If you're a long-time fan of the Civilization games, then your eyes have been locked on the upcoming addition to the franchise — Civilization: Beyond Earth.
When a new games comes to a series promising new features there's an inherent fear associated with the unknown. Will the new features be enough to separate the game from its predecessor?
Lines between Beyond Earth and Civilization V seem to have blurred. There are new features in Beyond Earth — but do those features make the game feel new enough or just a rehash of previous game?
Here's what the web thinks, let us know what you think when the game releases:
Joystiq:
Beyond Earth is Civilization on rocket fuel.
Civilization: Beyond Earth is a good game in the context of the Civilization franchise. It moves to the interesting mechanics faster than any entry in the series to date and everything within the game world looks great. A lot of time went into making the new planet pop visually, if only so much care had gone into the presentation around it.
IGN:
Beyond Earth is nowhere near the strongest game in the more than 20-year-old Civilization series, but this big collection of interesting experimental ideas definitely still kept me playing long after I should’ve gone to bed. The Affinities and streamlined military upgrade system, and a colorful change of scenery make it worth the time to figure out the difference between Protogenetics and Surrogacy, and suffering through temperamental alien wildlife.
GameSpot:
The three affinity-specific victories don’t play out all that differently, nor does a fourth concerned with making contact with an unseen, advanced alien race. Each entails researching a few specific technologies, then designating your cities to produce a structure or two that sometimes have minor idiosyncrasies, like consuming your surplus energy each turn. But the path to victory is more elegantly interwoven with the early and middle game this time around, and of course, global domination, ever the crude way out, remains as tempting as ever when another world leader shows up uninvited to talk some smack. The more things change, the more they stay the same, then; a journey to a planet halfway across the universe reaffirming the draw of the same old creature comforts–a plot of land, and just one more turn.
Polygon:
Civilization: Beyond Earth is an immensely pleasing simulation of a future human society, struggling to survive on a new planet. It presents the player with a constant stream of challenging and intriguing choices. Packed with big ideas about science and science fiction, it meticulously interlocks dozens of strategic gaming systems that work together at a level that approaches genius.
The Escapist:
Beyond Earth has a large number of new concepts that separate it from its roots in Civilization V, but not all of them are successful. But, beyond the success or failure of individual features, is the disappointment I felt in playing a game that doesn't truly feel like it's on a new world. Yes, there are aliens to contend with, fanciful new resources to collect, and philosophies to explore. You are still doing exactly what humans did on Earth, though, which is try to blow each other up or race to complete objectives.
Destructoid:
In all, Beyond Earth is excellent. It maintains the secret sauce that the series is known for while adding setting-appropriate systems that change the gameplay up in interesting ways. Orbital units are inherently cool and add depth to international encounters. The narrative is thoughtful and important without being too preachy. Affinities show that the team put a lot of effort into considering how differing viewpoints may tackle the challenge of founding an alien world, as well as the consequences of those actions.
If only there were more variety in the structure of the victory conditions between divergent philosophies, Civilization: Beyond Earth would be a perfect game.
GameInformer:
Civilization: Beyond Earth doesn’t take the series to the outer galaxies in terms of revolutionary new gameplay, but it provides fantastic modifications and mechanics that allow it to stand proud as a worthy bearer of the Civilization name. This is a must play for strategy fans, and if you’ve always been curious about the genre but never jumped in, your opportunity is here.
ShackNews
Civilization: Beyond Earth takes some getting used to, even for longtime Civ fans. Although the game has more than a fair share of quirks, I believe that it has the potential to become a much better game. While the Affinity system lacks the kind of personality and flexibility that other Civ games have, I'll admit that it is an interesting twist. Even after multiple playthroughs, I can't really say that I'm completely comfortable with the technology web. Perhaps it's because a web makes for more indecision than a straightforward tech tree. Or maybe it's because I'm one of those people who can't decide between a creating a giant robot or a giant bug to crush my foes.
Despite its faults, Civilization: Beyond Earth does fulfill its promise to take you to a distant world, where you'll find exotic alien life, meet future leaders of mankind… and conquer them.
Average: 7.8/10 (if you want to be meticulous 7.8625)
