Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™ Planetary Pack

Had bought this with the original package and the really great tech tree posters it came with (yes I'm that old, but I was quite young when it came out...) and today I can still say it was the best Sid Meier game in the series and probably one of the best firaxis games. They really showed their potential here, other sid meier games had some minor flaws, but this game made it mostly better than many others. Sadly in the time this game came out it was totally underrated and next to no one I knew played it. It was hard to get in and learn all the details but the learning curve is worth it, because then you can play this game like me for 20 years and it doesn't age much. The plot is quite philosophical (New Tech Pop Ups frequently citing Kant, Sophokles, Machiavelli... you get it ;)) and it has the deepest lore and complex mechanics of any game I played till then. I think it's a beautiful masterpiece, which tried hard to scare away anyone on the first look. A think this was always a problem of the game, but if you have patience to dive into this it's very rewarding. It became a chore after a few years installing and patching it from the original CD I had, even if I tried to keep this on my hard drive all the time. I was so glad I found the digital copy and it was the first game I bought from GoG actually. Thought I really had to write a review at last. Only flaw: next to no music, mostly gloomy sounds. Best play some modern soundtrack while playing this. ;)

Heavy customisation of units: check. Good balance between factions: check. Playable by anyone: check. Territories and landmarks for the geography nerds among us: check. Involving story: check. Amazing voiceovers: check. Engrossing gameplay: check. Can anything else be said about this? Even the quotes accompanying advances and projects from faction leaders are worth reading on their own. I still remember "A young cyborg named Ace / wooed women in every base / but once ladies glanced / at his special enhancement / they vanished with nary a trace." :)

Oh boy, I can not believe this little gem is finally here,on GOG! I bought this game some 7 or 8 years ago,while I was doing my master studies. It was on sale, I remember that it was an impulse buy and until now,these are the most wise 2EUR ever spent. For a start, I should mention that I had no clue what the game was all about, except that it would be similar with Civilization, this time in space . Truly,this was my first experience ever in the 4x universe and the game was so addictive,that I was hooked up in gameplay sessions of 8-12 hours, always hoping for “one more turn”,before going to sleep ,sometimes at 5:00 AM. The graphics may be outdated by today’s standards,but the gameplay and the diplomacy system used by the AI is where this masterpiece really shines IMHO. If you are a SF fan,you will most likely love the highly different setup ,with 7 factions, each with its own characteristics,in terms of political agenda and organized society. You may want to play the Gaians,sort of ecological friendly faction,or the Spartan, the warriors who want to rule the wolrd,maybe the Believers,more religion oriented or perhaps The University,a faction which is focused most on advanced science development. Each faction has some sympathies and some antipathies among the rest of them,this is best shown by their leaders. I remember at times, I had the felling I am not playing against AI,but actually against real human opponents, as decisions I made were treated different by faction leaders, according with their own agenda. You can win the game in several ways, by conquer/defeat the rest of the players, be elected as supreme ruler or by achieving transcendence. Besides other factions,you must fight indigen life forms, sometimes passive like fungus, sometimes aggressive, like mind worms. Every new step you advance in your city/society development will have an impact on the planet,if you do harm,the planet will fight back. What I enjoyed most was the diplomacy system and the black ops operations you could do : stealing info,capture a base (if you have enough money),disrupt systems.You can even blame someone else for your actions . In the planetary elections you can even bribe some faction ;eaders,to win their votes so you could impose measures o fyour like.You can be mean with someone or everyone, but some day,this might cost you later in the game. . Let’s not forget the great interludes,with messages from the planet,or the whole alien atmosphere,underlined by the fine musical score. There are so many great things to tell about this game,but I would never end my review,not soon anyway! :D. If there is one 4X game I would recommend for a newbie,then SMAC would be the one. Start with easy settings,play everything on automated and once you understand the game mechanism, turn the assistants off,one by one.You patience will be highly repaid with countless hours of fun! Even if the CrossFire expansion is not included (not yet perhaps), SMAC is a great game on its own merit, and should be tried by every SF fan in this world, gamer or not. Do yourself a favor and buy this game! It’s a steal!

I think all I need to now say for this GOG release (as of Jan 2013) is that it *NOW* includes the Alien Crossfire expansion. Goodbye sober days.

More than ten years ago I wasted countless hours playing SMAC (and the expansion, Alien Crossfire, which inexplicably seems to be missing from the GOG version). It's essentially "Civ in Space": the tech tree is futuristic, instead of barbarians you encounter alien life forms, and there is even a story about the effects the humans have on their new planet, and vice versa, that unfolds while you play. This is an incredibly addictive game. There's always something more to do, producing a strong "just one more turn" effect. Even if you know the background story after playing to the end for the first time, replayability is immense due to the variety in factions and possible playstyles. A few issues should be mentioned. Even after numerous patches, Firaxis never managed to eliminate all the bugs. Also, the AI is weak and doesn't really understand how to play the game - unsurprisingly, as there are just too many game elements which a human can intelligently play with. Not all of these game features are well-balanced. None of this, however, detracts from the enjoyment.