05-10-2009, 02:05 AM
Quote:Seeing the reactions to Alpha Centauri in this thread surprised me. I had heard so much negative about it from Civ fans and in a few reviews that I never bothered to try it. I may have to give it look see now.Alpha Centauri is a near-perfect game, with a gigantic, glaring flaw that you could drive a truck through: the AI. If all you're looking for is a single-player strategy game that will keep you challenged for years to come, you can safely give SMAC a pass, it's just not going to cut it. Once you know the ropes, you can trounce the computer on any settings you like.
In almost every other respect, the game is amazing. Production values are incredibly high. The 'world' they create is original and coherent, yet also a clear homage to countless science-fiction authors: Frank Herbert, Robert Heinlein, Kim Stanley Robinson, Isaac Asimov... The tech tree is like a compendium of ideas about the future of technology and society. It's worth playing through the game at least once just to listen to all the tech quotes and see all the cutscenes, even if you don't give a fig about the gameplay. The voice acting is top-notch. The factions are gorgeously crafted to represent different 'utopian' ideas of society: Laissez Faire, Communism, Environmentalism, Militarism, Democracy, Fundamentalism and Science-based, each with faction leaders who make coherent and memorable cases for their beliefs. The 'build your society' options are just phenomenal, from terraforming to social engineering, at a level that makes Civ 3 look like tic-tac-toe. The multiplayer balance is also quite remarkable, and balanced in very nuanced and interesting ways. Some of the best aspects of Civ 4 are taken straight from SMAC, and IMO, dumbed down a little. Just an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion.
But, then, there's the AI problem, and there's no getting around that. YMMV.
-Jester