Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™ Planetary Pack

I was a huge fan of all the Sid Meier games, back in the day and Alpha was one of the best. Just finished my first play through and I am happy to say that Alpha Centauri is just as good as it was back then.

I've been able to play this game on Windows 10 without too much difficulty. However, I don't see why more effort couldn't be put into modernising it. This is a pretty decent 4X game, especially considering it's over 20 years old. The AI opponents are a little bit predictable once you've played a few times, but the challenge I enjoy is building up my bases and taming the land. Speaking of the land, if you thought barbarians were scary, this game takes it to a whole new level, with the planet itself out to get you for all the ecological damage you've done since landing. Oops. Don't like the standard game rules? No problem, you can customise them to your tastes. If you're not afraid of doing a little modding, you can even create your own custom scenario with a set of rules that you like playing with. The usual old problems still exist. Mass upgrading your forces is a bit fiddly, thankfully though when the game pings you to the far right end of the design list, you can just hold down the left arrow key for a bit to go back to where you were. Also, the game likes to create lots of different unit designs for you by default, you may want to turn that feature off and just design your own. You can randomise the planet map and even the faction leader personalities, which gives it a fair bit of replayability and maybe even an extra challenge if you decide to make native life forms abundant. Overall, still worth looking at. May hold your attention for a while. But the visuals haven't aged well.

A space-age turn-based strategy game that Firaxis has chased, but never yet matched. Beyond Earth tried and didn't carry its spirit. The new rebalances for Civ VII are things that SMAC solved twenty-five years ago. Charming graphics, fantastic voice acting and characterisation, and a spirit and politick that inspires you about perhaps any aspect of knowledge, politics, and storytelling.

If one can pass over the UIs issues due to dating this remains one of the civ-style games today. I would even go as far to say that due to both its gameplay and writing is the best that was.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri famously got a 99% review in PC Gamer. It was worth it. Great replayability -- here I am 25 years later still playing it.