Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™ Planetary Pack

Whilst the Civilization games are fantastic games with great mechanics and gameplay, Alpha Centauri is superior in so many ways. With huge customization choices, unique factions and a fascinating world in which to build and conquer, it's a difficult game to criticize. Buy it. You will not regret it.

The absolute massive gushing over this title is not accident, it is by far the finest variation on the Civilization theme to date. Other poster have done an excellent job of extolling it's virtues but one of the features that I still long to see in newer games of this genre that SMAC and SMAC X had is the ability to transform the landmass. Not just in a terraforming sense but literally raising and lowering land levels, even doing so offensively using planet busters. The joy of drowning an enemy beneath the waves by demolishing a mountain to let the sea roll over their low lying dominion is hard to beat. It is still balanced enough that if you have enough resources you can protect yourself from such fates. That is true depth (pun very much intended) and for its era unheard of. Buy it now, grumble about the controls (especially if you like me are Mac user at heart as the Windows version is inferor and was even at the time) yet smile for hours as you design your utopian future among the stars.

when the game out, the focus was on the game play, not the graphics (which were not that impressive even back then). it managed to captivate like fewer other games have. as the look of the game was never the selling point, it stands almost as good now as when it was brand new. definitely a very good deal!

Call me nostalgic, call me strange, this is still the best Civ-ish game in existence. Once upon a time hard copies of this game were almost impossible to find; the expansion, Alien Crossfire, was rarer than hen's teeth and often widly overpriced. And for good reason. This is still my favourite 4X game. Not my favourite fond memory, my favourite to boot up and play right now in 2018. The gameplay is detailed and addictive, strategic options are beyond any newer Civ-style game, and, most miraculous of all, the story is actually fascinating, deep, and smart.

This game was not only ahead of it's time, but still holds to this day. IMO the greatest 4x there ever was, it is from an era where gameplay, characters, story building etc. all mattered. If I could wish for one game to ever happen, it would be SMAC with QoL improvements.