sid meiers civilization beyond earth alpha centauri

This is what makes Alpha Centauri such a standout among strategy games it is, at its core, a climactic ideological battle that will determine the future of humanity in its darkest hour.īut what truly sells it is the clever way in which the game characterizes the factions and their leaders. Each one encapsulates a worldview in some way inherited from Earth, pitting it against both the hostile lifeforms of Planet and opposing human factions. Unlike the civilizations of the old Civilization games, they are not based on nationality or geography, but instead ideology. The factions – and the people who lead them – are one of the greatest strengths of Alpha Centauri. But perhaps the greatest danger will be far more human in nature. Every day on Planet will be a struggle for survival in the face of alien life. The most common – and easily most horrific – predators are the mind worms, which use a psychic attack to paralyze their prey before implanting larvae into their brains. The native wildlife is similarly hostile, from fields of xenofungus clogging the landscape to aggressive wildlife launching frequent attacks. While the nitrogenous soil is perfect for Earth plants with the right adjustments, the atmosphere is too light on oxygen and heavy on carbon dioxide for humans to breathe it naturally. Chiron – or ‘Planet’ as it is more commonly referred to – is no paradise. Morgan Industries (yellow) is also barely hanging in there.Īs the game proper starts, the misfortune of the colonists only grows.

Also note by the minimap that most of the factions have been defeated, with the struggle now coming down to three main factions: the Peacekeeping Forces (light blue), the Lord’s Believers (orange) and the Spartan Federation (black). Native xenofungus (the red splotches) are being increasingly marginalized by more beneficial Earth trees (the green forests). Unlike Civilization, you can also see the effects of terraforming in progress. Much like Civilization, Alpha Centauri centers around building cities (or ‘bases’ in this case), improving the surrounding land, and constructing units. The colony pods are released, with seven reaching the surface of Chiron to begin colonization.Ī screenshot from late in the game. Tensions flare aboard the crew, and when it comes time to make a desperate planetfall the survivors split into groups headed by different members of the command crew. Against all odds, the Unity makes it to the new star system, before it is crippled by a reactor malfunction.

But in a last-ditch effort to avoid extinction, the UN launches the Unity and several thousand colonists to Chiron, an Earthlike planet spotted in the Alpha Centauri system.

The narrator takes over, and tells us what we already suspected. And sure enough, as the music swells, we see the last hope for humanity: the United Nations Starship Unity, an ark to ferry humanity to a new world. Images of space shuttle launches are overlaid atop the people of Earth, showing just how much is riding on the promises of space travel. Then the music settles, and we’re introduced to a last cause for hope. It’s clear that civilization is on its last legs. As the music starts up, we see what has become of Earth in the new millennium. It opens with the aforementioned Bible quote, which you quickly come to realize perfectly sums up the opening premise. The game’s intro video is one of the most impactful I’ve ever seen. Considering that about half of it is just stock footage with music over the top, it still does a fantastic job getting the player engaged. Therefore the Lord God Sent Him Forth From the Garden of Eden And considering my motivation to check out this game was on account of the writing, I’d love to walk you through just how it accomplishes this feat. Sheer scale often means that characters will be mostly limited to other leaders you interact with, and narrative consists more of events playing out organically instead of being pre-scripted.įor a 4X game like Alpha Centauri to excel in its writing means that it’s able to overcome a lot of the limitations of its genre. Empires may rise and fall by your hand, and your actions affect millions if not billions of lives. Where some strategy games have you command an army or a base, 4X games often give you the reigns of an entire civilization. These sorts of games tend to be truly strategic in nature, as opposed to the more tactical scale many adopt. Especially one that belongs to the ‘4X’ subgenre – shorthand for ‘Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate’. The cover of the game, depicting the planet Chiron and the leaders of the playable factions.įor non-gamers, I should point out that this is rather an impressive claim to fame for a strategy game.

Sid meiers civilization beyond earth alpha centauri