Command and Conquer or Peace and Prosperity? (Alpha Centauri (PC))

Member Name: dididave

Product:	Alpha Centauri (PC)
Date:	10/10/04 (142 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Infinitely replayable

Disadvantages: Graphics a little dated

How many hours have I lost to this game! Children and fiancée neglected, cats starved, friends lost this game is not good for the social life.

The plot is rudimentary and functional for the game. A space ship full of earth's top diplomatic representatives is returning to earth when the captain and all of its crew are mysteriously assassinated. Forced to crash land on an unknown planet the survivors are scattered across the globe. With no chance of rescue can you build a society and dominate this new, alien planet?

Okay so the plot has more holes in it than Swiss cheese but this isn't a book it’s a game so ignore that and lets get into it. Sid Meier is renowned throughout the gaming world for his turn-based strategy games. A groundbreaking games designer he has created such masterpieces as SimGolf and the epic Civilization series and this is yet another epic.

Primarily a city building game you start the game by choosing one of six factions. From the start you are made to think carefully about your decisions. Each leader has a number of strengths and weaknesses and as such influences how you play the game. For example, choosing Lady Deirdre of the Gains would give you an advantage when farming but due to her peace loving ethics any troops trained would be inexperienced.

Founding your first city, which can be named by yourself or is automatically assign one of the appropriate faction names you must fortify your city with troops, build structures to encourage city growth and keep order, explore this strange New World and colonize it.

As you can see already this is by no means a pick up and play game. There are hundreds of buildings which all effect your city in numerous ways be it a Hologram Theatre which keeps your people/drones happy or a Punishment Sphere which keeps your people in order.

What makes this game an advancement in its genre is the effects your actions have on your cities and your environment. Every action has a reaction so; building a Punishment Sphere keeps order and stops workers from revolting but this also results in a slowdown in research as the intellectual workers minds are dulled. Too much farming leads to an increase in xenofungus (the planets native plant which restricts movement).

Choosing where to build your city is also not straightforward as the environment effects it. Those of you who studied geography may already know but rocky, dry areas are poor for crop growing while damp, rolling grasslands are the place to be. Meier's attention to geographical detail is so precise that building a city to the west of a mountain is beneficial due to the relief rainfall whereas to the east a city will struggle and your people may starve.

However, game is not just about city building and indeed there is an ecological and economic element. In order to make cities thrive formers must built. These strange, combine harvester like vehicles have multiple functions and can be used to plant solar collectors, which increase revenue but damage the environment or build forests which provide materials and maintain ecological balance.

Conquering other cities is also an option. Initially your troops carry only basic weapons but through research, trade and espionage you can gain a massive arsenal and array of weapons and vehicles from Lasers and missile squads for conquering bases to a nuclear weapon which can destroy whole areas of the planet!

As previously mentioned every action in this game has a reaction. If you unleash your planet busting nuclear weapon, be prepared for all out war with the other five factions who fear your dominance and ruthless streak. This is were trade and diplomacy becomes important. After you have explored areas of the planet you come into contact with your estranged colleagues who may want to trade research, map information or loan money from you. How you treat them and the decisions you make will decide whether they sign a "Treaty of Friendship", become indifferent to you or loathe you and declare a Vendetta against you.

The multiple ways of tackling this game and different routes you can take are what make it infinitely replayable. Can you try and keep diplomatic peace with all the factions and slowly build your cities (unsurprisingly this is the hardest to achieve)? Do you plough all your resources into research in an attempt to reach enlightenment and as such God like status among your people? Or do you build as many weapons as you can and launch all out assault against all that stand in your way?

The inclusion of alien life forms adds to the fun when attempting to colonize. These pesky mind worms are found all over the planet and attack your cities and troops at random. Just when you think you are on top of things out they come and as you get stronger so do they. They are not happy with this human intrusion and the sub plot of alien invasion of your cities distracts you from the sometimes more mundane aspects of the game.

The game and planet itself can be customised beyond belief. All units to be built can be customised so if you want a soldier with chemical weapons that can attack air targets then build one! The planet can be randomly generated or customised in several pre-arranged sizes and shapes giving the solo player a needed advantage over the often superior computer adversaries.

Luckily there are seven difficulty levels the easiest starting you off against poor computer opponents and giving your superior resources whereas the hardest leaves you in the most barren area with little resources and no currency.
Fortunately, for those of you scared of the admittedly complicated gameplay there is an in depth step by step tutorial on the easiest level. This covers everything from city building to moving troops and designing vehicles.

Controls are both keyboard and mouse driven with the keyboard being largely used as a shortcut to the many menus used throughout the game as well as to issue orders to your troops. The game uses the tried and tested isometric 3D viewpoint that is functional and makes navigating around the planet easy using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

Graphics are pleasant enough with buildings well rendered and the planet itself looking suitably green although Meier definitely uses the "less is more" theory. This seems largely to do with the amount of things going on each turn which even on the highest specification PC can slow things down as the game progresses.

Sounds are limited to bangs when you attack or are attacked and are seldom used throughout. However, the in game music is suitably atmospheric and doesn't irritate like many games of this type and there is a lot of good voiceovers for the leaders of the factions which bring your negotiations and research breakthroughs to life.

Additional options include a multiplayer option over network or Internet. Unfortunately, due to its turn-based nature the Internet option makes a game last forever and waiting for an opponent to make a move is painful. However, the network option adds an extra dimension to this game as you a human opponent is much less predictable than a computer opponent. There is an official expansion pack: Alien Crossfire available which adds a further twelve factions and some new environments too the game but if I was purchase this my Fiancée would probably leave me!

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is probably the best PC game you will ever play. For sheer depth of gameplay, longevity and learning curve it is a leader in its field. At a mere £4.99 and requiring a minimum specification PC it is a game not to be missed.


Techie Bits
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Minimum PC requirements:
Windows 95/98
Pentium 133 MHz
16MB free RAM
60MB free hard disk space
4x CD ROM drive
Video/graphics Card
Direct X 6.0 (supplied on CD)

N.B To run this game effectively and not get annoyed by the slowdown a Pentium 200 and 32MB of RAM is recommended.

Update
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I have now tested this game on my laptop and using the minimal install option it runs fine if a little slow. It also works perfectly well on XP.

Summary: A limitless game with endless possibilities.