Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)

Next in line

Civilization: Beyond Earth is the latest title in the popular Civilization series developed by Firaxis, headed by none other than Sid Meier, who is no less well-known. Of course, people are going to wonder how the newest member of the family measures up against its forebears. The genetic material in this case includes the same game engine as the one used in Civilization V. But does the series still hold up when transplanted to alien worlds (like they did in Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri)? Let’s find out!

Of satellites and aliens

Like previous games in the series, Civilization: Beyond Earth allows you to set a wide variety of options, from planet size to game speed, to number of opponents to victory conditions, among other settings. The first major difference you come across, however, will be when you’re choosing your civilization. Instead of choosing from a number of nations, like usual, you’re asked to decide on a sponsor, the kind of spacecraft you will use, as well as the kind of colonists and cargo you will bring with you on the voyage. Each decision you make here will affect your starting conditions in various ways. For example, if your ship is equipped with a lifeform scanner, you’ll be able to see alien nests on the map right at the beginning. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for the advantages to wear off once the game gets going, and sooner or later everyone’s pretty much the same. This is where the “affinities” – Harmony, Supremacy, and Purity – come into play. These are in large part determined by the technologies you choose to research. The affinity you choose will also influence the style of your buildings and unlock affinity-specific units and victory conditions. 

Another important aspect of previous Civilization games is research, and this is another place where this game changes things up.  In place of a linear tech tree, this game uses a “tech web”. While the whole thing comes across as a bit confusing at first, as you can see all available technologies from the get-go, it shouldn’t take you very long to get used to the tech web. The advantage of it is that research is no longer a sideshow in Civilization: Beyond Earth, something you just have to get through as quickly as possible. Rather, it’s an integral part of the game. Do you want to develop your tech in a more military direction, or would you rather better understand the planet you’ve colonized in order to use it more to your advantage? Or do you plan to pursue even higher goals? It’s a decision that will affect the course of the game and the way you play it from the beginning, and one that will require a good deal of planning ahead.

One new aspect of the game is the quest system. The quests tell the story of the colony, offer good incentives to explore the map, or simply force you to make important decisions. Are you going to try to stop the plants you brought from earth to grow out of control and drive out the native flora?  For each decision you make, you receive affinity points (Harmony, Supremacy, Purity) or a building upgrade. Unfortunately, quests can also go wrong, and it’s not always clear why, either. During our test, one quest story ended abruptly when an overzealous construction crew set on auto demolished some ancient alien ruins to build a farm. Apparently when they were deciding who was going to be on that spaceship they sent into space, they didn’t do such a good job screening the applicants…

Another new aspect to the series introduced here is the orbital layer, where satellites can be launched into orbit, as befits a space-faring species. These satellites remain active for some time, and provide useful bonus effects to the regions directly below them. You can use them at the beginning of the game to clear “miasma”, a cloud of alien spores that prevents the construction of improvements and causes damage to any unit that ends it turn in that spot. Later in the game you can also deploy offensive as well as defensive satellites. Satellites cannot occupy the same region, however, which keeps orbital warfare from getting out of control. This means you have to think tactically when deploying them.

You’re not going to meet any barbarians on your new planet, but you will run into lots of aliens. In retrospect barbarians would have been nicer, as we were often at a loss when fighting these aliens, especially in the earliest stages of the game. First contact in our case took the form of a “siege worm”, a creature that caused us to shout “Wormsign!” before it proceeded to smash a path of destruction through our painstakingly constructed improvements, swallowing up a construction crew and the soldiers hurrying after them in one fell swoop. Fortunately, this was enough to satisfy it, as at that time we had no real way to fight it. Later in the game, the aliens will lose their fear factor, though on the other hand, you will be able to carry out alien massacres with impunity, whether you’re a harmony-loving civilization or not. 

Of course, diplomacy is a necessary component of any Civilization game, though I can’t say we’d have missed it, either. There is a practical new feature, a currency of sorts called “favors” which you can use if the person you’re talking to doesn’t have anything better to offer at the moment, but these are also worthless if he doesn’t have anything we really want in the future either. We actually never felt the need to get diplomatically involved with our neighbors, and we just rejected most offers of “resources for favors” or “science for favors”. The occasional declaration of war resulting from this would be answered with an appropriately savage response, and the conflict would usually end quickly with the capitulation of the other side. Sometimes we’d even get a colony out of it without even having to sacrifice any military units against the enemy’s defenses. 

A beautiful new world

Civilization: Beyond Earth uses the technological capabilities of its predecessor Civilization V, and as you might imagine, this means the planet’s surface looks really nice. It also looks exotic enough to pass for an alien world, and the color palette, with its neon highlights, does the rest. One small problem with all this, however, is that the foreignness of it all can cause you to get a bit disoriented – it’s not always immediately clear what certain improvements are for, or whether a space is made up of fertile soil or not. But when you consider the setting, this makes total sense; it’s just easier to figure out what an oil rig is for than an odd-looking structure on a formation of floating rocks. 

Yet, despite all this, or maybe because of it, the graphics afford a good glimpse of what an authentic alien world would look like – equal parts beautiful, dangerous, and strange. A world that invites you to explore it, and which under your leadership will soon be filled with the familiar patterns of fields and roads. 

A melodious new world

The game’s background music also fits in seamlessly with the feel of a strange, distant world. Ethereal tones, at times light and up tempo, at times marked by threatening undertones, alternate with epic melodies that would not be out of place in a Hollywood blockbuster. Once again, Geoff Knorr and Griffin Cohen, who gave us the soundtrack to Civilization V, show us what they are capable of when entrusted with such a formidable task.