Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
By Mike Vande Ven Jr.
http://homepage.mac.com/giantmike/
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Manufacturer: Aspyr
Price: $19.95
System Requirements:
MacOS 7.6 or later
A PowerPC Macintosh, 180MHz 603 or better
32 Megabytes of free memory (you may need to enable virtual memory)
A monitor and video card capable of 800x600 at 256 colors
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The sequel to Sid Meier's Civilization II, Alpha Centauri picks up from the colonists finishing and launching their spaceship, where they crash land on a planet. Seven factions are created, you choosing to be one, and you must conquer the new planet through military might, diplomatic skills, and scientific research.
Installation:
The installer used is the one Aspyr uses for all its games. That means a quick, simple install, that installs what you need, where you need it. Just run it, and you are set. Can't get much easier than that.
Usage:
Like most games, Alpha Centauri has a unique interface. However, this interface doesn't conform with ANY of Apple's standards, and therefore is very hard to use. Worse yet, the commands are hard to decipher. Many times, I would get lost on where I needed to go for different things, and become frustrated, making the game less fun.
If and when you learn the interface, you will be able to appreciate the complexity of the game. From the different attitudes of the races, to the scientific research, and even the strategy of doing battle and diplomacy, everything you do has an impact of how the game ends. One little move could spell disaster for you, even if it isn't completely evident at the time. It's a good thing there is an extensive help and advise system, just don't let the advice be your crutch.
Onto the game itself. One of the major improvements over Civilization II is the graphics quality. From units to world scenery, to the achievement movies, everything looks a LOT better. Much more detail in the units and scenery make them look more realistic. And instead of little windows for the movies, Alpha Centauri plays its movies full screen, which makes them close to mini cinematic.
Another large update is the races. While there are only 7 races in Alpha Centauri (compared to 30 in Civilization II), they have unique personalities, which change from game to game. Each one has its own goals, and uses different techniques to reach them. This makes the game even more complicated, but creates a different environment every time you play.
But unit to unit fighting hasn't improved too much. While there are such things as explosions, there really isn't too much to the fighting graphics. Units are still not animated while battling, and the life meter is the only way you can monitor what is happening. Little animations, or possibly even changing the graphics for the units while they are fighting would go a along way to improving that aspect.
Also, just like in Civilization II, play time and difficulty are very long, and very hard respectively. A single game can take many hours to complete, and sometimes days on large maps. And difficulty, even on the easiest settings, is very high. Blending all of the skills needed to lead your race is very challenging. One thing that has been taken out, is the number of races you want to play against. It's always all seven races, no matter what.
Finally, there is the multiplayer aspect. You can play multiplayer games over TCP/IP, AppleTalk, or GameRanger. Up to seven players can play in the game. I do like how everyone can move at the same time, and then the moves are calculated after everyone hits 'end of turn', that really helps to speed up games. However, I had some problems with multiplayer games, see the next section.
Problems:
The main problems I ran into were trying to play multiplayer games. With GameRanger, I could get the game nearly started, but not everyone showed up once the game was underway. With TCP/IP, players could not seem to join my game at all. In fact, I was never able to get a multiplayer game started as of the time of this writing.
Conclusion:
For the strategy minded person, this is a great game. This game is one of the best strategy games out there, just like it's predecessors. No fast pace action here, just a lot of brain power needed to conquer an entire planet.
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Pros: | Cons: |
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Awesome graphics
Technological advances are great
A lot of in-game help
Advanced race algorithms
Play with users across the globe
Mini-cinematic movies for achievements
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Quirky Interface
Very long games
Very difficult even on the easiest setting
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Rating: 7 out of ten Mac Faces.
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