. I was wrong. Sid is just a genius, and he manages to make somthing that ought to stink one of the brilliant games of all time.

Beyond the game itself, it must be noted that this runs way too slow on anything but very new equipment (iMac 333 or newer), and that the box minimums must be taken with a grain of salt (no shock there). On the other hand, the interface is a delight, and the 3D landscape is nothing short of amazing after years of Civ, Civ II, and (very disappointingly) Civ:CTP. (And please note, I like CTP, it's just nowhere near what it could have been.)

This is a keeper!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Replayable, challenging & so addicting it should be illegal
Review: I was in a store years ago examining a Civilization II game box when the guy next to me looks over and says: "I wouldn't get that if I were you. Too addicting."

So, of course I bought it...

In retrospect, perhaps that was a mistake because the guy in the game store was dead right. The compulsion to play 'just *one* more turn before bedtime turns otherwise normal gamers into insomniacs, staring in utter disbelief when the clock blinks 2:00 a.m.

This effect is even more pronounced in Alpha Centauri -- which picks up the story line where Civ II leaves off, as the human explorers leave earth to colonize a new world.

Starting on an empty plain, you've got to start cranking out settlers, military units and laying claim to precious resources before some of your rivals come calling. And when they do come, be prepared to use diplomacy, spies, threats, bribes, military power, or gifts to defend your interests -- or else.

The best part about this game is that it's never the same twice. You can play seven different factions, each with their own philosophies and sets of strengths and weaknesses that alter gameplay. You can micromanage everything, if that's your bent-- design military units, instruct cities what to produce, etc. -- or leave it up to programmable "governors."

It's true that the artificial intelligence that guides some of the automated processes (such as terraforming the landscape, building certain city improvemnts) don't always perform optimally, but as far as I'm concerned, this is a minor quibble.

Simply put, Alpha Centauri is a challenging blend of resource management, empire-building, strategy and tactics, and it is unmatched in its ability to provide engrossing entertainment.

Having said that, it's also clearly too addictive -- I wouldn't get it if I were you...


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