Created by Brian Reynolds and Sid Meier, the team that brought us Civilization II, Alpha Centauri is clearly the spiritual sequel to that game. Civ II ends with you leaving behind the conflicts of Earth to make a new life on Alpha Centauri. This game picks up with a colony ship reaching that system, but it turns out that moving to the stars doesn't change mankind's basic nature. While Alpha Centauri shamelessly borrows the elements that made its predecessor magic, the game here is much richer, more sophisticated, and better tailored to individual styles of playing than Civ II.
The help system is thorough enough that you may not even need to crack the game's 250-page manual. Gameplay is the familiar exploration/discovery/building/conquest model. Alpha Centauri takes automation to a new height, with features that will be welcome to gamers who don't enjoy management and to anyone who has dozens of units and cities in the latter stages of a game. You can put governors in charge of cities, with a priority to explore, discover, build, or conquer. The game features a very rich technology tree. While almost all technologies are available to all players, the varying strategies used by each faction helps keep everyone from having the identical endgame forces. You can create heavily armored defense forces, or go for cheap, speedy, and plentiful troops for massive attacks. Further, the scenario and map editors, as well as modifiable "rule" text files, will allow you to create a wide variety of custom scenarios.
Alpha Centauri's most impressive aspect, though, is the faction AI. Winning the game can be done in a number of ways. There are few nits to pick with the game. Of course, turn-based strategy games require a fair time commitment, and getting players together for multiplayer sessions can be difficult. Although it may feel a lot like Civ II on the surface, Alpha Centauri is a much more refined game.
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