Sid Meier's Grand Review

R2D2 Here!

*Warning - This will take a long time, if you will read all of it.*


Today, I will be reviewing three games in one post, all of them by the epic game-maker, Sid Meier.



We will review Alpha Centauri, Civilization 3, and Civilization 4, which are all turn-based empire running games. (though not MMOG's, like Cyber Nations or Nation States 2. Also unlike those 2 online games, these have graphics engines and go into way more detail. Unfair to compare them, though.) Anyway, on with the reviews.



ALPHA CENTAURI



One of the older games in the series.



STORY: Earth has been completely ruined by anarchists and such, and some sort of WWIII breaks out. Before everyone is killed, the most important UN figures go on a high-tech space ship to inhabit the far away planet, known as planet. (?) On the way there, a reactor engine melts down, and the political figures must get to planet via these weird pods, ending up getting split up from one another. Choose one of these figures to play as (An environmentalist, mad scientist, religous person, Military commander, communist, or an industrialist) and lead your colony on planet. You will encounter various challenges, evil worms trying to take over your colony, and more. Enjoy.



STORY: 9/10



GAMEPLAY: At first, I despised the game because of hard to learn controls, but soon got the hang of it. You send colony pods out to build bases on planet (Which function like cities) that will grow over time, depending on how much resources they have. You can choose to build certain things from these bases. (Military units, scouts, recycling tanks) How fast you build these depends on your nations mineral income. Lastly, energy. Energy acts like a revenue source, and is used to hurry production of things, bribe rival colonies, and do other stuff like that. Each base may gain you or lose you energy, depending on how wisely you use it. Customize your government as you research new technologies, declare war on other colonies, map out each and every part of planet, what you want to do is really up to you. The game ends when your colony gets wiped out, or someone wins a certain victory, (Like destroying everyone, or becomeing the UN's supreme leader) or when time runs out, in which case whoever has the most points will win. This game's gameplay = win, despite being hard to learn at first.



GAMEPLAY: 9/10

GRAPHICS & MUSIC: The game has a top-down graphics engine. As for detail, well, it was released for Windows in 1999, so you can't expect too much.

As for music, I have to say it sounds identical to the Command and Destroy Sci-fi stuff. Only this time, its understandable due to the game's age.

GRAPHICS & MUSIC: 7/10

ALPHA CENTAURI OVERALL: A great game for Sid Meier n00bs and series veterans alike.

OVERALL: 8.3/10 (Great game.)

CIVILIZATION III:

The fourth game in the Civ Series (if you count Alpha Centauri as the Civilization series.)

STORY: You are the leader of a real-life Civilization. Choose one of many leaders and dominate. Start with a wimpy settler and grow into an empire.

STORY: 8/10

GAMEPLAY: Gameplay engine identical to that of Alpha Centauri, with added features, more units & buildings, Cities rather than bases, and other minor improvements. The instructions for this one is much more clear than Alpha Centauri's instructions. The game starts in the ancient time, where there were weak soldiers, tiny buildings, and overall less to do, and end in the future. One complaint is less customization - in Alpha Centauri, you could basically create your own military unit through alloys and guns that you have researched, while you can't in Civ 3, making some aspects of Alpha Centauri more enjoyable.

GAMEPLAY: 7.5/10

GRAPHICS & MUSIC: Music is epic. There are lots of original tracks, from tribal things to massive orchestras. The graphics are a lot better than Alpha Centauri's, with more detail and colour. Same top-down engine.

GRAPHICS & MUSIC: 9/10

CIVILIZATION III OVERALL: Another hit by Sid Meier.

OVERALL: 8/10

CIVILIZATION IV:

The newest Civ game that I've played.

STORY: Same as Civ 3, only with much more Civilizations to choose from, and multiple leaders for each Civ. Also, each leader has more of a unique personality, (i.e Ghandi is very peaceful, while Stalin will come to war over one measly thing.)

STORY: 8.5/10

GAMEPLAY: More units, more buildings, more improvements... One major addition is religion. Religion can spread in your cities, (whether it be Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, or Confucianism) and converting to that religion will bring +1 happiness in all the cities that have that religion. Or, have free religion and make everyone happy, though that's only available once you have enough technology. Something else good about Civ 4 is, more rivers. In Civ 3, you needed rivers to provide irrigation to adjacent farms. Rivers were very scarce, and, as a result, you could end up with a lot of starving people on your hands. In Civ 4, you still need irrigation, but there are lots more rivers. Also, there are more barbarians, (people who randomly try to take over your Civilization) and there is even a mode where you can play as the barbarians. Unlike other Civ games, Civ 4 focuses less on Getting more of the same, and more on getting more new. Civ 4's gameplay definitely isn't disappointing in any way.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10

GRAPHICS & MUSIC: Big step up for graphics, going into the best of details. One minor Graphics problem is that in the later stages of the game, when there is lots of everything, the game can get a bit laggy.
The music is pretty good. They kept a few tracks from Civ 3, and got a bunch of new ones as well.

GRAPHICS & MUSIC: 8.5/10

CIVILIZATION IV OVERALL: Epic.

OVERALL: 8.6/10

OVERALL FOR ALL 3: In all, the games manage to keep the charm of the last one, while adding many new features for each one.

OVERALL FOR ALL 3: 8.3/10