Civilization is one of those safe franchises. Because of this reviewers tend to underplay it and overrate it. When you look back at Civilization 5 it launched with broken multiplayer and really bad AI. The reviewers gave it a 100% rating however because of the potential it would have. No one wants to look foolish and the Civ franchise is just the kind of game that could make a reviewer feel foolish for giving a review that doesn’t match up with the time.
The thing about Firaxis is that they support their games for a very long time. Civilization 5 launched in 2010 and since then has seen 15 large DLCs, two expansions, and a large number of patches that improve the game.
When you look at Civilization 5 Complete, it is a master piece. Had it launched like this it would be the greatest game ever made.
And I think that’s the problem with Beyond Earth.
It has to be compared to Civilization 5, and in that way it will always lose. Civilization 5 for the same price gives you 10x the number of factions. If you’re stuck choosing between Civ 5 and Beyond Earth, Civ 5 is the way to go.
But let’s slide Civilization 5 out of the picture for now, pretend it doesn’t exist. Because if you don’t own Civ 5, buy that instead.
Having said that Civilization Beyond Earth changes the formula ever so slightly. Instead of going through history you start in the future and have to settle through the colonization of the alien world.
Unlike Civ 5, the game progresses at a standard time pace. You do not move through any ages and all of your interactions are taking place on a year to year basis. A 250 turn game represents 250 years.
Since you’re starting off at basically the end of Civ 5, you get all of the fancy weapons they had. You can start off with really early fighters, artillery, ranged, cavalry, melee, ships, and cruisers.
The game features a unique way of getting new units. You might get a sea fairing gunship, and it is the only kind of ship in the entire game. However when leveling a new stat called “affinity” you can also upgrade these units into new units. The gunships turn into cruisers, and then into dreadnaughts, and then juggernauts, and so on.
Affinity is earned through research and optional missions. The three affinities represent the personalities of the leaders. A purity leader is sort of an ultra-nationalist nazi type. A harmony type is a borg-like hippie. Then you have supremacy which don’t fit into much of a mold.
Missions are gained while you are playing and can direct how you play the game. The missions are designed to challenge you and introduce you into various parts of the game. An early worm kill for example will give you a giant resource lead, however worms can take quite a lot of effort to kill. Others rely on building things, finding things, and moving to places.
Research works in a tech web rather than a linear connected manner. Each technology is a parent group of three technologies. After researching the parent you have the option of researching these junior technologies that require less time to research. Some of them contain buildings, some contain units, some contain affinities, some contain wonders, and some contain tile improvements.
However the web is very bland and is all one color. It’s very hard for a newer player to tell exactly what does what. There is a way of filtering out the tech web into what you want, but even reading it like that is very difficult.
Another important change is the explorer unit. In Civ 5 it just explored and grabbed treasures. In Civ BE they grab treasures and can excavate ruins and crash sites. These take time and can represent risks and rewards.
Another important change in Civilization Beyond Earth is the spy platform. Instead of simply spying on the enemy you can now level up your spies and accomplish specific tasks, Steal Energy, Steal Technology, Incite a Coup d’etat, your choice. Alternatively they can just sit in your HQ doing nothing and give you a static bonus per spy. The game has a huge emphasis on spies and you can get up to nine spies via missions.
Much like the Civ 5 launch however, the game has some pretty terrible AI and really unplayable multiplayer. If it was its own game, that would be fine. But it is so close to Civ 5 that there’s no point in getting this game.
In several months perhaps after some patching the game might become playable and worthwhile. But currently it’s not worth anyone’s time.
TheGameGuru.Me 