Growing up, I didn't have a whole lot of cash for games. So, replay and the initial play time really meant a lot to me back in the day. Civilization II, and Master of Orion stand out as my favorite games of all time because they kept me occupied for 2 or 3 weeks. But no game more thoroughly embodies my game review philosophy more than Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. I was extremely low on cash, and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri JUST came out, and I knew, if I bought it, I would not be eating (at least in the conventional sense.) for the rest of the week.
I bought it. I honestly don't remember what I scrounged up to eat during that week, but I distinctly remember not being hungry...for the week. That, to me sets a game aside from all these other little "novelty" games that are fun for 6-10 hours, and then you put them up on Ebay. It's one thing to make a game that's awesome for 6 hours. I mean, hell, if you're given 3 years to do so and are being paid the entire time, I almost consider it a sin not to be able to make an enjoyable game that is that short. To make a game so engrossing that I forget about eating food for a week means you basically have crafted Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in game form.
Story
In Civilization II you could win the game through being a wuss, and getting people to vote you as Supreme Ruler of the World, take the world over by force, or the way I always liked to win, by sending the first group of colonists to Earth's nearest star, Alpha Centauri. Somewhere along the way that ship you cobbled together with duct tape and Research Points actually made it through the void of space, and landed at its destination. Life was scrumtrilescent and everyone lived happy carefree lives.
Only not so much. Apparently, Murphy's Law transcends Earth's atmosphere. Whilst en route to Planet (at least it's not "Terra Nova") the ship meets an untimely demise. The hull is compromised, and the crew members react to the ship falling apart by splitting apart themselves into factions. The Captain is assassinated by an unknown party, the various factions make their respective Planetfalls, and begin making themselves at home…by which I mean, establishing bases so they can kill off the other factions.
Gameplay
Instead of choosing a race to represent, you select from one of 7 different factions, with mixed racial compositions. Whether you find yourself more attuned to Shen-Ji Yang's Human Hive teachings, or find you fit better with ol' Nwabudike Morgan's economic espousing, there is a faction to match your gameplay style.
One of the biggest complaints today's gamers will have with this game is that it is not "real-time", and instead, turn based. To which I say, "You impatient bastards." Civilization, and Alpha Centauri are not meant to be played at breakneck speed. The greatest part of the game is that you actually have to think. Deciding whether or not to sell the Tachyon Field that protects your base in order to finish the Space Elevator Wonder before the cursed Gaians do is not a decision that can be made while you tell your Engineer to capture the Construction Center. There are ramifications to be considered, man, RAMIFICATIONS!
If you sit down to play this game, do not expect to get up to do ANYTHING for at least the next 6-7 hours. It’s one of the side effects of a good turn-based game. You have a lot to think about, and so do your opponents. You're waiting a couple more turns for those next couple of high-tech attack units to be churned out for your assault on an enemy capital, or trying to see what units that next bit of research gets you. It’s not uncommon to find yourself in a situation like the one I went through when finally beating the game. One Sunday, I started up a game at 10am, played until 5:30pm, got up for about 15 min, grabbed a 30 cent Cup O' Noodles, and then played some more. By the time I'd beaten the game, and was yelling, "Take that you damn Spartans! YEAH!" my roommate was on his way out to his 8am Japanese class.
For those of you who have played previous Civ games, you're probably wondering what the new quirks to this game are. Well, essentially, it isn't that much different from the other Civ games. But it isn't broken...so they didn't fix it, and they shouldn't have. There are differences, but they aren't very notable. You'll probably be able to equate most of the differences to the previous games. For example, the mind worms are basically the Barbarians from Civ. Winning by transcendence is basically sending the colonists to Alpha Centauri. I did, however, notice that the game's government setup is nicer. You can basically customize your own government, keeping the good things you want, without all those added preservatives.
Another minor difference is the fact that you can make partial payments to aid in the completion of construction tasks. Let's say them damn UN Peacekeeping forces are creeping up on your capital city with their busted-ass Scout Rover. You've got higher tech, but since you assumed nobody would dare challenge your unsurpassed might, you don’t really have any sort of defense forces. They'll be tearing down your statues in 3 turns, so you put some kick-ass Probability Sentinels at the front of your Production Queue. Hurrying production will cost you 500 credits, but you've only got 460 to spare. No worries. Just pay 450 (you don't want to be completely out of money.) and in another turn, pay the remainder. The Probability Sentinels will be telling to the UN to get out of your house with a turn to spare. Life is good.
There’s also new tech, which leads to new units, new base installations, and new Wonders! They're all great. Every time you build a base installation for the first time, it will have a sound clip from one of the various faction representatives. Likewise for a technology advance, and completion of a Secret Project. (Wonder) This means discovering new technology takes on a whole new feel that it didn’t have in the previous games. It's got a story behind it, a distinctive "personality", as it were.
One caveat about the tech, though. After the 3rd level of tech, the handy-dandy tech chart they provide has more criss-crossing paths and lines than an integrated circuit, and it's nearly impossible to figure out. The unit interface is pretty sweet, though. If your current ground forces are getting mauled from above, head to the revamped unit design workshop. You can choose the type of unit, (air, ship, infantry, speeder, etc.) armor, weapons, and special abilities. So, just tack on some air-to-air defense to a new unit prototype, and upgrade your garrisoned forces. Sister Miriam's going to have a painful little surprise the next time her pansy little Needlejets violate your airspace.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fantastic job the writers on this game did. The writing in this game blows the writing for just about every other game out of the water. I'm not generally the type to read all the pre-release junk about a game, because it’s mostly empty drivel, but the fiction bits they wrote prior to the game’s release were excellent. There hasn't been a game since that's come anywhere close to Alpha Centauri's level of brilliance in terms of original writing.
Graphics
They weren't revolutionary at the time, and they didn't have to be. The menu system is clean and well organized, and the units are all easily distinguishable from one another. The Secret Projects all have new movies attached to them, some of which I wish more was done with, aside from that, a lot of the videos are still pretty cool. The video of the Morganites that is displayed when you finish the "Network Backbone" project is hilarious. I'd probably rate the graphics as highly now as I would have back then, because they still serve their purpose just as well.
Audio
The voice actors selected for their parts are spot-on. Prokhor Zaharov sounds exactly like you'd expect a Physics Professor to sound. Shen-ji Yang's English is clipped, but not in a stock, racially stereotyped Asian way. I can still clearly remember the "whooshing" sounds Psi-combat made, as well as a good number of the voices from the Datalinks. The background music is fitting, but not memorable.
Overall
At the time, this game was the best thing I'd played in a long time, and sadly, it still is. I can't honestly say I haven't enjoyed other games as much in the span of time between it and Civ II, but this is the last game I can remember that lived up to expectations, shipped pretty much on time, kept me so enthralled as long a duration, and didn't need to be patched. I don't remember how much I paid for this game, but it was worth it. Any turn-based game that leaves your mouse hand shaking because of the sheer intensity of the last few turns is worth any price for the game playing experience. It's moments like this that I fondly call to mind when people ask me what my favorite game is, or why I play video games.
