I have always been in a weird place where I like 4X games...but don't like Civilization, the Sid Meier's Video game. For those who don't know what 4X Means, it's a video game where you basically are contrlling a nation or empire, where you have to eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. ...could also be called 4E, but X sounds cooler. Anyway, diplomacy, research, battle, and economy are all part of 4X games, along with several other features.
Anyway, nowaday disliking Civilization but liking 4X is easy. There's tons of different 4X games with different factions, stories, and most importantly, different gameplay mechanics.
This was not the case before Endless Legend from Amplitude came out. Before Amplitude, Civilization wasn't just considered the 'most popular' 4X game. It was considered the be all and end all of 4X games. Nothing could be better then Civilization, so everything was the same as Civilization, with just slight variations in gameplay, even if setting and factions were radically different. I said this before in my Mandalorian TV show review, and I'll say it again: Don't think the current 'best' of something is the be all and end all, think of it as a starting point for something better.
So I was an odd one. I didn't like civilization but wanted to try 4X games and bought quite a few of them. To be fair, it wasn't the gameplay that I hated about civilization, it was the setting and factions. So I was easily pleased by just a change of scenery if not actual gameplay.
But then Endless Legend came out, and I realized how shamefully unfun Civilization had been. I could go on all day and night about how much I love Endless Legend, but that's not what this review is about.
This is about Civilization. IN SPACE.
But any talk about civilization in space will have to start with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the original civilization in space, made way back after Civilization 2. For reference, Civilization 6 is its latest installement. But I know very little about it, aside from the fact that it has some very die hard fans and was apparently very good. So Beyond Earth was said to be a spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri before Beyond Earth was released.
Anyway, the premise of Beyond Earth is it's 2210, and earth is in bad shape. So the current nations and corporations of the future-earth start building space ships to colonize different planets across the universe.
You start the game by picking a sponsor, which include futuristic but familiar-ish names such as Polystralia, Peoples African Union, American Reclamation Corporation, and Brasilia. That's only 4 out of 8 Sponsors in the base game, 12 total with the only expansion, Rising Tide.
You might think picking a sponsor would completely change how you play the game, like Endless Legends did with its factions. Nope. instead you get a small bonus to certain things, and that's it. Really, the other options you pick before you start a game have just as much if not more impact, and none of them really change the game, only slightly change choices at the start. As an aside, Sponsors also decide what leader you play as.
Instead of what you decide to be mattering, the idea is that what you do on the new planet matters more then what you were on earth. While an idea I can get behind, they didn't go far enough with it. While each building you build in a city get a permanent buff via a decision you make, the buff is small and only one option out of two. What if it was three options? What is, for example, you had the building the Rocket Battery be A: A orbital satellite slayer but weak against ground troops, B: An artillery platform that can decimate ground troops, or C: Somewhere in-between but not great at either.
But I'm getting off track. To bring home the idea of what you do ingame is more important then what sponsor you pick, there are quests that give you affinity levels in one of three groupings, Purity, Harmony, and Supremacy. Purity ideology believes humanity was and is perfect, and anything alien should be rooted out. Harmony believes to survive humanity must evolve with nature and become more alien like. Supremacy is somewhat in between but believes that humanity can be perfected via machinery and that the new world must be dominated. Different buildings require different levels of different Affinitys, and raising affinity levels are required to upgrade military units. I will admit being able to pick different bonuses for military units is neat.
But this still isn't enough, it's not until late game that really differences in play happen, and even if Harmony, Purity, and Supremacy factions played completely differently, that's still only 3 factions, a pitiful amount honestly.
I do however, praise the tech tree, or rather, web, as it is a branching web instead of a linear tech tree. The fact that two players can have completely different techs but still be the same 'power level' as it were is a nice addition, one I wish Civilization games had more like it.
The base game of Beyond Earth is unfortunately, fairly bland and safe, even with the sci fi twist. So I give it a 3/5 stars, at best. Honestly 2.5/5 is more accurate. But we haven't delved into Beyond Earth: Rising Tide.
Rising Tide is the only expansion to Beyond Earth, and as you might guess it revamped the games navy combat and water features, including the heavily touted floating aquatic cities. But it also revamped diplomacy, added new sponsors, and added new 'artifact' system of gameplay.
Honestly Rising Tide's feature of upgrade water gameplay features was the least interesting and exciting upgrades to the game. The diplomacy updates and introduction of a new currency used exclusivity in diplomatic international exchanges, were far more welcome, and in single player actually gives each NPC colony leader new life and lines and ways to react to what the player is doing.
With Rising Tide, I give Beyond Earth either a 3 or 3.5 out of 5 stars. It's a much better game, and a good intro to 4X games. unfortunately, for a veteran at 4X games it's not that good. I've heard it is a poor spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, but having never played it, all I have is hearsay.
That's all for now, hopefully I'll put out some drafts soon that I've been (slowly) working on. I'd say them here, but from those that remember my Evil Genius 2 review, I don't keep my word if I do.
No comments:
Post a Comment