Pandora: First Contact

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 53 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 53
  3. Negative: 7 out of 53

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  1. Junuxx
    Jul 14, 2014
    5
    Overall, a soulless and bland rehash of Alpha Centauri that won't last nearly as long. I did like the gameplay innovations like a worker only harvesting a single yield type from a tile, and global resource stockpiles; these were surprisingly fun and sensible deviations from the Civ standards and made the game as a whole more interesting. I also liked the initial struggle against nativeOverall, a soulless and bland rehash of Alpha Centauri that won't last nearly as long. I did like the gameplay innovations like a worker only harvesting a single yield type from a tile, and global resource stockpiles; these were surprisingly fun and sensible deviations from the Civ standards and made the game as a whole more interesting. I also liked the initial struggle against native life, but it becomes irrelevant pretty soon, even with the expansion and even on the hardest setting.

    Artwork like the unit models and leader portraits get old really fast. The story is very lame, the leader backgrounds are exaggerated and annoying stereotypes. While this game directly copies the personalities of Alpha Centauri's faction leaders, it changes two non-white leaders to Caucasians (Morgan→Preston and Santiago→Heid), and drops another non-white (Lal). For such a similar game, this change from 3/7 to 5/6 white characters is very obvious, and I can't think of any excuse for this other than blatant racism on the part of the devs.

    Finally, victory was unrewarding and lacking. No end game cinematic, no replay, not even a high score table to make my playthrough memorable. Entertaining for maybe one or two games, but too empty and disappointing to have real replay value.    … Expand
  2. Sjalka
    Jul 11, 2014
    5
    i feel i will be very unfair.

    When i played this game, i "felt" like i was playing a mod of a greater game - and i could not shake the feeling that it was "only" a mod. Now - that does not necessarily mean that a mod is generally less than the parent game, but it does mean that one often has the feeling as if a mod is mostly cosmetic, rarely shaking the foundations of the game it was    i feel i will be very unfair.

    When i played this game, i "felt" like i was playing a mod of a greater game - and i could not shake the feeling that it was "only" a mod. Now - that does not necessarily mean that a mod is generally less than the parent game, but it does mean that one often has the feeling as if a mod is mostly cosmetic, rarely shaking the foundations of the game it was built on.

    And that is my feeling with this game. Even after so many years - Alpha Centauri .... IS clearly the better game in ALL - but graphics compared to Pandora.

    3 points for effort, 2 points for dedication - 5/10 in total from me.    … Expand
  3. StratagusPrime
    Jun 3, 2014
    7
    It's a great game if you can't deal with SMAC's atrocious GUI and getting hyped for Civ:BE.
    But it also has a great potential to be a GOTY if the game ends up having better production values, better unit distinctions, balance tweaks, and a better narrative.
  4. titannet
    Feb 12, 2014
    6
    The game is a remake of Alpha Centauri in all but name. Unfortunately the only thing it does besser are the graphics. As for the rest it holds its ground on the first 100 turns but looses very fast afterwars.

    AI? -> Good at colonizing but completely sucks at warfare Warfare -> Did they even test this? Technologies -> Playing the numbers game of +1, +2, +3 and so on techs with little    The game is a remake of Alpha Centauri in all but name. Unfortunately the only thing it does besser are the graphics. As for the rest it holds its ground on the first 100 turns but looses very fast afterwars.

    AI? -> Good at colonizing but completely sucks at warfare
    Warfare -> Did they even test this?
    Technologies -> Playing the numbers game of +1, +2, +3 and so on techs with little innovation
    The Planet -> After a huge part in Alpha Centauri it only gets a minor role for the first 50 turns in Pandora

    But I also don't want to judge too harshly. Pandora is not a bad game. If they could patch the AI to actually fight wars instead of putting all units into the city closest to the border (seriously!) it could actually become quite good.

    But to match Alpha Centauri? Not by a long shot.    … Expand
  5. iseeall
    Dec 14, 2013
    7
    I've only seen the beta version. Still, from the week I spent playing I can say it's a good game but surely nothing comparable to the first Alpha Centauri. From the design point, this game is somewhere between Alpha Centauri, Civ 4 and Civ 5. Plus, it adds a few new features: randomized research tree, shared food and minerals across all cities and slightly more realistic management ofI've only seen the beta version. Still, from the week I spent playing I can say it's a good game but surely nothing comparable to the first Alpha Centauri. From the design point, this game is somewhere between Alpha Centauri, Civ 4 and Civ 5. Plus, it adds a few new features: randomized research tree, shared food and minerals across all cities and slightly more realistic management of citizen. These new additions make for a bit different game but not better than AC. The combat is just about huge stacks of units moving around, and there are no significant terrain bonuses or zones of control. Units have no separate attack/defense values this all came from Civ 4 and that's what I didn't like in Civ 4. I'd still say that the game is interesting to play, but when I played Alpha Centauri again just after this game it instantly stoke me how wide the gap actually is. The graphics are dark and lifeless here: everything is a shade of black, leaders of factions feel anonymous, and the whole 2D GUI looks outdated (yet the 3D graphics are fine, though a bit too dark and lifeless just like everything else). The texts are good but too wordy. The music is dull and too relaxing. The tooltips and helpful messages are nice but I guess it's a standard nowadays. I was expecting that they'd spend a few more months on development and fixes after their beta, but it seems they just rushed it into release, so I'm not sure if any of these issues were fixed (if one can fix them anyway). I'm still happy to see a remake of my favorite game but it seems that it just isn't easy to outdo Brian Reynolds, even after 14 years. AC certainly had its own flaws (like chaotic and unbalanced gameplay after Fusion Power, techno-babble style of sci advances) but this game doesn't seem to fix these problems.… Expand
  6. ave
    Dec 23, 2017
    6
    Pandora : First Contact was on my wishlist for a long time, and it was a pleasant surprise.

    It took me a while to figure out how the underlying system works (since there is no manual) and test different strategies, with different factions. This systemic exploration was fun and my first military and scientifc victory really felt great. Unfortunately, even if I find the    Pandora : First Contact was on my wishlist for a long time, and it was a pleasant surprise.

    It took me a while to figure out how the underlying system works (since there is no manual) and test different strategies, with different factions. This systemic exploration was fun and my first military and scientifc victory really felt great.

    Unfortunately, even if I find the micro-management of units and cities during the early game is really engaging, past the Messari invasion, most of the progression is mostly "+ something" or "+ %" hitting "End turn" many times because I don't have to move units anymore, cities are on autopilot and everything works as planned.

    So after 100 h I can see this game as a nice 1 to 2h engaging early game trying to beat you own achievement, but not that rewarding during the mid and end game (that's personal). And raising difficulty will just give the IA more potency, but won't make it "smarter" actually.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

95
#95 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 12
  3. Negative: 1 out of 12
  1. Digitally Downloaded
    Jul 22, 2014
    80
    Pandora offers a stiff challenge, and will keep space-faring strategists happy until Civilization: Beyond Earth breaches the event horizon later this year.
    Read full review
  2. GameStar
    Apr 27, 2014
    68
    Inspired by the classic Alpha Centauri, it looks like a modern version at first glance, but lacks the depth and long term motivation.
    Read full review
  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Feb 13, 2014
    78
    Pandora: First Contact delivers very decent spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, but it unfortunately falls short on some aspects. It needs more focus on the story, diplomacy and the endgame in general. [Jan 2014]
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