Rating: 
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...
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: I wrote the wrong review of Master of Orion II; I'll need to fix that as soon as possible. This game is better than Master of Orion II -- constantly changing yet requiring some planning. I like strategy games but I hate the ones the ones that require so much backtracking and micromanaging. This one can be fun just running around exploring or you can get very political. I prefer to be the Spartans because they get off to a faster start with their exploration vehicles and are frankly fairly flexible in terms of research.
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: I wrote the wrong review of Master of Orion II; I'll need to fix that as soon as possible. This game is better than Master of Orion II -- constantly changing yet requiring some planning. I like strategy games but I hate the ones the ones that require so much backtracking and micromanaging. This one can be fun just running around exploring or you can get very political. I prefer to be the Spartans because they get off to a faster start with their exploration vehicles and are frankly fairly flexible in terms of research.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Addictive!
Review: It's amazing how the hours fly by while playing this game. The interface is a little complicated, but the game can be played with a minimum of instruction and you can learn as you play. It would be helpful to have better descriptions of the military vehicles and units and what they are capable of. Overall though, I really enjoyed playing the game. I was a bit surprised when I came to the "end" of the game -- there's apparently a chronological limit on how many "years" you can play for.
Rating:
Summary: addictive personalities, beware...
Review: My one real complaint about this title is that a full game can take more than 30 hours to complete. This means that a 'normal' person with a day-job will likely spend a week or more on a single outing -- and this game is devilishly difficult to put down; there's always one other objective that you meant to see to before you can pack it up for the night. There are also some concerns within the gameplay that add to the lengthiness of a game. On my iMac 333, the game slows down noticably towards its later stages, as more and more units and bases need to be juggled by the processor. The '150 mHz or faster' listed in the specs isn't terribly realistic if you don't want to spend a whole month playing one round. Setting units to 'automatic' *ought* to be of some help, but in fact the way this is implemented, they have a bad habit of wandering around in circles or getting stuck in place for no apparent reason, and if you have many units set on auto, it could be 20 minutes before you regain control of the game to change the unit's orders (by which time you're likely to have lost track of what the problem was). Overall, I found this game to be a hell of a lot of fun, but frustratingly slow. The vaunted AI is not all THAT smart, so you will spend even more extra time keeping an eye on it and countermanding its orders. But, if you have either a lot of time or a lot of self-control, it's a good romp. The game as initially released (version 1.4) had some annoying bugs in it; a patch to 1.4.1 is available at the website (I think it's at the Aspyr site, but it might be at the game site). This fixed almost all the problems I was having except the automation quirks.
Rating:
Summary: Stupendous!
Review: This game is great, I love it. This game is a cross between SimCity and Starcraft, better than both in most ways. YOU should own this game! -Ben
Rating: 
Summary: Not nearly as good as the first
Review: This game is kind of a disappointment. True, it has a lot of cool new stuff, but unlike the older Civilization games, it lacks a lot of play ability. First of all, there are less tribes (in here they are called Factions). The factions are ALWAYS the same. The traits are too eccentric to make the game play very interesting. Once you figure out who is in love with the land, you know how to treat them. Once you figure out who is a Zealot,
you can get them. You can do a randomize on the characters, but all it does is change their face. Once they start talking, you know who they were originally. I played this game about 4 times. The last game I played, I stopped halfway through, because I was far enough ahead to render any more playing moot. I set off a nuke (which is by far the coolest thing in the game) then quit, because everyone turns against you, at once. This game has SUCH potential. Stick with Civilization 1,2,&3, you will be MUCH happier.
All I really wanted was Civilization to go a little further. Get into space ships, and space station battles, have shield bases, lasers, undersea cities, that sort of thing. But they just changed the look and name of all the stuff, and called it a new game. It seems like they even took things out.
Rating:
Summary: Life suction device : SMAC.
Review: This game is so involving and addictive, I have labeled it as a "Life Suction Device." I lose hours and hours sitting in front of my Mac due to this game. I totally recommend this if you have life/time to get totally engrossed in an awesome game. -taftman
Rating:
Summary: Life suction device : SMAC.
Review: This game is so involving and addictive, I have labeled it as a "Life Suction Device." I lose hours and hours sitting in front of my Mac due to this game. I totally recommend this if you have life/time to get totally engrossed in an awesome game. -taftman
Rating:
Summary: Quite Impressive
Review: This game provides the perfect mix of war, strategy, dipomacy, aristocracy, simulation, and futuristic otherworldly game. This game is perfect for any Mac addict!
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