Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™ Planetary Pack

Played this game for an alarming percentage of my childhood just trying to crush my brothers' dreams of world conquest in the stars. It's just as fun now as it was then and it still looks and run well

This game's every bit as fun now as it was back in the day. It's got a plethora of automation options so you can be hands-off or micro-manage as much or as little as you please. The sci-fi theming is very atmospheric. My only complaint is certain sound effects often don't play correctly for me, especially when clicking UI elements. Hopefully GOG can fix this port so I can give this game the 5 stars it deserve.

It is a great old game with many interesting features. Now I see why people still play it.

The visuals are a bit farty and the interface is pretty clunky, but this game is awesome. It has one of the most fascinating sci-fi settings I've ever seen, with the traditional advanced technology elements being backed up by small but powerful glimpses into each faction's ideology, and the entire plot with Planet itself. You make your own story by playing it (like any other Civilization-type game), but there's a canonical/meta story that you get glimpses of through technololgies' descriptions, Secret Project videos, and Interludes. These communicate the broad strokes of the plot and some great details about the universe, but it always feels like the whole truth of what's happening is just out of reach, which makes for one of the most creepy, mysterious, and engaging atmospheres I've seen in a strategy game. The gameplay itself is classic 4X empire-building with lots of depth, potential for japery, and atrocities that you can commit on your enemies. My biggest problems with it are the graphics and UI (like I said before), along with how repetitive it can get towards the end of a game, and how lacking the game is in the music department. It can start getting mind-numbing as you close in towards victory, but the journey there will not disappoint. Six dollars is an excellent deal for this one, pick it up if you like truly mature sci-fi stories, great (if aged) 4X gameplay, and deploying nerve gas.

There are so many innovations in this game that it took them up to CIV V to actually implement the same concepts. The mood and atmosphere of the game have nothing to do with civ. The Modular design of units has a lot of utility.