Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

 PC
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1085 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 344 out of 1085
  2. Mixed: 375 out of 1085
  3. Negative: 366 out of 1085
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  1. redbeerd
    Oct 27, 2014
    4
    This mod for Civilization 5 might have been entitled: Civilization: Space Caravan Management before it was given to a group of energetic marketing people to hype up before release. It features the following astounding features:

    - Complete sci-fi reskins for all your favorite civilization units and concepts. Meet the warrior… in a spacesuit! Start the game by building a “monument”,    This mod for Civilization 5 might have been entitled: Civilization: Space Caravan Management before it was given to a group of energetic marketing people to hype up before release. It features the following astounding features:

    - Complete sci-fi reskins for all your favorite civilization units and concepts. Meet the warrior… in a spacesuit! Start the game by building a “monument”, a.k.a. “old earth relic”, and monitor your empire’s happiness… err… “health”. It’s all the concepts from 4000 BC you love, taken straight into the 23rd century!

    - Take your suspension of disbelief to new heights as colonists from earth land on a new planet and have no map of the surface, even after launching satellites. Watch in amazement as the borders of your space colony expand due to cultural influence, probably as the hostile insectoid aliens start wearing blue jeans and listening to pop music. Conduct sci-fi trade by caravan!

    - Which brings us to the best feature: spend 50% (literally: half) of your game time managing space caravans, of which there will be dozens and which have to be manually re-assigned every couple of turns! Yay! 3 caravans per city! EPIC FUN on large maps.

    - Watch real f_AI_l brought out of the AI, which will not attack you once during a full game at the hardest difficulty setting, but which will proceed to launch waves of suicide air strikes against an alien worm sitting in a harmless spot and doing nothing.

    - If you should divert from caravan management to anything else, like achieving victory conditions, you will be punished! Feel victory turn to ash in your mouth as, after 50+ turns of building wonders to communicate with the ancient alien race you get a popup saying “Congrats! You’ve communicated with the ancient alien race! Game over.”

    Seriously?    … Expand
  2. Sturmir
    Oct 25, 2014
    4
    Is this game bad? No.

    Does this game disappoint? Certainly. I've been playing Civilization games since the second game came out, and I've played pretty much every strategy game that has been released for English and German. I think I have a pretty good background in the field of strategy games. First: I won't be repeating a lot of what's being said. Second: I actually like this    Is this game bad? No.

    Does this game disappoint? Certainly.

    I've been playing Civilization games since the second game came out, and I've played pretty much every strategy game that has been released for English and German. I think I have a pretty good background in the field of strategy games.

    First: I won't be repeating a lot of what's being said.
    Second: I actually like this game.

    Now, if Civilization Beyond Earth was released without any Hype or expectations I had for it, this game would have been scored higher. It however, has the unfortunate pleasure of being compared to Alpha Centauri and it's expansion pack Alien Crossfire. As the developers noted several times, it was suppose to be a spiritual successor to the game, and repeated the mantra: "We made this for you" (Alpha Centauri fans)

    Unfortunately, with such a huge monolith in the field the game cannot stand a chance.

    The first thing I notice is the technically inferior selection of "sponsors" (factions.) that you have available to you (Compared to the base game of Civilization 5 of 16) - While this may be in more aligned with Alpha Centauri's faction selection and yet further expanded on by minor bonuses you can select upon planetfall, it fails to really touch 1 major problem:

    The fact is that the factions in Alpha Centauri were massively developed. They had unique story elements, unique faction dialogue and communications and a plot. The figurehead in Civilization Beyond Earth have snippets of information included in the loading screen showing the leaders outlook of the pre-planetfall situation which can be summed to the same 2 sentences about how all hope was lost, or that they are more ambitious than the rest and going to claim the galaxy for themselves. The ruler themselves and the faction they represent aren't unique in the slightest. They feel exactly the same, look exactly the same, and do everything exactly the same
    . At the moment of writing this I have 30 hours into this game and have played four games (all massive, all standard) which I purposely chose a new path each time. They were the same exercises in the limitations of terrain and the reduction of strategy.

    Which leads me to this point: I created an account here on metacritic, because I am fed up with this simplification mantra and the dumbing down of strategy games.

    Just a few things that this game is lacking from it's precursor:

    Weather effects
    Alterable terrain (raising and lowering it.)
    Water Cities
    Customizable units (and selecting units in a tier does not count as customization any more than selecting two different pieces of bread counts as making a new sandwich.)
    Interesting story elements (while I admit the quest system has a lot going for it, its exactly the same copy/paste material for each faction sprinkled oh-so-lightly with flavour.)
    Mindworms, Oh god the mindworms. - Aliens are about as much of a threat on frenzied aliens as the faction AI. That isn't a compliment.
    Effective strategy elements - 1UP Tile thing, Okay I get it, but Alpha Centauri solved the massive wave of death via Collateral damage. Should take a lesson.
    Massive map and strategy - I hate the fact that if I spend 18 hours on a game, and finally take the entire continent, my continent has about 30 cities. That may seem like a lot, and if you go by the tedious ****ing micromanagement of continually selecting the same traderoutes again and re-agreeing to deals that should just auto-continue indefinitely unless interrupted (or give me a prompt: "Do you wish to continue doing the same thing?") A hint to the developers - Shrink the cities, make them a bit more dynamic and interesting, increase the map size by about half again. Your 1UP Tile system might actually work then.
    Multiplayer that worked - At the time of writing this my friends and I have experienced 18 disconnects, over 8 crashes (seemingly at random.) and ungodly amounts of out of sync issues when doing things like launching a satellite.

    Now, there is a lot of things I do enjoy with this game. I enjoy the satellites, I enjoy the covert op (which is currently broken for it's ability to capture 6 cities at once, every 30~ odd turns if you focus it, and the AI functions like the lemming it seems to wish to represent.) I enjoy the purity/harmony/supremacy hooks. I enjoy this game.

    I do not enjoy what they squandered with the chance to deliver a real strategy game, with depth and choice.

    I'm sure after they've released 8 DLC sponsor packs, and 2 more expansions, this game might be worth buying. I know you will buy it but if you can, wait until it goes on sale. If you can't wait you know it'll be a long term investment towards a game; the real content will be released for the low-low price of 90$ over a period of 3 years. Sit back and wait for the next round of content.

    Thanks for reading this, and if you don't agree with this, well... there isn't accounting for taste.

    Final Verdict: Go play Alpha Centauri and wait for the DLCs.    … Expand
  3. Varyag
    Oct 24, 2014
    6
    I was very much looking forward to this game, seeing as how Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is one of my favorite games of all time. As more of Beyond Earth was revealed however, it seemed that the ideas featured in SMAC are no more than window dressing for another Civ V game. This is more significant than it seems at first glance. SMAC was, mechanically, Civ II. But the story, setting,I was very much looking forward to this game, seeing as how Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is one of my favorite games of all time. As more of Beyond Earth was revealed however, it seemed that the ideas featured in SMAC are no more than window dressing for another Civ V game. This is more significant than it seems at first glance. SMAC was, mechanically, Civ II. But the story, setting, semi-plausible technology, secret projects, quotes, factions and the overall cornucopia of ideas, went so far beyond any Civ game that Alpha Centauri ended up being unique.
    Beyond Earth is superficially the same thing, but look closer and the technologies are more akin to techno babble, the factions are merely the nations of Civ, without character or a recognizable ideology that drove the ones in SMAC, the resources border on epic fantasy (firaxite? floatstone? really?), the victory conditions specific to this game are all variations of Civ's "man in space". There is no back story, the quests are repetitive and fail to feel relevant (more on them later). There is no soul to this game, for the lack of a better term, nothing to set it apart - its Civ V in space in a SMAC costume that's falling apart at the seams and Chairman Yang is not amused.
    Failing to innovate while being bad at imitation is a sin but the real problem is the fundamental issues that Civ V has. The maps are small, curtailing expansion, the research is slow, you're not likely to have more than a few cities at any time unless you take more by conquest, the troops need constant shuffling around the tight maps, city management is trivial, social engineering is non existent (present only in constant buffs that you can buy with culture - there is no give and take) and that leaves a vacuum where the player simply has nothing to do from turn to turn. They tried to fill this void with quests that the game gives you but they're repetitive and there's little motivation to do them. At most they lead to a little blurb about some changes in your civilization and a small permanent bonus.
    Its shallow and plodding, and probably the worst overall game design in the Civ series. The addictive flow of a slow start but rapid expansion, of large scale warfare, of massive civilizations clashing for supremacy - there's none of it here. There was none of it in Civ V, but here things feel even more constrained, smaller scale and meaningless.
    This is the Civ equivalent of Diet Coke with Colonel Santiago on the label. Civ V fans will gobble it up, claiming its the next best thing since pre sliced bread... and for them, it might be. For me, its merely an above average 4x game that will fade from memory in a month or so with none of the genius one has come to expect from the Civ series.    … Expand
  4. Yesname
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    Almost nothing new. Worse than any predecessor almost in every aspect. Factions and aliens have no personality. Awkward UI. Dumb, illogical AI. It is just a scam. A DLC, a reskinned Civilization 5. Not worth more than $10. I am very disappointed.
  5. timeknight
    Oct 24, 2014
    4
    This game is nothing close to what Alpha Centauri was. The diplomacy, for one, is absolutely terrible. It's worse than Civ 5. You can get allies easily, but you can't do anything with them. There are no trade or research agreements. There's no planetary council. Diplomacy is just bad.

    This game does not bring anything new to the table except for a new skin for Civilization 5. It feels    This game is nothing close to what Alpha Centauri was. The diplomacy, for one, is absolutely terrible. It's worse than Civ 5. You can get allies easily, but you can't do anything with them. There are no trade or research agreements. There's no planetary council. Diplomacy is just bad.

    This game does not bring anything new to the table except for a new skin for Civilization 5. It feels more like a Civ 5 mod. Is it a spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri? No. Not even close.    … Expand
  6. MogRules
    Oct 26, 2014
    4
    This ladies and gentleman is another reason why we should not be pre-ordering or paying for games until they are released. I really had high hopes for this as I loved Civ 5 and didn't even get into the franchise until just before the last Civ 5 expansion.

    I wanted to like this, I really did despite early doomsday predictions saying that this was just a reskin of Civ 5 and it was going    This ladies and gentleman is another reason why we should not be pre-ordering or paying for games until they are released. I really had high hopes for this as I loved Civ 5 and didn't even get into the franchise until just before the last Civ 5 expansion.

    I wanted to like this, I really did despite early doomsday predictions saying that this was just a reskin of Civ 5 and it was going to be horrible. Does anyone remember the fallout from Battlefield 4? and all the people calling it Batlefield 3.5? Well apparently Firaxis and 2k didn't see any of that because they have gloriously recreated all of that here.

    Where do we start? Well the game is marketed as a new Civ game at the full $50 price tag for us here in Canada and as such you would expect just that....a new game, not a game that looks visually worse and uses most of the same concepts and ideas from Civ 5 and simply calls them something else...such as the health system.

    The first thing I noticed when I loaded up my first game was even the loading screen looks terrible...you are greeted to a galactic background with some horrible looking text that looks like it was thrown together in notepad at the last second. There is no voice overs, nothing to welcome you to your civilization and nothing that gets you excited. This isn't the only thing that they have eliminated the voices from, they also all but axed the voices when you completed a tech. Instead of a nice detail and quite following the tech you completed you get a generic "you completed X" and that's it.....

    The new research "web" is cumbersome and hard to navigate and generally a step back IMO. Yes, it does offer you some customization not available in Civ 5 but it looks terrible.

    The Graphics in BE are quite honestly just bad compared to the way things looked in Civ 5, and everything looks like an older game, not something new. Most of the terrains blend together and the gas is hard to see so you better hope you can notice your units taking damage and not rely on being able to see the gas on the map.

    All in all this is Civ, but it is NOT a new game in any way shape of form and you are basically paying a new game price for a re-skin or DLC pack for Civ 5 with less units and the same AI from the previous iteration. Even the text the AI uses is copy pasted from Civ 5 into BE when your talking to them...like how lazy do you need to be.

    Basically DON'T BUY THIS GAME. If we continue to support this crap then game companies will just keep trying to hawk it on us.    … Expand
  7. Ahkhsteamuun
    Oct 24, 2014
    5
    I was never particularly excited for Beyond Earth, I set my expectations lower than I usually would for a Civ series. I watched a lot of lets plays before the game came out as well, so I knew what to expect. Even so, I'm still left disappointed. The game isn't awful by any means, but it's certainly not deserving of some of the high scores I've seen.

    The game is just... boring.    I was never particularly excited for Beyond Earth, I set my expectations lower than I usually would for a Civ series. I watched a lot of lets plays before the game came out as well, so I knew what to expect. Even so, I'm still left disappointed. The game isn't awful by any means, but it's certainly not deserving of some of the high scores I've seen.

    The game is just... boring. Progression feels extremely slow and doesn't have the same energy as advancing through the eras in Civ V. The tech web is okay, but it's still quite linear since you have to specialize. Affinities give a sense of progression, but it isn't as rewarding as going from warriors to mechanized infantry in traditional Civ. You start with slightly futuristic looking units and cities... And you end with slightly more futuristic looking units and cities. The new victory types are almost all passive, and this encourages the AI to be more passive, and this makes the game feel a lot less eventful than it should. The UI also needs work. It's unnecessarily time consuming to set up a queue, it's hard to pick out where the wonders are on the tech web, you can't lock tiles without disabling the AI governors, and frankly it just looks bland.

    But by far my biggest complaint is the AI. Others have said it here, but it's even worse than Civ V AI. Civ V's AI was pretty stupid, but it could at least settle cities somewhat decently with the BNW expansion. I've seen maybe a few AI cities in BE not 3 tiles away from another city. It's infuriating to look at the AI just spam useless cities all over the place and then ruining the landscape with generator spam. Aren't you glad generators always have the exact same model? It's as if they designed the AI to troll you. The military AI is just as bad as in Civ V, but I don't think many people were expecting an improvement there.

    Diplomacy feels a lot less interesting in BE, since the AI rarely seems to have anything useful to offer you. The favor system is somewhat interesting, but with diplomacy this weak it doesn't come into play often. Right now the whole game just has a lot of problems, including balance issues I didn't really go into. It adds a lot of interesting features like satellites, quests, and aliens, but these don't really make BE better than Civ V or even its equal.    … Expand
  8. Escherichia
    Oct 24, 2014
    6
    Beyond Earth constantly forces you to continually pick between small numbers and fixed percentages, I did not like to be spammed by all these constant, meaningless decisions that do not seem to affect the gameplay at all. The factions are bland and soulless, and the tech quotes make me cringe.
    The only thing this game has that reminds me of Alpha Centauri is the inconsistency in its    Beyond Earth constantly forces you to continually pick between small numbers and fixed percentages, I did not like to be spammed by all these constant, meaningless decisions that do not seem to affect the gameplay at all. The factions are bland and soulless, and the tech quotes make me cringe.
    The only thing this game has that reminds me of Alpha Centauri is the inconsistency in its leader's motivations: In my first game, 3 different factions kept praising me for not engaging in combat with the aliens. Suddenly, 2 of them declared war to me for no reason. Not that it matters, the combat AI is as dumb as ever. Enemy units will just go back and forth, struggle with the terrain and camp on damaging miasma hexes, just to beg for peace a few turns later and start praising you all over again. Somehow, enemy factions are dumber than in the previous civ games.
    The new tech web is a nice addition, altough I dont think it will help newcomers find their way, and the affinity system is alright, but it does take ages to truly kick in.
    All in all, It still is a Sid Meier's game, a 6 is as low as it gets.    … Expand
  9. Mittsies
    Feb 18, 2015
    0
    Are you new to the Civilization franchise? Play Civ V instead - it's a more complete game that outshines Beyond Earth in almost every single aspect. Are you already a Civ fan? Steer clear. Beyond Earth adds nothing new to the franchise and has no style. It feels like a total conversion mod of Civ V, but with extremely limited features. I guess you can wait for 2K games to pump out a bunchAre you new to the Civilization franchise? Play Civ V instead - it's a more complete game that outshines Beyond Earth in almost every single aspect. Are you already a Civ fan? Steer clear. Beyond Earth adds nothing new to the franchise and has no style. It feels like a total conversion mod of Civ V, but with extremely limited features. I guess you can wait for 2K games to pump out a bunch of costly DLC and then maybe the game will be playable once you've bought it 3 times over, but even then I have major doubts.

    Bottom line: an extreme disappointment. Don't be fooled by paid reviews and hype.    … Expand
  10. GwionBach
    Oct 26, 2014
    3
    There are a handful of things I can sincerely praise about this game - the affinity system, the game setup screen, and the revamped tech tree.

    90% of the time, though, you're dealing with a horrifically broken and lazily-designed Civ V clone that's so achingly transparent in its crass and slapdash assembly that you wonder how a company like Firaxis could release such an insult to their    There are a handful of things I can sincerely praise about this game - the affinity system, the game setup screen, and the revamped tech tree.

    90% of the time, though, you're dealing with a horrifically broken and lazily-designed Civ V clone that's so achingly transparent in its crass and slapdash assembly that you wonder how a company like Firaxis could release such an insult to their own customers. Everywhere you look, you see a place where they:
    -Took an existing feature from Civ 5,
    -Hurriedly slapped a hopelessly generic name on it,
    -Added some lousy and nonsensical fiction on top of it,
    -Either kept the underlying game mechanics the same, or actually made them worse.

    Here and there, you see a few individual token efforts to really think about "hey, what would it be like to colonize an alien planet?" The affinity system, the game setup screen, and the miasma all fall into this category, and they all more or less work. If Firaxis had applied this kind of thinking to the entire game, we would have had something that felt fresh -- but alas, it's like tossing a bucket of sand on a dead dog and calling it a sand castle. There's too much of the old ugliness sticking out underneath that needed to be scraped away completely.    … Expand
  11. tobas1
    Oct 26, 2014
    4
    First of all this game have absolutely nothing in common with Alpha Centauri ... except one - both taking place in future. And really thats all!!!
    Alpha Centauri had unique ecosystem that felt alive and could really mess you up sometimes. Fungus was spreading and spamming mindworms and those could really do a lot of harm even lategame when apear in big stacks. Here alien life forms are    First of all this game have absolutely nothing in common with Alpha Centauri ... except one - both taking place in future. And really thats all!!!
    Alpha Centauri had unique ecosystem that felt alive and could really mess you up sometimes. Fungus was spreading and spamming mindworms and those could really do a lot of harm even lategame when apear in big stacks. Here alien life forms are normal barbarians from other Civ games - nothing to worry about. The only problem is siege worm that even dont do much damage if youre carefull arround him but when you take him down with your city's or mobile artilery there is absolutly no thread from alians any more! And if aliens really have some mechanics to promote 'green' thinking and not attacking, than i missed that totaly. They attack you even without doing them any harm at all, and when you killing them right from a start they attack you even less coz have less units. So green thinking here is dead - and Gaians were my favorite fraction in AC!
    Ah yes - fractions - except 1 small bonus that every one of them has they are all totaly the same! I cannot even name those that i played or played against coz they were to borring and uninteresting to even remember their names. And i can name EVERY Alpha Centauri fraction even now - and didn't play that game for years!

    What ele made AC great game for me? Terraforming - there you could drill rivers, buld improvements changing climate or even terraform up your land and flood other players with global warming. Here you can do **** You can cut trees and build improvements and thats basicly it. So your terraforming abilities are simmilar to Egiptian pessant with copper axe.

    Next is upgraing units - in AC you could take any unit and select what type of researched already wepon or armor or skill put in it and if you had enough money upgrade your units to this newer model. So for me it was brilliant. I needed fast artilery rover with no armor? or good armored garnison supressing riots with poor wepon? or mindworm catching unit? or maybe few types of terraformers to clean fungus faster or to move twice as much hexes? You could do EVERYTHING... if you could afford upgrating and first created prototype unit that costs twice as much as regular one. Here you can -again- do **** Through some strange God intervention every unit is upgrated without costs to new model after gaining point of whatever that was. Especialy strange coz newer model in production costs like 20% more so why the hell its free?

    And last thing is trade routes. In AC you could boost your production by sending suply crawlers to collect resources from not ocupied by your city hexes and this could significantly boost your production. Here you can do trade routs between your, neutral or other players cities. But those trade routs are ridiculusly good! Its not like 3 additional energy or production that you got from suply cravler, here from one trade route 2 cities will get for example 5 food+production each!! If you select your boosts wisely, you can just buy trade route building, teleport to that city 2 trade convoys (wtf is that anyway?) and send them to your cities (coz no point to send to other civs boosting their production) and from this your production in that city is 500% better - its crazy! and game killing coz the only limit for your expansion from now on is helth ... until you figure out that there is one terrain upgraide giving 1 helth each and you just build them all over your land. plus green upgraids giving you boost to trade routes and helth (why the hell its in the same branch if they are most important ones?) and in 100 turns in my playing for 2nd day i had colonised everything that i could being bigger than all other players combined. and it was supposed to be hard dificulity?

    Overall Alpha Centauri and this dumbed down thing that was supposed to be spiritual succeser have totaly nothing in common. And for me saddest part is that there is not even one thing that Beyound Earth did better than it was in AC - quite contrary! and Alpha Centauri is 15 years old! So really? people are getting so braindead that it's enough for them to be enterteined? Or just game developers are getting so lazy?    … Expand
  12. Boxtears
    Oct 26, 2014
    0
    I defended this game against the naysayers for so long but now I have to face facts and eat my own words. While BE isn't necessarily a bad game, it makes abundantly clear why there should have been an open beta. There's a thread on reddit right now that explains pretty succinctly what's missing or needs to be fixed, but suffice to say that there are a lot of amateurish missteps that neverI defended this game against the naysayers for so long but now I have to face facts and eat my own words. While BE isn't necessarily a bad game, it makes abundantly clear why there should have been an open beta. There's a thread on reddit right now that explains pretty succinctly what's missing or needs to be fixed, but suffice to say that there are a lot of amateurish missteps that never should've been allowed. This game is missing a lot of key UI features and shortcuts that were already in Civ 5. Why are we never told what a city JUST finished producing? Why do I need to refresh a gajillion trade routes without ever being reminded what they previously connected, or better yet why don't I have the option to leave them to continue until canceled? Why are victories completions even more lackluster than in Civ 5? Why am I never even told what victory condition another civ beat me with or keep track of their progress beyond vague quarterly updates? Why am I not able to see who is at war with whom? Why Why, Why, WHY?… Expand
  13. TUHD
    Oct 24, 2014
    5
    What. The. Hell.
    - Majorly imbalanced. Some of those victory conditions are idiotic (like, really. Play ARC and you'll be able to pretty fast snatch up all the cap cities without even having a wardec, making it an domination victory. While other victories take a long time).
    - Normal is way too easy - only thing the AI is good at is throwing out a lot of military and somehow never    What. The. Hell.
    - Majorly imbalanced. Some of those victory conditions are idiotic (like, really. Play ARC and you'll be able to pretty fast snatch up all the cap cities without even having a wardec, making it an domination victory. While other victories take a long time).
    - Normal is way too easy - only thing the AI is good at is throwing out a lot of military and somehow never suffering health problems. If you want a real challenge as even just an mediocre Civ/player, start at Hard or higher.
    - The techweb is interesting, but headache worthy when it comes to searching for what´s recommendable.
    - Try to understand the numbers vs %, and you´ll get an guaranteed headache. The overview is bad and not really intuitive.
    - Etc. It could be a good game. But due to cheap reskinning, wrong setup of new stuff and really bad balancing - it´s just not worth the money atm.    … Expand
  14. Verdan
    Oct 24, 2014
    6
    All i can say is that Sid Meier set new record for an expansion. Making a new skin for an all ready working game is pretty bad and i personally was expecting bit more than new theme.
    Game looks good but then again. I just played this game for a lot of hours under different title.

    9 points for the CIV V
    - 3 points for going for "shake my money makers" strategy
  15. chakane048
    Oct 27, 2014
    0
    The quality of this game is a direct insult to Sid Meier. Beyond Exasperation. I might give this game a 1/10 score if they didn't slap my face by updating Civ5 today.
  16. ninepax
    Oct 25, 2014
    4
    Only 8 civilizations, same engine, same diplomacy, same interface and less options.
    Civ 5 with less options=Beyond Earth.
    I have played Civ 4,Civ 4 BTS and Civ 5. This Civ Beyond Earth is the worst of all.
  17. Kokoloris
    Oct 26, 2014
    0
    AI is completely terrible and passive. First game I played was on the middle difficulty and I got attacked ONCE. So the second game I went for the hardest difficulty and they didn't even attack me. Such an easy and boring game. I didn't know the mechanics and I won on hardest difficulty on my second game. No campaign to make up for it. And all in all, the mechanics are too similiar toAI is completely terrible and passive. First game I played was on the middle difficulty and I got attacked ONCE. So the second game I went for the hardest difficulty and they didn't even attack me. Such an easy and boring game. I didn't know the mechanics and I won on hardest difficulty on my second game. No campaign to make up for it. And all in all, the mechanics are too similiar to Civ(and where they differ the game is just worse than Civ5). If this where an addon it wouldnt even be worse 10€. I regret buying this game more than any other game.… Expand
  18. Ghostrider
    Oct 24, 2014
    3
    If you didn't like Civ5 (but liked Civ4 and older versions), then you are unlikely to enjoy Civ:BE. It has all of the problems of Civ5 and then some. Most game mechanics are Civ5, reskinned. Very boring. Most of the time you have nothing to do but click "Next turn" and wait for the really slow AI to do his turn.

    In Civilopedia list of units fits on a single screen. Techology tree    If you didn't like Civ5 (but liked Civ4 and older versions), then you are unlikely to enjoy Civ:BE. It has all of the problems of Civ5 and then some. Most game mechanics are Civ5, reskinned. Very boring. Most of the time you have nothing to do but click "Next turn" and wait for the really slow AI to do his turn.

    In Civilopedia list of units fits on a single screen. Techology tree unintuitive and confusing.

    Civ:BE continues the pacifist trend of Civ5. There is no one to fight with, there is no point in fighting and you hardly have any units to fight with. So why bother?

    It doesn't seem that despite buying the "deluxe version" (out of fond memories of Civ4 and the games before) I would bother to complete even one playthrough.

    The game is an utter disappointment.    … Expand
  19. BarimLee
    Oct 25, 2014
    0
    It ruined critical system of civilization. Each civilization has no characteristic ability like unit, construction, etc but small benefits. They should named it as "Tactical" not "Civilization". There is no pleasure to develop my civilization. Just dull and tactics remained
  20. Calendyr
    Oct 24, 2014
    5
    I am writting this rewiew after 5 hours of play.

    Been awaiting this game for months now. I am a Civ 5 veteran with over 1000 hours of play. My first impression of Beyond Earth is one of deep disapointment, I will cover my major issues with the game if I don't mention something it's either because I like it or don't find anything wrong with it. Tech Web: I like the idea of a web    I am writting this rewiew after 5 hours of play.

    Been awaiting this game for months now. I am a Civ 5 veteran with over 1000 hours of play.

    My first impression of Beyond Earth is one of deep disapointment, I will cover my major issues with the game if I don't mention something it's either because I like it or don't find anything wrong with it.

    Tech Web: I like the idea of a web instead of a tree. What I don't like is that you are completelly lost when you look at it. It's hard to try to make a plan when nothing stands out. Would it have been so hard to color code the items of put the category icons in there? You look at the icons and you can't tell what is a Wonder or what does what unless you read every single description. I am sure with time it will be ok because I will learn what everything does but for my first game it's seriously tedious!

    Alien life: So after watchching countless hours of prelauch videos, I know I should not attack the aliens. Here is ny issue: While I can't attack them, they sure don't have any reservation about attacking me, I have lost 2 explorers and 2 drone units in the past hour and I never made any agressive move towards the aliens. I am exploring and BAM! 4 of them jump on my unit and kill it. So Firaxis tie both my arms behind my back by sayong that if I attack the aliens siege worms will come kill my cities and other nations will go to war with me and then punch me in the face repetedly when I cannot defend myself... just great!

    Map clarity: When you look at the map I find it really hard to understand what is what, Very unclear what is a luxury resource, what is a production bonus. In Civ 5 you could press ALT-R and have all the resources show up with nice Icons, it's not the case in BE, Alsp in CiV5 you could press Y and have all the tiles yields show up,.. yep gone as well... WHY?

    Health: Health basically replaces happiness in BE. With only 2 cities I am at minus 5 health and I see no easy way to fix that, Very frustrating!

    Purchases: In Civ5 you had a production/purchase toggle in the city build window, They removed it. Now you have to go in the city manamenent screen and press the purchase buttin to open the purchase window, Not only is it less conveniant but I have been doing purchases in the build window for years, why are you forcing me to change the way I do things for something that is less intuitive and less efficient?

    Blocking: Tbere are several blocks in the game that are contre-intuitive, For exemple: A trade post appeared close to my city so I researched the trading unit, Try to send it there and I can't because there is Miasma in the way. So I research the miasma removing satellite and try to put it in orbit but again I can;t because there is already a satellite there,,,, so I research the trade vessel so I can go to it by sea.... but it won't let me without giving a reason, I read all I could find in the Civ help menu but could not find any answer, So now I have spent a ton of research on trade and can.t trade, Same with other nations, I normally am a heavy trader in Civ5, but in this game there is nothing to trade, All it shows is you research and production. No resouces strategic or luxury in there, Really annoying and frustrating,

    The last thing is the way I feel when playing, So far it has been boring with nothing to do most of the time and frustrating (with all the issues listed above). I hope with time and experience this will change that but my first impression is very negative.    … Expand
  21. Nikkolette
    Oct 24, 2014
    0
    Game is godawful to say the least.
    1. UI is atrocious. Queuing is so bothersome and that I don't use it - you have to click three times on different menus to put something on queue...only from city queue - no hotkeys, Ctrl or Alt modifiers from main map. In other words - you will waste more time on clicking than if you manually issue orders.
    2. Diplomacy somehow managed to become even    Game is godawful to say the least.
    1. UI is atrocious. Queuing is so bothersome and that I don't use it - you have to click three times on different menus to put something on queue...only from city queue - no hotkeys, Ctrl or Alt modifiers from main map. In other words - you will waste more time on clicking than if you manually issue orders.
    2. Diplomacy somehow managed to become even worse than in CivV, which is achievement on its own. With reduced unity types AI knows only ONE tactic - swarm of suicidal berserking human/tank waves.
    3. Absolutely primitive execution of advertized features. Ie. Alien agressiveness is linked only to alien nest destruction it seems. You can shoot dozens upon dozens of aliens standing outside 2 tile radius from their nest without any fear of counterattack - Ai cannot into attack.
    4. Absolute lack of any automation. If you have 10 cities then you have to manually isue each and every production order.
    5. Leaders lack any personality - they are just animated talking heads.
    6. Once again you are spammed with approvals, denouncations and gazillion other meaningless and useless notification via leader animation screen "we like that you like X", "We do not like that you like Y" etc every turn.
    7. Trade routes - Firaxis showed phenomenal ability to make their own idea as terrible a possible - if with CivV you had to deal with 5 or so TR now you have 3 per city, you have to manually reassign EACH an EVERY of them. I cannot imagine playing with 10 or so cities.

    Game miraculously managed to fall even below my lowest expectations. Firaxis used most primitive approach - dumb down everything, cut loose ends, wrap it up in shiny package and show into custumers' throats. This release shows their inability to solve major broblems - CivV AI was horrible and their put no effort in fixint it. Diplomacy was awful - it still is.
    Beyond Earth serves only one purpose - to show how much Alpha Centauri surpasses it in every aspect except for graphics.    … Expand
  22. ShooP
    Oct 24, 2014
    1
    Too similar to Civ 5 with very few innovation. A shame that AI is even dumber than in Civ 5, offering no challenge at all, even in higher difficulties. Game mechanics forces you to expand slowly and you have very few cities to manage even late in the game.
    Really disappointing.
  23. APCY
    Oct 24, 2014
    3
    I have tried this game and all I have to say is that im disappointed. Firstly nothing has been changed apart from sci-fi theme. Combat system, building, exploring and etc are same. Even materials do the same they just changed their icons so it would look diffrently. I would say brave new world dlc was a way bigger and more interesting, and this game counts as new and for 50 euro... imI have tried this game and all I have to say is that im disappointed. Firstly nothing has been changed apart from sci-fi theme. Combat system, building, exploring and etc are same. Even materials do the same they just changed their icons so it would look diffrently. I would say brave new world dlc was a way bigger and more interesting, and this game counts as new and for 50 euro... im really disappointed, they were very lazy, but ya money is more important for them I suppose.… Expand
  24. Qgal5kap
    Oct 29, 2014
    1
    Bah, this is just a reskinned version of CIV 5 with worse game mechanics. More micro-management, less automation. A total cash grab!! Avoid, avoid!!!!

    In the future, we have the technology to travel to alien planets, but we lack the technology of networking and computing?? We have the power of space flight, but we lack the ability to keep a geostationary satellite in orbit?!?!?! We    Bah, this is just a reskinned version of CIV 5 with worse game mechanics. More micro-management, less automation. A total cash grab!! Avoid, avoid!!!!

    In the future, we have the technology to travel to alien planets, but we lack the technology of networking and computing?? We have the power of space flight, but we lack the ability to keep a geostationary satellite in orbit?!?!?! We have the knowledge to settle on an alien planet, but we don't know how to build a settler???
    There are just so many breaches of logic here! Lazy work by the dev!!!    … Expand
  25. Raf_KR
    Oct 25, 2014
    4
    Graphic 2/5
    There is no info graphic.
    You must read text for getting information.

    Sound 3/5
    Not impressive.

    Gameplay 3/5
    Alien = Kinds of animal.
    limited type of units.
    No different from each civilization.
    Tech tree = sux. confused. meaningless tree.

    Replayable 2/5
    Very little volume.

    Conclusion 2/5
    Don't buy this game.
    Play again Civ5.
  26. ThiagoF
    Oct 24, 2014
    0
    Sry but this is another Scam.... this is not a new game, if you want to play wait for discounts this don't worth the price.
    This is a Failed DLC, they really screwed up this time.
    Really disappointing. So... now come the list os problems 1) The maps are small you can`t customize your planet; 2) The Leaders don`t have any personality, they are just talking heads and there are few;    Sry but this is another Scam.... this is not a new game, if you want to play wait for discounts this don't worth the price.
    This is a Failed DLC, they really screwed up this time.
    Really disappointing.

    So... now come the list os problems

    1) The maps are small you can`t customize your planet;
    2) The Leaders don`t have any personality, they are just talking heads and there are few;
    3) The made the diplomacy even worth then Civ5;
    4) You have to do everything by hand, managing trade routes on many cities its a NIGHTMARE!;
    5) The UI is abysmal, sometimes you need alot of clicks just to Queue stuff;
    6) The tech web is a mess and you don't fell any diferences after you complete stuff;
    7) The aliens are stupid the A.I. make no sense and the creatures at the see they are REALLY unbalanced almost everything can easily kill your ships.
    8) The lack os inovation kills the game;    … Expand
  27. Crimson
    Oct 24, 2014
    1
    This is an extremely simplified re-skinned Civ V, with far worse graphics, and absolutely nothing new that is interesting or worthy of praise. I could pick apart every new system, all of which are extremely flawed and cumbersome but there's almost no point. Its clear this is just nothing more than a money grab, with 2K trying to milk its fan-base. This feels like a 'direct to VHS'This is an extremely simplified re-skinned Civ V, with far worse graphics, and absolutely nothing new that is interesting or worthy of praise. I could pick apart every new system, all of which are extremely flawed and cumbersome but there's almost no point. Its clear this is just nothing more than a money grab, with 2K trying to milk its fan-base. This feels like a 'direct to VHS' sequals of popular a franchise.… Expand
  28. Loki64
    Oct 24, 2014
    0
    Terrible game. In fact mod for civilization 5. With a terrible interface, bad textures.
    Even in alpha Centauri was able terraformable, you could raise mountains, stop the rain, and the enemy had died of starvation. You could build a city on water, under water.
    Sordid AI,the same terrible diplomacy inherited from civilization. The computer is behaving inappropriately. The developers have    Terrible game. In fact mod for civilization 5. With a terrible interface, bad textures.
    Even in alpha Centauri was able terraformable, you could raise mountains, stop the rain, and the enemy had died of starvation. You could build a city on water, under water.
    Sordid AI,the same terrible diplomacy inherited from civilization. The computer is behaving inappropriately. The developers have promised the ability to customize the space Shuttle before launch.
    In the end, we have a couple of paragraphs the settings and all...
    The creators were too lazy to do a proper icons for buildings.
    Also, the developers promised the possibility of fine adjustment of units-in the end, we have three options for the development of the unit without the ability to change weapons,armor. In alpha Centauri it was all you can do... what can we say about the alpha Centauri,low-budget Studio made the game Endless legends,where there is an interesting battle system, the ability to customize units and just very beautiful graphics! What have you spent money these developers I personally don't know.    … Expand
  29. Harold_Lanchest
    Oct 24, 2014
    4
    The developers got away with Civ 5. Huge slap in the face, which made me abandon the Civ franchise entirely in favor of far better strategy turn based games. I have no idea how they're getting away with Civ 5: the addon standalone.
  30. Garet1218
    Oct 24, 2014
    10
    A great throwback for Alpha Centauri fans!
    The new mechanics and atmosphere really separate it from other Civ titles, and really the themes remind me a lot more of Alpha centauri. I feel like if this had come out and Civ 5 was not a thing, it would had been held as revolutionary. I think far too many will group it with Civ 5 for using the same engine. They are two quite different games    A great throwback for Alpha Centauri fans!
    The new mechanics and atmosphere really separate it from other Civ titles, and really the themes remind me a lot more of Alpha centauri. I feel like if this had come out and Civ 5 was not a thing, it would had been held as revolutionary. I think far too many will group it with Civ 5 for using the same engine. They are two quite different games though. I say this as a long time fan.
    I for one love that they made culture more useful in a game play sense, they made espionage what it use to be back in the old days... Awesome..

    The tech web is probably my favorites system, I have always been a large science player.. The web and technologies they have change everything. I find myself conflicted far more often than in civ, not to mention it can be very situation based. The affinity system is awesome, and I like how it mixes.

    Here is my wishlish for the G&K sized expansion that should be coming

    -More mixed affinity unit upgrades or units, more units for pure routes to compensate.
    additional Planet ecosystem types.
    -A couple more sponsors
    -A scenario with a sentient planet.
    -A few more wonders    … Expand
  31. Amstaad
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    Beyond Earth is basically Civ5: Space Edition. There is only token innovation in the game with the inclusion of an orbital layer and the tech web. Every thing else is basically just Civ5 concepts and mechanics with different names (i.e. aliens are barbarians, energy is money, health is happiness, etc). This in itself isn't so bad as I liked Civ5 but there just isn't much depth orBeyond Earth is basically Civ5: Space Edition. There is only token innovation in the game with the inclusion of an orbital layer and the tech web. Every thing else is basically just Civ5 concepts and mechanics with different names (i.e. aliens are barbarians, energy is money, health is happiness, etc). This in itself isn't so bad as I liked Civ5 but there just isn't much depth or flavour to the game. One issue is that it's hard to identify things quickly on the tech web or in a cities production queue as there is no clear visual indicator for what's a wonder, a buff, unit or building in the tech web so you need to spend a fair bit of time reading through each entry to try and figure out what every thing does. The AI seemed awfully weak on my play through on normal setting and didn't even defend itself when I attacked it on normal difficulty. If you have Civ5 your better off just playing that until Firaxis patches the game and rolls out its DLC. On a side note my play experience is closer to 4 out of 10 due to Firaxis deciding not to support DX10 in this game. If you're using an older graphics card (I'm using a GT330M) you can play the game but won't be able to use the mini-map, see the leaders animations and will have some minor screen pixelation. I didn't dock the game any negative points because it only effects a few people but it's annoying never the less because this game isn't exactly a graphical power house and my card would work fine if they had bothered to include DX10 support.… Expand
  32. ChunkySaurus
    Oct 25, 2014
    5
    This was a disappointing wasted opportunity to do something really cool. Instead it comes off like a mediocre mod for Civ 5. The elements of an exciting game are there, they just weren't put together very well. I am hopeful that this can be patched to something better but it is more likely that this will be fixed with an expansion.

    I can see what they wanted to do with the aliens and    This was a disappointing wasted opportunity to do something really cool. Instead it comes off like a mediocre mod for Civ 5. The elements of an exciting game are there, they just weren't put together very well. I am hopeful that this can be patched to something better but it is more likely that this will be fixed with an expansion.

    I can see what they wanted to do with the aliens and the miasma. They wanted to make YOU feel like the alien, like this was a hostile world. So you would build outposts slowly and close together until you could tech up to deal with the hostile environment. This mechanic was pretty exciting until trading stations just appeared out of nowhere all around my first city, in the first 25 turns. These stations block you from building new cities nearby so you have to over-extend yourself. I didn't feel like a pioneer when the space version of WalMart opened up next door.

    In the end, the Alien mechanic is just bad. They spawn like crazy and actually become more of a nuisance by clogging the map. Seriously, 10-15 units moving one space to the left and then one space to the right. Getting from point A to B is more like playing Frogger. Eventually they just reach a saturation point and you need to cull them just to get around. This mechanic could have been done so much better. Alien nests scattered throughout the map, preventing you from expanding or accessing resources until you destroy, domesticate or learn to understand them (as per your affinity) would have been so much better.

    The addition of quests had great potential but it was wasted on dozens of pick option A or B quests. Every time you build a building for the first time, something "exciting" happens and you get to pick a bonus. Trivial stuff like +1 food or +1 energy. The dialog and choice are both pointless. They happen all the time so they don't feel special at all. The victory conditions are not well-defined either. They don't feel immersive at all. If they were going to put in quests, they should have been tied into the victory conditions.

    The new tech web hides most of the details of what you are researching. The icons are all the same color so you have to mouse over everything to have any idea what you are going to get from a tech. The whole thing is at odds with how you are actually expected to perform research. You will realize partway through your first play through that you are supposed to exclusively pick technologies that advance one of the three Affinities. I don't understand why they bury Affinities within Technologies. A choice between Solar, Petrol and Xenomass generators is much more immersive than being able to research all three.

    The UI and city management is worse than Civ 5. A lot of little irritating things like cities not telling you the last project they completed or the trade micromanagement. Seriously, by mid-game you will be resetting 5-6 trade convoys each turn. They reset very quickly and you will have 2-3 per city. This would have been much better without auto-reset.

    The leader interactions and voice-overs are dull and lifeless. Half the time there is no voice over or a message is interrupted by another.

    I'd recommend it on sale, but not at full price.    … Expand
  33. titannet
    Oct 25, 2014
    5
    Alpha Centauri went above and beyond Civilization II by bringing new ideas and and engaging story to the table. Beyond Earth does not. It is Civ 5 on another planet with Barbarians switched out for aliens.
    New additions are the tech web and the quests. The quests are mostly stupid.. mostly stuff you would have done anyway and nothing really interesting.
    Same as civ 5 the game is crippled    Alpha Centauri went above and beyond Civilization II by bringing new ideas and and engaging story to the table. Beyond Earth does not. It is Civ 5 on another planet with Barbarians switched out for aliens.
    New additions are the tech web and the quests. The quests are mostly stupid.. mostly stuff you would have done anyway and nothing really interesting.
    Same as civ 5 the game is crippled by penalties for having citys. What do I need an army for if the next city will make tech discovery even slower?
    But enough said, all the 0-6 reviews are basically saying the same. The game is a soulless mod for Civ 5, shallow, slow and boring. Next turn. Nothing happening.    … Expand
  34. horepung
    Oct 27, 2014
    2
    After playing Civ 5 and now playing Civ: BE I can only say that this was a huuuuge let down. What a disappointment!

    1: The A.I. is dumber than ever in this game. It's not even fun to play this when the different factions played by the A.I. have like no personality at all. They're all the same in every way. Spamming you with the same **** meaningless praises and requests over and over    After playing Civ 5 and now playing Civ: BE I can only say that this was a huuuuge let down. What a disappointment!

    1: The A.I. is dumber than ever in this game. It's not even fun to play this when the different factions played by the A.I. have like no personality at all. They're all the same in every way. Spamming you with the same **** meaningless praises and requests over and over again.
    2: The UI is lack luster to say the least. Confusing and strange placements.
    3: After playing like 2 games some of the design choice you encounter are so **** aweful that I don't even believe the game designers even played their own game. Like the constant renewals of the trade routes and the workers that simply cannot be automated when researching the teraforming tech, they will ruin you with building stuff that drain all of your energy.
    4: There's no strategic depth at all. The game is bland in every corner and it seems like you could just pick every affinity, virtue and tech at random and it would mean nothing for the outcome of the game.

    Summed up, if you wonder if you want to buy this or Civ 5, go for Civ 5. This is basically Civ 5 only stripped to the bare minimum. This game should be no where near a 50$ price tag. If you really want to try it, try the demo or wait for a steam winter sale or something. I regret buying this game.    … Expand
  35. Spoodey
    Oct 26, 2014
    6
    Loved Civ V. This one (so far) feels like a lifeless version of Civ V with some changes to game mechanics and a science theme. Factions are bland and boring, and progressing in the game just feels... not fun...
  36. m0nitor
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    The AI is frustrating. It's been said 1,394,934,022 times of Civ V so I don't know why they would build on Civ V in making this game without addressing it. Automated workers wander into stupidity and die, enemy units behave illogically. The issues I have with AI are literally identical to the ones I had with Civ V.

    The game is beautiful and I like the atmosphere. The tech web is    The AI is frustrating. It's been said 1,394,934,022 times of Civ V so I don't know why they would build on Civ V in making this game without addressing it. Automated workers wander into stupidity and die, enemy units behave illogically. The issues I have with AI are literally identical to the ones I had with Civ V.

    The game is beautiful and I like the atmosphere. The tech web is nice and while the UI is strange to me I don't mind learning it. I don't need to play the same exact game over and over - I'm capable of learning new things.

    Some of the concepts don't feel fully fleshed out, though. If this is because they're playing at future DLC then I wish they'd stop that crap and build and sell a complete game instead of piecing a complete game out for additional money. But whatever.

    This game isn't horrible and over time (like when they decide to get around to selling me the rest of the game) I'm pretty sure it'll improve greatly.    … Expand
  37. luster
    Oct 24, 2014
    5
    A competent entry in the Civ franchise but dissapointing overall

    This really feels like a mediocre expansion to Civ 5. Despite taking place on a bizarre alien world, the setting feels quite lifeless and dull. The leaders and factions have zero personality. The quotes (that might give some insight into their personalities) are bland and generic and all voiced by the same actor. It's like    A competent entry in the Civ franchise but dissapointing overall

    This really feels like a mediocre expansion to Civ 5. Despite taking place on a bizarre alien world, the setting feels quite lifeless and dull. The leaders and factions have zero personality. The quotes (that might give some insight into their personalities) are bland and generic and all voiced by the same actor. It's like they took everything that was so flavourful and unique about Alpha Centauri and turned it on its head.

    Other than this, the engine is almost identical to civ 5, albeit less polished and balanced mechanics. The affinities are an interesting innovation. The AI presented very little challenge (I was able to win my very first game on the 2nd hardest difficulty without much difficulty). The tech tree is diverse and seems to be based on 'Endless Space' to a large extent. However, it's quite hard to learn what each tech does since they all have baffling (albeit generic) sci-tech names like 'gene harmonics' and 'alien splicing'. Again, unlike previous Civ installments the tech advancements provide very little colour to the world. The AI is also EXTREMELY passive - on hardest difficulty it never attacked me once. This made the game very easy - I just spammed trade units so that I was earning a fortune each turn. It became so easy/tedious that I didn't bother to finish the game.

    There isn't much else to say about this game really. If it was a free fan-made mod for Civ 5 I would call it 'impressive'. However, considering how expensive it is it's hard not to feel dissapointed and a bit ripped off. Perhaps I'm holding it to a higher standard than most games since it's part of the Civ franchise but I don't think that's unreasonable. This will be the last time I pre-order from Firaxis and if you haven't ordered yet I recommend you wait till it's on sale before throwing away your money!    … Expand
  38. JackPaladin
    Oct 26, 2014
    5
    I am reviewing this game on it's own merits, and not comparing it to SMAC.

    It has a couple new twist and additions to Civ 5 engine, but it in no way justifies the outrageous price. I would think $29 would have been a far better price. It has the feel of an unfinished and unpolished beta. With bugs and missing features that seem impossible to have just been "unnoticed" before    I am reviewing this game on it's own merits, and not comparing it to SMAC.

    It has a couple new twist and additions to Civ 5 engine, but it in no way justifies the outrageous price. I would think $29 would have been a far better price.

    It has the feel of an unfinished and unpolished beta. With bugs and missing features that seem impossible to have just been "unnoticed" before release.

    I would highly suggest you wait till a couple more patches, at the very least, before buying. And even better, waiting until the price is dropped by a least half before buying also even after patching/updates.    … Expand
  39. kuburga
    Nov 4, 2014
    2
    I'm a huge Civilization V fan. However this game turned out to be very shallow, very disappointing. Nothing that is worth the price, gets boring pretty fast.
  40. herpderp69
    Oct 28, 2014
    2
    This game has no real challenge. This failing is not just a balance issue, it undermines the central story of the game: colonising a strange, unhospitable, dangerous planet. The dramaturgy of this game does not work, you start out in a good position and then it just snowballs from there.

    I played my first game at the second highest level without knowing what I was doing and I still    This game has no real challenge. This failing is not just a balance issue, it undermines the central story of the game: colonising a strange, unhospitable, dangerous planet. The dramaturgy of this game does not work, you start out in a good position and then it just snowballs from there.

    I played my first game at the second highest level without knowing what I was doing and I still ROFLstomped the AI. One wonders how a decent player might lose the game? The AI is slow to reach victory and do not put up much of a fight and the aliens ar much more of a nuisance than a threat.

    Trade routes are brokenly good and tediously micromanagable. The rate of return on a trade route is 3-5 turns whereas most buildings have a rate of return of 30-50 turns. There is no challenge in colonising this inhospitable planet, you just build a trade depot and two trade routes in every city and then it can more than sustain itself. They seriously need a redesign.

    The tech web looks neat but it is too easy to get to the really strong things early, especially if you take one of the 2 sponsors that get free technologies. If they had used the fourth orbital for more than one tech, it might work better. It is one of the fe places in the game where there are real meaningful decisions.

    After four years Civ V is still unbalanced with some game-breaking bugs. Is there any reason to believe the same will not be the case with Beyond earth? That being said Civ V is till miles ahead of beyond earth at the moment by virtue of being fun.    … Expand
  41. Hellseele
    Oct 28, 2014
    4
    I was sadly disappointed with this game. While it plays much like Civ V, it feels like a lazier, cheaper copy. The game is full of new features, some which work well and some that don't, but ultimately operates more like a Civ V expansion than a proper next installment to the game.

    In the end, I only wanted 3 features fixed from Civ V: mods in multiplayer, improved diplomacy AI, and AI    I was sadly disappointed with this game. While it plays much like Civ V, it feels like a lazier, cheaper copy. The game is full of new features, some which work well and some that don't, but ultimately operates more like a Civ V expansion than a proper next installment to the game.

    In the end, I only wanted 3 features fixed from Civ V: mods in multiplayer, improved diplomacy AI, and AI which contacts players in multiplayer games. This is a list that a lot of people agree with, and have been waiting for since 2010, and not one of them was touched.    … Expand
  42. theirrelephants
    Nov 19, 2014
    1
    There are few things that can make me mad enough to rate a game lower than 5. The game has to be completely broken, bug filled, or just genuinely not fun at all. Or, in the case of Beyond Earth, a reskin of an existing game with no new features (unless you count bugs as a feature) repackaged and sold as a new game for full price in an attempt to cash in on an old, dead series that wasThere are few things that can make me mad enough to rate a game lower than 5. The game has to be completely broken, bug filled, or just genuinely not fun at all. Or, in the case of Beyond Earth, a reskin of an existing game with no new features (unless you count bugs as a feature) repackaged and sold as a new game for full price in an attempt to cash in on an old, dead series that was actually good (Alpha Centauri).

    I'm not sure exactly when things like this became acceptable to do, but it certainly explains why pirating video games is now so widespread. When you can't trust your brand new purchased game to actually be a new game, pirating becomes a must in order to save your wallet.

    This is over fifty dollars I'm never going to get back, so yeah, I'm a little mad I got ripped off like this. Civilization V didn't hold a candle to Civilization IV, but at least it was a new game.    … Expand
  43. Doc_Hopwood
    Nov 20, 2014
    5
    I buy pretty much every Civilization game at some point. This one I bought at release and I was pretty satisfied with it until I realized that it's pretty much a single play through game.

    I had it in my head that this was going to be a bit grander than it actually is. The units are all identical and only vary a little bit based off which affinity you choose. Maybe it was just that I had    I buy pretty much every Civilization game at some point. This one I bought at release and I was pretty satisfied with it until I realized that it's pretty much a single play through game.

    I had it in my head that this was going to be a bit grander than it actually is. The units are all identical and only vary a little bit based off which affinity you choose. Maybe it was just that I had it in my head this was going to be an updated version of Alpha Centauri and really it's like a watered down Civ 5.

    The factions are all pretty much the same. The units are literally the same no matter your faction. The entire universe is populated by the exact same insect like creatures and every planet is just a shuffled around version of every other planet.

    I guess there's a chance it's just me getting tired of the same game over and over again but I don't feel like there were any improvements made here. Pretty disappointed.    … Expand
  44. psybient
    Nov 14, 2014
    1
    Made an account here just to warn people about this game. Do not buy. It is an overwhelmingly mundane and even boring experience. The game doesn't make you care about the world at all. The different faction leaders have no personality and compared to SMAC the game is an absolute let down. Being Australian I paid almost $100 for this game and feel completely ripped off. Also the game hasMade an account here just to warn people about this game. Do not buy. It is an overwhelmingly mundane and even boring experience. The game doesn't make you care about the world at all. The different faction leaders have no personality and compared to SMAC the game is an absolute let down. Being Australian I paid almost $100 for this game and feel completely ripped off. Also the game has issues on some PC's (even top model PC's with latest specs) and keeps crashing on my main gaming rig before I can even load a map so I've been playing it on a laptop.

    The game looks nice (as long as you don't choose an Arid climate otherwise even the graphics are dull) but there is so substance to it whatsoever. It is a mashup of popular sci fi concepts with the very heart and soul ripped out of them leaving you clicking your mouse doing repetitive tasks and not really caring what happens to your civilisation. Winning the game on hardest difficulty is very easy if you just always max out trade routes. It's a shame when you have more than 5 cities you spend half your play time clicking just to manage the trade routes.

    Judging by the difference between user reviews here and critic reviews I can no longer trust big gaming website's reviews: they are obviously just in bed with the developers and were paid to write glowing reviews of a garbage game. Play SMAC instead and I've just purchased Pandora as I've realized that might be the game I've been looking for all along.

    Don't pay full price. Wait for the mods and the patches and get it on sale if you're going to spend your money on it at all.    … Expand
  45. Stevie_D
    Nov 21, 2014
    3
    I was worried that this would be just a graphical total conversion of Civ 5, and be me wasting my money.

    I was largely right. The bit i wasnt right about was just how convoluted and bogged down in frivolous ideas it is. They obviously felt they needed to -try- and add something other than just new graphics, so kudos for trying, but the ideas themselves are lackluster afterthoughts that    I was worried that this would be just a graphical total conversion of Civ 5, and be me wasting my money.

    I was largely right. The bit i wasnt right about was just how convoluted and bogged down in frivolous ideas it is. They obviously felt they needed to -try- and add something other than just new graphics, so kudos for trying, but the ideas themselves are lackluster afterthoughts that feel pointless and meaningless.

    The developers would have been better served by thinking "lets not worry about keeping it SO close to the original Civ5 experience, and introduce some bold new ideas that may disgruntle 1 or 2, but make it more fresh for everyone else."

    Its game design by attempting add safe, little ideas that dont change it from being Civ5. But Civ5 was already at that point of being streamlined enough, but having enough features to keep it interesting.

    I felt bored. I felt bogged down, and like i was being asked to play Civ5, but with a lot more pointless-feeling tasks, and a tech tree that was counter intuitive and lacked playtesting.

    And because of all this, it still felt like just an expansion, and not worth the money of a new game in its own right. A large disappointment for me indeed.    … Expand
  46. TomSEA
    Oct 27, 2014
    6
    Enough here to keep you engaged for 3 or 4 run-throughs, but after that - it amounts to a re-skinned Civ 5. Aside from the space theme, the similarities are obvious. The voice-overs for the various leaders are very lack-luster and the tech-tree can be overwhelming at the beginning. The graphics don't seem to be as refined or crisp as Civ 5. The monsters don't seem to be worth the timeEnough here to keep you engaged for 3 or 4 run-throughs, but after that - it amounts to a re-skinned Civ 5. Aside from the space theme, the similarities are obvious. The voice-overs for the various leaders are very lack-luster and the tech-tree can be overwhelming at the beginning. The graphics don't seem to be as refined or crisp as Civ 5. The monsters don't seem to be worth the time or reward to fight. Easier just to avoid them.

    Having said that, it's still a decent Civilization game - it's not awful, just what we've seen before. The average Civ fan will get dozens of hours out of it. I'd wait until it hits the $20 (or lower) mark before buying as there's not enough there to differentiate it from Civ 5..    … Expand
  47. Vagiclean
    Oct 26, 2014
    3
    Games I left not all that well, expectations were grandiose in connection with idea, and execution was poor. Concerning a gameplay, the branch of researches with sad badges simply kills, sad units look as a toy for children from 5 to 10 years, diplomacy didn't change in any way. Game needed to be let out as addon to Сivilization 5.
  48. a20012322
    Nov 6, 2014
    2
    Disappointing game. Nothing like alpha centauri other than it is sci-fi theme.

    1) Turns are slow, actually everything is a bit slow and it gets worse as the game goes on (Worse than Civ5 when it clearly is using the same engine, so there is some regression in their optimization that is for sure). 2) Boring, there is very little to differentiate anything everything comes from the base    Disappointing game. Nothing like alpha centauri other than it is sci-fi theme.

    1) Turns are slow, actually everything is a bit slow and it gets worse as the game goes on (Worse than Civ5 when it clearly is using the same engine, so there is some regression in their optimization that is for sure).

    2) Boring, there is very little to differentiate anything everything comes from the base set of units and just has a skin that changes with alignment.

    3) Three alignments are basically the same thing, wonders are useless, and so on...

    Terrible, seems like a mod of Civ5 not a full price game.    … Expand
  49. Sjalka
    Oct 27, 2014
    6
    I will compare that game to the old Alpha Centauri (hopefully that is fair to do)

    Beyond Earth feels just different enough from Cvilization not to be confused as a mod - however - the planet and playstyle is still too similar to civilization so you never really get the feeling to be on an alien planet. ( could as well be earth with a mutant mod ) Alpha Centauri felt much more alien -    I will compare that game to the old Alpha Centauri (hopefully that is fair to do)

    Beyond Earth feels just different enough from Cvilization not to be confused as a mod - however - the planet and playstyle is still too similar to civilization so you never really get the feeling to be on an alien planet. ( could as well be earth with a mutant mod )

    Alpha Centauri felt much more alien - landscape and design was so different from civilization that it was never confused for something earth-like.

    Where Alpha Centauri scored big time was the technologies AND how they were delivered. Starting with future tech and getting more and more trancendent - Beyond Earth fails in that department. The commentary by the factions upon reaching a tech was kept, but the voice acting is worse than in Alpha Centauri - also what they say about the tech is less interesting ( mostly due to the factions being a lot less fundamental/extreme )

    The graphics seem to be a little worse than Civ 5 - not so much in quality, but in design; but not by a greatly significant margin. The sound and music can only be described as average.

    Personally, i find it a little sad that the "original" .. Alpha Centauri beats this remake in terms of atmosphere a hundred times.

    However - Beyond Earth is not a bad game. It is very playable - it just feels like the dumbed down junior version of a much more mature Alpha Centauri.    … Expand
  50. Truth_
    Nov 5, 2014
    5
    It's about what I, and so many others, were expecting: A Civ V reskin with little to offer than Civ V had, and taking nearly nothing from its inspiration, Alpha Centauri.

    There was quite the crowd of complainers that Civilization V was lacking compared to IV, however, an at least somewhat valid excuse was that Firaxis had to design and create a new engine as well as update all the    It's about what I, and so many others, were expecting: A Civ V reskin with little to offer than Civ V had, and taking nearly nothing from its inspiration, Alpha Centauri.

    There was quite the crowd of complainers that Civilization V was lacking compared to IV, however, an at least somewhat valid excuse was that Firaxis had to design and create a new engine as well as update all the graphics. What was the excuse this time? It is the same engine, and the graphics and art style have not been changed. It looks like many assets were slightly altered and plugged back in, too. So what did we get in exchange for this time savings?

    Exploration, aliens/barbarians, the tech tree, factions, and unit upgrades were changed. But the exploration is still largely bland, the aliens are uninspired and otherwise in fact worse functionally than barbarians, the tech tree is refreshing yet convoluted and seemingly random (as opposed to Endless Space's themed branches), the factions have no character, and unit upgrades are simple, boring, and unbalanced. Adding in quests like Endless Legend and a bit of story was nice, but the choices are the same every game and lead to nothing in the future.

    Additionally, the strategic resources were made irrelevant until the late game, luxury goods were removed, health was made easy to manage, and the UI is missing critical options and information (that existed in Civ V). Finally, the AI is incredibly passive and dumber than a sack of potatoes. Again Civ V's removal of the Giant Stack of Death meets its flaws: inability to move armies and attack cities as well as the AI's inability to functionally attack in most instances.

    I wrote a large essay on another website that exceeds my limit here, and plenty of other reviews go into detail about many of my points and more. All I would like to add is that although I was not expecting much, Civilization: Beyond Earth is still a disappointment. It is somehow worse than its predecessor, Civilization V, takes nothing from Alpha Centauri (a game lauded by a loving fanbase), and puts no effort into a truly interesting and fun science-fiction setting (no creativity in units, aliens, resources, terrain types, map effects, map design, factions, or mechanics).

    Ultimately the game is okay from an objective, stand-alone perspective. But when I know it's from a long-standing series and was inspired by Alpha Centauri, and now has competitors like Sins of a Solar Empire, Endless Space, and others... I can't help but rate the game poorly.

    I have little doubt interesting things will be sold later as DLC, but it disheartens me greatly to think we must pay extra to get a game we wanted in the first place. Perhaps next time, Firaxis... but I doubt it.    … Expand
  51. atr577
    Nov 28, 2014
    3
    A boring reskin of Civ5.
    I quit when I suddenly realized I was making myself to make that one more turn. Nothing new was going to happen anyway.
    In 30 minutes I lost that feeling, I was doing something meaningful; I was simply gathering resource to gather more resource to build that victory condition. Hard to say exactly why, but in CivV I constantly feel like I am choosing a way for my    A boring reskin of Civ5.
    I quit when I suddenly realized I was making myself to make that one more turn. Nothing new was going to happen anyway.
    In 30 minutes I lost that feeling, I was doing something meaningful; I was simply gathering resource to gather more resource to build that victory condition. Hard to say exactly why, but in CivV I constantly feel like I am choosing a way for my people to develop. Here, I dig res.

    Things I did not like:
    - Resources are a copy paste from CivV with different names. Not bad in itself, but not good either.
    - Civilizations are all the same. Bonuses differ, but leaders do not feel unique. Just random talking heads saying all the same. No feeling "that civ has a background" like in CivV.
    - Civilizations do not do anything interesting. The only things I got from them was "stop killing these aliens" and "give me something, and I will be grateful to you for that". Was fun the first time I received these, but then they just kept spamming same messages repeatedly. They never tried to push me in any manner.
    - Units are all the same. They start to differ when you develop an affinity, but still, they feel all the same. Just units, able to deal damage. I did not feel the need to think like 'ok, i will place an archer behind that militia so that if the barb moves that way, he would be blocked and if that way, he will be stuck in mountains'. Just push with whatever...
    - Units have no tactical promotions. They just increase in strength (the only promotion is +10% str). In CivV I had to think whether I want strength bonus to deal with barbs, or ranged def to attack a civ soon.
    - Units get upgraded to next tech tier at once. No need to plan your finance to be able to upgrade the army for upcoming war. Just research the tech.
    - Tech web is confusing. It is probably not bad, but confusing. The development variants are quite numerous (which is good!), but unless you studied and memorized the whole tech web, a good decision cannot be made. Each time I opened the web I pondered for several minutes, thinking what I would get from a tech, and which techs I will access after that. I do not want to spend time studying game mech, I want to feel I can make a valid, if not optimal, game decision on spot.
    - Wonders are stuff you build to get resource bonuses. No wonder picture, just some blueprint. No short and clear description what that thing actually is. No feeling you build something unique. Just another resource factory.
    - Caravans now originate from each city and have to be assigned manually. You also have to remember if you have max number of them in every city. Tedious.
    - It is probably just me, but I did not like the landscape colors. Overall, the land is bleak and inexpressive. Again, I liked it first, but it became a boring view soon.
    - (Fun part) In intro, a priest is crossing the Russian vessel before launch. I know they really do it (sadly) nowadays, but flying on holy spirit is a slap in the face of science. Disliked it.

    Things I liked:
    - Affinity system idea. Not how it was done.
    - Aliens. Piu-piu.
    - Space theme. Unit models look good.

    Definitely not worth the money, probably not worth to play at all. Might get better with DLCs, but unless they get REALLY positive reviews, it is hard to believe BE will ever surpass CivV.    … Expand
  52. Reiver1
    Nov 8, 2014
    1
    I have specifically signed up to this site just to warn others how bad this game is. Civ 5 has a lot of flaws, this is a re skinned version of the same game.
    I played it for a day - then bought Alpha Centuri and spent the rest of the week playing that! So i suppose that's where the score of 2 comes from.
  53. MongoLloyd
    Dec 20, 2014
    3
    five dollar game at best. why that requires a hundred and fifty characters to get across is absurd. the beauty of language is the minimal effort it takes to say, "the game is not so good. 310. wait for it to be five dollars" done.
  54. vjosullivan
    Nov 27, 2014
    3
    Early days yet but very disappointed, so far. CBE appears to be little more than an "alien" theme or skin thrown over Civilization V. The game play is identical and the various bonuses and hazards dotted about the landscape behave in much the same way as before, albeit while looking totally different. Side quests are new and welcome but are little more than a distraction on the way toEarly days yet but very disappointed, so far. CBE appears to be little more than an "alien" theme or skin thrown over Civilization V. The game play is identical and the various bonuses and hazards dotted about the landscape behave in much the same way as before, albeit while looking totally different. Side quests are new and welcome but are little more than a distraction on the way to WORLD DOMINATION (oops, I meant world harmony, peace and love).

    The empires are very impersonal and I am experiencing little of the "one more turn" drive that comes from the motivation to make your own empire bigger and better. Here, I find myself mildly interested but not really engaged with my "colony".

    Graphics are very dark and very cluttered making it very difficult to see exactly what is in front of you.    … Expand
  55. faelinn
    Nov 30, 2014
    3
    Once again, extremely disappointed.

    Game is a cash grab. It has new art, and new music. With a tech tree that makes 0 sense, wonders that do not have ANY benefit to any victory and 95% of the military units are useless.

    I strongly advise you stick to Civ 5. This game was undoubtedly a project from a junior producer.

    Stay very far away
  56. Archontos
    Nov 13, 2014
    6
    Civilization 5 with graphics mod. These two or three additional features are much much smaller than any DLC to earlier Civ games. Classical rip-off, nevertheless just as good as normal Civ5. If you have Civ5 - don't buy. You already saw 95% of the game and new graphics can be watched in demo version on Steam.
  57. Vendaron
    Nov 27, 2014
    4
    Graphically the game is impressive. However if you've been playing Civ 5 there's not enough newness to justify paying $49.99 for this game. If you haven't played Civ 5 before then maybe the $49.99 is justifiable.

    Given the hype of the game before launch my expectations were high, however they were dashed soon after I started playing. :(
  58. Cyberlion
    Nov 5, 2014
    5
    After the initial few hours of euphoria exploring a new alpha centauri game, I realized there were no significant innovations since its predecessor. All the factions, aliens and planets look and feel the same. After the first few hours, I realized there are no new gameplay mechanics. Graphics, sounds gameplay all mediocre. I built up a colony, explored the map, built a few units andAfter the initial few hours of euphoria exploring a new alpha centauri game, I realized there were no significant innovations since its predecessor. All the factions, aliens and planets look and feel the same. After the first few hours, I realized there are no new gameplay mechanics. Graphics, sounds gameplay all mediocre. I built up a colony, explored the map, built a few units and realized I have as much desire to continue playing as I do to replay Civ 5.… Expand
  59. Ragotag
    Nov 12, 2014
    1
    Civ5 caused me to loose faith in the Civilization franchise; with Beyond Earth I've now lost all faith in Firaxis and Sid Meier. What a huge disappointment.
  60. KyleSearle
    Nov 17, 2014
    4
    Civ: Beyond Earth is a giant meh, that compares rarely poorly with it's prior art, Alpha Centauri. Here I was hoping for something with some novelty, like Sid Meier's Colonization, but in space. Instead we get the same old Civ formula, with some new skins. The gameplay itself is very cookie cutter and lacks any of the energy that Alpha Centauri carried to the table. AI is also massivelyCiv: Beyond Earth is a giant meh, that compares rarely poorly with it's prior art, Alpha Centauri. Here I was hoping for something with some novelty, like Sid Meier's Colonization, but in space. Instead we get the same old Civ formula, with some new skins. The gameplay itself is very cookie cutter and lacks any of the energy that Alpha Centauri carried to the table. AI is also massively inferior to Alpha Centauri, and provides no challenge even on the very first playthrough. This was a good opportunity to try and explore colonization on an extra-solar world and the designers were -far- too conservative and made a very dull reskin.

    Short answer: get Alpha Centauri on Gog.com.    … Expand
  61. matt79
    Nov 20, 2014
    5
    This is a reskin of Civ5 with all the expansions taken out, no improvements, and problems in the interface department (20% of the game time I'm setting the trade routes). I'm dissapointed. Game is ok, but i just don't see the point in playing it when I have a fully developed Civ5.
  62. Dethmar
    Jan 12, 2015
    4
    I've been coming to metacritic for years to read reviews and opinions. You always have to read the user reviews with a grain of salt as there are far too many gut reaction reviews thrown in. However, I've put in a good 20 hours into this game and can't help but feel utterly and completely cheated and disappointed.

    I am a big fan of the series, recently playing Civ V for over 60    I've been coming to metacritic for years to read reviews and opinions. You always have to read the user reviews with a grain of salt as there are far too many gut reaction reviews thrown in. However, I've put in a good 20 hours into this game and can't help but feel utterly and completely cheated and disappointed.

    I am a big fan of the series, recently playing Civ V for over 60 hours...I absolutely loved that game. Beyond Earth takes so many of the things that were good in Civ V and either simply rehashes them with space-like skins or removes them from the game entirely. Believable AI personalities with character? Gone. A good variety of units for each race? Gone (yes you get more variety as you progress through the game but a lot are just a very slight variation on the previous unit). Building an empire through various Ages in technology and innovation? Gone (instead a dependent-based tech tree is utilized and it's not pretty).

    Beyond Earth uses the same graphics engine as Civ V...this isn't necessarily a negative b/c I love the art style in both games. However, it makes it feel like a professional mod instead of a full priced game. In fact, almost every aspect of the game could have been created with a mod. If the game sold as a $25 expansion, it would have been a good addition to the series.

    In my over 20 years of gaming, I've never been so upset and disappointed in a release. This past fall saw some great games drop (see Dragon Age, Destiny, Endless Legend, Divinity, Talos Principle) and I was looking forward to Beyond Earth above them all. All in all, the game has a great concept that is lazy in its execution and innovation.    … Expand
  63. uenoparker
    Feb 20, 2015
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After having a great time playing Civ IV and Civ V, I confess to being very disappointed with Civ BE. When you think of a futuristic game, what comes to mind? Advanced technologies? Maybe that's too much... what about modern, 21st century technologies? Still too much? How about mid-20th century? No?

    This game purports to have you as an interstellar colonial mission, and yet you are unable to map the planet's surface before landing. You are unable to develop a satellite that actually orbits the planet. You rely on trucks and ships to move materials rather than aircraft. Your scouts are ground-bound.

    What is the point of this? Civ V (and even Civ IV) plays better. Skip this over-priced offering and stick to one of the older games that's likely available much cheaper and with less room to disappoint.    … Expand
  64. Woopya
    Nov 14, 2014
    5
    This is a tough 1 for me. I have been playing Civ games for a long time and while I do think this game is fun to play, I just do not feel it is different enough from Civ 5 to be considered a new game and not just a mod to Civ 5. They try to give it a sci fi feel to it, but it kinda fails because we are stuck playing as the same old rearranged human factions with new names. 1 of the keysThis is a tough 1 for me. I have been playing Civ games for a long time and while I do think this game is fun to play, I just do not feel it is different enough from Civ 5 to be considered a new game and not just a mod to Civ 5. They try to give it a sci fi feel to it, but it kinda fails because we are stuck playing as the same old rearranged human factions with new names. 1 of the keys to success, as well as the most difficult aspects to sci fi genres is the aspect of lore. This game has a backstory, but it isnt really a lore. We are not really given any reason to want to play any particular faction nor are we given any reason to dislike any particular faction. That is what the historical aspect of the regular Civ games gives us that this game lacks. There are some new smallish features changed or added , but nothing that really grabs me. So I find that I do play it, for now but it doesnt consume me the way new Civ games usually do. In truth it just feels like an "inbetween "release, or an expansion to Civ 5. But in truth, in just a couple days I found my desire to play Civ was greater than it was to play this game.… Expand
  65. RickAucoin
    Jun 16, 2015
    1
    Talk about incredibly disappointing. Had no one in the dev team ever looked at Sid Meyers Alpha Centauri or Alien Crossfire?
    Did they not take note of how much atmosphere and character the SMAC devs managed to include in that game from low rez still images and voice-overs? How distinct the factions were from each other and how there was never any confusion as to what the goals and    Talk about incredibly disappointing. Had no one in the dev team ever looked at Sid Meyers Alpha Centauri or Alien Crossfire?
    Did they not take note of how much atmosphere and character the SMAC devs managed to include in that game from low rez still images and voice-overs? How distinct the factions were from each other and how there was never any confusion as to what the goals and actions of the various factions might be if you found yourself opposing them?
    If Sister Miriam ended up next door you knew what you were in for.
    So much incredible CHARACTER was in that game, and it was established by the technology voice-over quotes and the world wonder quotes as much as anything.
    Beyond Earth has NONE OF IT.
    And everything that is bad about CivV is included here in spades, just in case you missed needing a space the size of Nevada to make a u-turn in your bomber plane or needed a space the size of the Great Plains to have two tank divisions and an infantry squad maneuver.
    What was the point of this game? It's not even a good CivV reskin!
    There's no character. There's no FEEL to it. There's no distinction between the "factions" you get to pick from. There's no significant difference in how one or the other will behave when they are your neighbor. You will NEVER feel dread from discovering "Oh, no, Whatsername is my neighbor!" It just doesn't matter.
    And the Wonder Movies? Hah! The endgame? Hah!
    How, HOW, can an entire highly paid developer team not get ANY of the aspects that made SMAC a true classic of the genre right in this game? It doesn't appear that they even TRIED to do so.
    Trying and failing would be one thing. But this... this is just basic CivV with all its many flaws and shortcomings, with a mediocre sci-fi style mod set.
    I wouldn't approve of this if it were a freebie mod I downloaded for CivV. Much less as a full priced game.
    And the worst part? Firaxis will look at this game's poor performance in sales and critical reviews and just say "Well, there you go, turn based strategy just doesn't do well these days. Let's go spend all our time making Call of Duty knockoffs!"
    When it's not the game genre that is the problem. It's the utter lack of Firaxis even TRYING to make this game include all of the amazing stuff SMAC had.
    SMAC was Firaxis's first real success. There's no way I'll believe Firaxis doesn't know exactly what was awesome about that game. I just can't believe that.
    So why is none of it IN THIS GAME??    … Expand
  66. Yyrkroon
    Nov 9, 2014
    5
    I hate to pile on, but this game deserves it. I'm a long time fan of the Civilization, going back to Civ I on the Atari ST. This is by far the worst of a great franchise. It isn't a horrible game - nothing like M003, but it isn't really worthy of the Civ, or Sid Meier, moniker either. It is very lack lustre and lacks the famous, "just one more turn" digital-crack addiction of its siblings.I hate to pile on, but this game deserves it. I'm a long time fan of the Civilization, going back to Civ I on the Atari ST. This is by far the worst of a great franchise. It isn't a horrible game - nothing like M003, but it isn't really worthy of the Civ, or Sid Meier, moniker either. It is very lack lustre and lacks the famous, "just one more turn" digital-crack addiction of its siblings.

    Had this game arrived side-by-side with Civ 5 in 2010, it might have been received better, but it hasn't really brought much more to the table than a semi-ambitious fan mod of Civ 5. The 4x genre has evolved in the last 4 years, and new comers such as Endless Legends really put this to shame.    … Expand
  67. owen1218
    Dec 14, 2014
    4
    Exactly what Firaxis said it wouldn't be: a mod of Civ V. For the standards of a mod it isn't a bad one, but it's absurd to sell this as if it was a new game.
  68. Nightioz
    Feb 17, 2015
    5
    I'm sad to say that this game really makes me wanting to go back and play the old Alpha Centauri game, instead of this one. Only thing this does better is the new updated graphics. The rest is just way too dull designed.

    Too bad, since I have been dreaming of a new Alpha Centauri game since I completed that the first time years back.
  69. Boras
    Nov 12, 2014
    4
    Is this game Bad? YES! definitely. I felt so disappointed when I saw that this was another Civilization 5 with new graphic, a stupid techtree and a meaningless Victory.

    They tried to add narration with Quest System, it could work, but why there is no conclusion at the end of the Game? no explanation, no story, nothing, you go back to the main menu and that's it... so contraddicting    Is this game Bad? YES! definitely. I felt so disappointed when I saw that this was another Civilization 5 with new graphic, a stupid techtree and a meaningless Victory.

    They tried to add narration with Quest System, it could work, but why there is no conclusion at the end of the Game? no explanation, no story, nothing, you go back to the main menu and that's it... so contraddicting

    no new mechanics, it is Civilization 5 with new graphic, nothing more.    … Expand
  70. Robobob
    Jan 4, 2015
    5
    I got Civilization: Beyond Earth for Christmas and finally got around to playing it. I have been a long time Civilization fan, starting with the first one from the early 90's. I've never played Alpha Centauri, though so I cannot compare. Looking at the User Score.. a 5 is about accurate. It's an OK game, not terrible, not great.

    I'll start with some of the pros. I like the Affinity    I got Civilization: Beyond Earth for Christmas and finally got around to playing it. I have been a long time Civilization fan, starting with the first one from the early 90's. I've never played Alpha Centauri, though so I cannot compare. Looking at the User Score.. a 5 is about accurate. It's an OK game, not terrible, not great.

    I'll start with some of the pros. I like the Affinity system: researching certain technologies to increase my level with a certain affinity. These increases in affininty can automatically upgrade my units, which is another great plus. No need to rebuild units or return to base to upgrade. The units upgrade immediately with a great increase in Power. That is nice.

    Another pro: The Quest system gives you little missions with bonuses to achieve when completed. Though, there weren't nearly enough of them in the mid to late game to keep things interesting. Also, when new buildings are built for the first time you can choose a bonus to add to that building. That is nice.

    Another pro: There is a huge technology tree with tons of things to research, which leaves tons of buildings to build. This actually leads to a con: There are so many buildings to build and it's very easy to very quickly have huge cities with high production and "energy" (or gold) output. But it is impossible to keep up with the Health stat. My entire civ takes a penalty if it is "unhealthy" so I'm constantly scouring the huge and confusing tech web to find anything to help improve my health. And there isn't much. As a perfectionist, I found it annoying that I couldn't improve this stat at even easy difficulty.

    The next big con: The game is dull. The Civilization games are a great race to build that awesome Wonder you need, or research that next big tech to give you the big edge on the battlefield. I didn't feel that at all on this game. Every Wonder just gave you more production, energy, food bonuses, etc. No techs really stuck out and were kind of confusing. I chased after a couple techs to increase my Affinity, but other than that my research was mostly random.

    Games like this have to realize that they need to keep me interested by throwing something at me to keep me fishing for the next tech or Wonder. One that changes up the game or give me something more than just a production bonus. Or give me a cool cutscene to show my patience and strategy paid off. Otherwise it feels like a slow grind to.. nothing.    … Expand
  71. Megatanis
    Mar 23, 2015
    4
    Sid Meier's last good game (and it was very good..) was Civilization IV. Ace patrol was nice, yeah.
    Beyond Earth is boring, it's a reskin of Civ5 (which I absolutely disliked), and as a successor of Alpha Centauri it doesn't even get close. I still remember those secret project videos, absolutely brilliant. Alpha Centauri was (is) a much better game. Beyond Earth is not a terrible game, I    Sid Meier's last good game (and it was very good..) was Civilization IV. Ace patrol was nice, yeah.
    Beyond Earth is boring, it's a reskin of Civ5 (which I absolutely disliked), and as a successor of Alpha Centauri it doesn't even get close. I still remember those secret project videos, absolutely brilliant. Alpha Centauri was (is) a much better game. Beyond Earth is not a terrible game, I just find it uninteresting, boring and easy. Would deserve a 5 but I'm angry, because I know the Man can do a lot more, even though it's ten years things got a bit..streamlined.    … Expand
  72. 123456
    May 25, 2015
    5
    I started playing Civ 5 again a couple of months ago (mid 2015) without any expansions, and whilst shopping for those I saw a deal on this and thought I would give it a try. For reference I played Civ 2-5 but not Alpha Centauri and I'm reviewing version 1.0.2.666

    The first thing I noticed was the game engine, it's exactly the same as Civ 5. That is not necessarily a bad thing but I did    I started playing Civ 5 again a couple of months ago (mid 2015) without any expansions, and whilst shopping for those I saw a deal on this and thought I would give it a try. For reference I played Civ 2-5 but not Alpha Centauri and I'm reviewing version 1.0.2.666

    The first thing I noticed was the game engine, it's exactly the same as Civ 5. That is not necessarily a bad thing but I did expect more than a reskin of a 5 year old game. Where happiness was, now we have health, and gold has become energy, among other rebrandings.

    Gameplay wise, the technology structure going from tree to web is a nice touch, giving a more open ended narrative compared to the history of human science. Things like borders and exploring remain from Civ 5, although they do not make much sense when you have so much technology that you can launch satellites and the planet is uninhabited by intelligent life, but you can forgive this as a game principle.

    The AI is quite unforgivable though. If you get an idea of how to play the AI will never attack you. The difficulty settings, like Civ 5, are based on giving the AI cheats instead of making it more tactically effective. It will attack other nations or independent stations (which you have no diplomacy option to complain about) or beg you for resources with the offer of favours, which are quite worthless.

    When war does finally break out, you end up being heavily penalised in Health (should you take an enemy city) or in reduced trade routes, which are extremely valuable throughout the game. If you set up your armies correctly you can rarely lose a unit to the rather incompetent AI. In fact, after entering into a war with several nations, and barely even a laser beam fired, I am offered a peace treaty and one of their cities! Not only is the AI incompetent, it actually wants you to win with as little fuss as possible.

    The affinity system is the basis for your new societies beliefs, or whatever. In actuality, it represents what upgrades your units get, and much like Leonardo's Workshop in Civ II, all your units are upgraded automatically. It also turns your cities a different colour. The levels for this are linked to the tech web, meaning science heavily outweighs culture in this game. This is also because most of the victory conditions rely on research. Whilst there are cultural borders and virtues provide buffs, there is no cultural victory (but military domination remains).

    The early game with explorers and aliens is quite fun as you try and dodge their nests and find relics and escape pods that aren't covered in poisonous gas, much like the early game of Civ 5 is enjoyable for finding city states and ruins whilst dodging barbarians. Quickly though the game becomes a grind, mostly due to the weak AI and the build more research more repeat actions, followed by the all too familiar "Next Turn" button spam.

    One of the most disappointing things is the lack of visual stimulation with regard to the tech and wonders. When you build a wonder you receive a pop-up screen with an image of a futuristic blueprint that basically looks like nothing at all, a quote which means very little out of context, and the buff it gives you. These are supposed to be world shaping discoveries but outside of the civilopedia the game offers you nothing. This was fine in Civ 5, it's Earth. But this is the unknown fiction.

    Beyond Earth is not a bad game but it feels very undercooked. With the first expansion coming later this year I hope, unlike the Earth the game leaves behind, Firaxis are more about looking back to what needs to be fixed before looking forward to new challenges to explore.    … Expand
  73. ultraviper
    Apr 26, 2016
    5
    Some people claim this is a re-skin of Civ 5, but it's not. It's worse than that. Almost everything about this game is worse than previous games. The military units have been reduced to a small handful that automatically upgrade as your tech level rises. The tech web is confusing and hard to navigate. Aliens (the new barbarians) cover the entire map and go from being a danger early game toSome people claim this is a re-skin of Civ 5, but it's not. It's worse than that. Almost everything about this game is worse than previous games. The military units have been reduced to a small handful that automatically upgrade as your tech level rises. The tech web is confusing and hard to navigate. Aliens (the new barbarians) cover the entire map and go from being a danger early game to a frusration late game where they are STILL all over the map but pose no real threat. Trade routes are mandatory because of how powerful they are, yet they are implemented in a very annoying way that makes you choose trade destinations way too often. Health (the new happniess) is badly balanced and from what I've found it's impossible to keep it in the positive numbers if you have more than one city, until late game when your virtue tree bonuses can bring it back up. And playing with just one city in games like this is just not fun. Skip this one, play Civ 4 or 5 instead.… Expand
  74. iseeall
    Jan 14, 2015
    5
    What do you expect... Brian Reynolds who was the designer behind Alpha Centauri and Civ 2 left Firaxis long ago. AC is my favorite game of all time, and I still play it. Yes, AC has some minor flaws (like, poorly tested endgame, and some minor bugs with happiness display and predicted outcomes of worms vs fusion powered units) which could be fixed with 1-2 patches, but in general AC is aWhat do you expect... Brian Reynolds who was the designer behind Alpha Centauri and Civ 2 left Firaxis long ago. AC is my favorite game of all time, and I still play it. Yes, AC has some minor flaws (like, poorly tested endgame, and some minor bugs with happiness display and predicted outcomes of worms vs fusion powered units) which could be fixed with 1-2 patches, but in general AC is a perfect game. It corrected all the flaws of Civ 2 and expanded many of its features. AC could easily be the last game in the series. Yet, to keep monetizing the franchise, they made the awful Civ 3, then Civ 4 (which I also didn't like due to absence of collateral damage) and Civ 5 (which I bought on a crazy Steam sale with all expansions for just 1.5 euros or so) - I tried hard to like Civ 5 and played it maybe 8 times but no, I still failed to like it really. Civ 5 was an ok game but so far from AC. Now comes this game, which is mostly a reskin of Civ 5, with many features removed and without even a proper tutorial (?). It's definitely worse than Civ 5 and undoubtedly worse than AC. Good thing I tried a demo first. The demo crashed after 20 mins of play. The worst thing about Civ: BE (which other reviewers didn't mention, or I didn't see it) - is that the terrain tiles are just a mess of gray and violet colors. It's very hard to tell where miasma is, and where hills are. Even in Civ 5 I wouldn't usually be able to see the terrain types and even the units (!) properly, if not the icons hovering over them. But here it's just nonsense. The bad design decisions which I didn't like in Civ 5 stay here too: "unlockable" civics which stay with you forever (instead of selectable ones like in AC), crippled diplomacy system, too abstract and too simplified espionage system, 1-unit-per-tile rule. Now, here they removed the unit editor, the water bases, terrain up/down, and the psy combat. The small improvements (like, more interesting tech system and the quests) don't really save the situation. It will be funny if no one ever reaches the level of Alpha Centauri :) It's similar to what happened to Jagged Alliance 2. So many remakes, and all were a disappointment to the fans.… Expand
  75. Shane_IL
    Dec 16, 2014
    5
    I was very excited for a new civ game with a different spin, but my excitement was short lived. This game is basically Civ 5 in space. They really could have done some great stuff with this concept, but nope, you're pitted up against other human civilizations with pretty much the same graphics, game-play mechanics and development trees as previous title, just in space.
  76. paranoid77
    Jan 20, 2016
    3
    Please, please; dont put civilization and Respectful Sid Meier name on this game. Its a shame and disappointment to make a game like this from S.Meier. A very very bad imitation of civilization.
    They just change the terrain and units and buildings and science. But where is AI. Its soo stupid.
    Dont buy this game, buy CIV 5 and play with mods, Mods created by players are much better then    Please, please; dont put civilization and Respectful Sid Meier name on this game. Its a shame and disappointment to make a game like this from S.Meier. A very very bad imitation of civilization.
    They just change the terrain and units and buildings and science. But where is AI. Its soo stupid.
    Dont buy this game, buy CIV 5 and play with mods, Mods created by players are much better then this and its free.    … Expand
  77. FreeAsInBeer
    Dec 29, 2014
    2
    Let me start by saying that I've never played Alpha Centauri, so I don't have any expectations for this being a "spiritual successor," etc. However, I have spent hundreds of hours with Civilization V, its expansion packs and some of the previous Civilization games. That said, my expectations for this game were quite high. And unfortunately, I was disappointed.

    This game feels like a    Let me start by saying that I've never played Alpha Centauri, so I don't have any expectations for this being a "spiritual successor," etc. However, I have spent hundreds of hours with Civilization V, its expansion packs and some of the previous Civilization games. That said, my expectations for this game were quite high. And unfortunately, I was disappointed.

    This game feels like a reskin of Civ V, but not as polished; most aspects of the game have a one-to-one correlation with it. Instead of gold, you have energy. Happiness is now health. Workers now ride in robot machine things (which can enter water tiles, so that's cool). Espionage is still there, founding cities works relatively similarly, and fighting is exactly how it did in Civ V (with the exception of getting mutilated by incredibly overpowered and sometimes aggressive aliens).

    There are several negative changes to the game as well. Some of those include:
    - Barbs have been replaced with aliens, which are even more random and difficult to deal with. They don't attack your cities as frequently, but they can utterly destroy early game units. If you're unfortunate enough to have several nests located near your founding city, and you're playing on anything beyond easier difficulties, exploration can be hindered because of this.
    - When you research a tech or build a wonder, a dialog pops up with a quote (and no picture). The quote is entirely fictional and doesn't carry emotional/historical weight like the quotes from Civ V.
    - No religion. I know this was part of a Civ V expansion, but without this system the game feels less complete. Being in space there are tons of new systems they could incorporate that wouldn't work as well in a historical setting. It seems like this could have been in vanilla BE, and they simply chose not to include it.
    - Victory conditions are not equally difficult to achieve, meaning that most players will opt for the easier win conditions.
    - Owning a sprawling empire is simply not economically possible like it was in Civ V. If you own any more than a handful of cities in the first 150 turns, your economy will tank.

    Perhaps I'm judging this game too harshly because I know what Firaxis can achieve, and this simply misses the mark. Perhaps I'm being unfair comparing Civ V + expansions to a recently released title. But even comparing BE to vanilla Civ V, this game is a disappointment and would be better offered as an optional expansion pack to Civ V than a standalone game. I recommend waiting to purchase this game until an expansion comes out that balances what's there, and adds more systems to make the game feel more complete. Maybe I'll give it another shot when that happens.    … Expand
  78. masterhoodwinke
    Nov 11, 2014
    6
    Missed opportunity here in Beyond Earth. I've played and loved all previous Civ games. This one just feels rushed, like a re-skinned Civ 5 Mod. Yes the Tech tree is new, and a step in the right direction, but I found it almost boring. The space age technologies are so incomprehensible that it takes the joy out of technological progress. What the hell are half of these technologies...Missed opportunity here in Beyond Earth. I've played and loved all previous Civ games. This one just feels rushed, like a re-skinned Civ 5 Mod. Yes the Tech tree is new, and a step in the right direction, but I found it almost boring. The space age technologies are so incomprehensible that it takes the joy out of technological progress. What the hell are half of these technologies... why should I care? Is it just me or was researching gunpowder before any other players in Civ 5 incredibly satisfying? Nothing in BE can come close to that.

    Setting is interesting, but shallow and unremarkable in many ways. There is really no difference between any of the civilizations so replay is hindered. There is little to no lore in this Civ BE universe...

    Bottom line is this game is a missed opportunity and not worth the price. Not enough innovation or experimentation to justify a full new title. It will feel almost exactly the same as Civ 5. Yes I still love the Civilization franchise and I'll be there for the next game. With that said my trust in Sid Meyer as a innovative "Elon Musk" of Strategy video games is shaken.

    Try out Endless Legend if you want a really fresh innovative take on 4 x strategy games. I'm loving it.    … Expand
  79. Swiftright
    Jan 1, 2015
    3
    Writing this review kills me, I wanted to love this game, I really did. But it is just a re-skinned version of Civ5 minus all of the character that made civ5 enjoyable. It's especially disappointing considering that SMAC was possibly the greatest "world" that a 4x ever existed in.

    Factions feel like spreadsheets. Units might as well be archers and musketmen in SPACE! and while the tech    Writing this review kills me, I wanted to love this game, I really did. But it is just a re-skinned version of Civ5 minus all of the character that made civ5 enjoyable. It's especially disappointing considering that SMAC was possibly the greatest "world" that a 4x ever existed in.

    Factions feel like spreadsheets. Units might as well be archers and musketmen in SPACE! and while the tech web is an interesting idea its really just a different way of displaying a tech tree. I understand that SMAC has gone to the IP graveyard but come on, why couldn't they have just done Sid Meier's Beta Sirus??

    Sales wise the game has not faired well which I expect will be blamed on a lack of demand for sifi 4x vs consumers rejecting a poorly thought out game which means that we won't see another game like this for years. And 2k, how much money did you spend on reviews??? Rarely do you see a game with such a huge divide between professional critics and gamers. SMBE might have been a decent game if 2k would have taken the money spent on review writers and hired a professional scifi writer to flesh things out for their game.    … Expand
  80. Dartboard
    Mar 11, 2015
    4
    Feels like a comprehensive mod for Civ V, if anything. The AI is as incompetent as it has ever been, the diplomacy is lacking, and the decisions you make start to have little meaning to you as a player as time goes on. The lack of eras really gives you a feeling of little progression. There is nothing genuinely innovative to this game that keeps you hooked, either. When compared to Civ V +Feels like a comprehensive mod for Civ V, if anything. The AI is as incompetent as it has ever been, the diplomacy is lacking, and the decisions you make start to have little meaning to you as a player as time goes on. The lack of eras really gives you a feeling of little progression. There is nothing genuinely innovative to this game that keeps you hooked, either. When compared to Civ V + expansions, it really pales.… Expand
  81. ddkehr
    Nov 17, 2014
    4
    I've been playing Civ since the beginning and each version has grown to be better for the most part, however, Civ:BE is a different case. I was really looking forward BE, a new Civ and Alpha C combined! NOT...It is for lack of a better description Civ 5:Lost in Space, but somehow more boring...Even with fast play on it drags to the point I have actually fallen asleep playing. I'm not sureI've been playing Civ since the beginning and each version has grown to be better for the most part, however, Civ:BE is a different case. I was really looking forward BE, a new Civ and Alpha C combined! NOT...It is for lack of a better description Civ 5:Lost in Space, but somehow more boring...Even with fast play on it drags to the point I have actually fallen asleep playing. I'm not sure where they were going with this game or even if they cared. If they put as much though in the game as the trailers it would be a great game. I like the mapping, units and tech web, even though it is a bit confusing at first. The game play is what really sucks here, it's slow and tedious, making for a boring game. I've actually provoked other civ's to attack me so I had something to do. Could have really been something wonderful, too bad, this will probably kill the franchise.… Expand
  82. condythug
    Jan 15, 2015
    1
    Terrible game and not fit to bear the Civilization name. Sid Meier must be nearing his retirement if this is the sort of trash that he is turning out nowadays. i stopped playing it once i got into the early turns; boring graphics, strange bugs, stupid gameplay and quest goals. looks like games nowadays are all following the same formulae, "go there get that, come back get rewards"Terrible game and not fit to bear the Civilization name. Sid Meier must be nearing his retirement if this is the sort of trash that he is turning out nowadays. i stopped playing it once i got into the early turns; boring graphics, strange bugs, stupid gameplay and quest goals. looks like games nowadays are all following the same formulae, "go there get that, come back get rewards" repeat 100000 times.

    thank god i manage to get a refund for this piece of trash. advise to PC players, save your money and go play the old Civilization games instead (Civ 4) if u want a really good Civ game. This one is for the dustbin.    … Expand
  83. ScireActus
    Jan 14, 2015
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What this game should be: Alpha Centauri remake
    What this game should is: A average mod from CIV 5

    This game is simple a reflection of 2014's games... disappointing, engine reused, RUSHED, unbalanced, and lack of care for the franchise ideology.
    What is more frustrating is that they already have lots of good ideas that them can had used even from the original alpha centauri , of civ 3 , civ 4 .... but no... it´s civ 5 engine.

    Ideas that work:
    Affinities are great... by the end of the game, they change what resources are most important to you, the way you have to fight , and the way diplomacy works

    Units are simple to understand, and they upgrade as you upgrade

    Ideas that didn’t work:
    Aliens... are there to be killed or ignored. most of the time, killed ... all that "they are a new level of strategy" , just forget that

    Orbital layer: must of the time is useless buff

    Tech web: that one is actually a good idea, just need some fix. to became more affinity centric

    World Map and Resources: Man...... this is were you fell the lack of commitment. its just civ 5 , copy and paste... change the resource name and that is it. A rock planet , fungi , desert, water, earth like.... all look and play the same way.    … Expand
  84. michael__b
    May 19, 2015
    4
    as of may 2015 this game is veryu buggy at best , worker automation is not working ( after some time they just stand there and do nothing but it spend there movements as if they did work ) the tech tree is horrible , so large and confusing you have no idea what to do or where to go to even build some new combat units , the affinity part is also broken you need to level up on one of 4as of may 2015 this game is veryu buggy at best , worker automation is not working ( after some time they just stand there and do nothing but it spend there movements as if they did work ) the tech tree is horrible , so large and confusing you have no idea what to do or where to go to even build some new combat units , the affinity part is also broken you need to level up on one of 4 style of game but have no clue how to .

    this is basically a haft baked civ 5 wannabe -- just get civ 5 or ANY other 4k game

    this game is simply not worth it - pending some massive updates I will stop playing    … Expand
  85. AnarchyAus
    Oct 26, 2015
    4
    I decided to play the game because of how much I loved Civ 5 and to say I was disappointed was an understatement. I would make the comparison that it feels like more of a Civ 5 mod then an actually stand alone game but that honestly would be insulting to the Civ modding community considering I have played mods for Civ 5 that have more more depth than Beyond Earth.
  86. Rastrelly
    May 27, 2015
    5
    This game on every level Alpha Centauri succeeds. But its main problem is lack of atmosphere. Faction leaders are not interesting, there is no cool story about the Planet and humans, units feel not that entertaining, as well as ending scenarios. Game requires too much boring micromanagement which should've been easily automatizeable. Tech web is an interesting concept though. Better go getThis game on every level Alpha Centauri succeeds. But its main problem is lack of atmosphere. Faction leaders are not interesting, there is no cool story about the Planet and humans, units feel not that entertaining, as well as ending scenarios. Game requires too much boring micromanagement which should've been easily automatizeable. Tech web is an interesting concept though. Better go get Alpha Centauri - it's a much better experience.… Expand
  87. diehard-gamer
    Jan 17, 2015
    1
    Slow. Slow. Unplayable slow. My basic Win 8 laptop will happily run Skyrim (low settings, game controller, all DLC plus 50 or so mods) at 25FPS. But Civ Beyond Earth (small world or tutorial, min graphics settings) runs like a snail swimming uphill through treacle. It takes so long to load the game and menu screens I'm never sure whether its crashed - then simply scrolling around the mapSlow. Slow. Unplayable slow. My basic Win 8 laptop will happily run Skyrim (low settings, game controller, all DLC plus 50 or so mods) at 25FPS. But Civ Beyond Earth (small world or tutorial, min graphics settings) runs like a snail swimming uphill through treacle. It takes so long to load the game and menu screens I'm never sure whether its crashed - then simply scrolling around the map in game is a frustrating jerky nightmare. This is a sim FFS - so how much graphics power does think it needs! It may be a good game, but I doubt I'll ever find out. The developers need to get the programming sorted.… Expand
  88. ZeroWaitState
    Oct 24, 2015
    5
    This game came out about the same time as Interstellar. The backstory has the same vibe as that movie. Don't be fooled, though. The box says "Sid Meier's Civilization" is small letters and "BEYOND EARTH" in huge letters. The box has it backwards. This is a reskinned standard Civ game, and it has absolutely nothing to do with survival on an alien planet in terms of actual gameplay.This game came out about the same time as Interstellar. The backstory has the same vibe as that movie. Don't be fooled, though. The box says "Sid Meier's Civilization" is small letters and "BEYOND EARTH" in huge letters. The box has it backwards. This is a reskinned standard Civ game, and it has absolutely nothing to do with survival on an alien planet in terms of actual gameplay. Standard Civ game concepts like caravans, culture, wonders, etc. are translated into this game even though they make no sense contextually.

    Also, the graphics performance is terrible, with texture pop-in galore.    … Expand
  89. BadIdeas
    Jun 1, 2017
    6
    This game is said to be the spiritual successor to to Alpha Centauri. That is a fair assessment, because in order for Beyond Earth to be a true successor it would need to be more than a ghost of Alpha Centauri.

    Let us compare it to Alpha Centauri, a game released 15 years before it by the same studio. What BE has that SMAC lacks: Hex tiles instead of square tiles Much better    This game is said to be the spiritual successor to to Alpha Centauri. That is a fair assessment, because in order for Beyond Earth to be a true successor it would need to be more than a ghost of Alpha Centauri.

    Let us compare it to Alpha Centauri, a game released 15 years before it by the same studio.

    What BE has that SMAC lacks:

    Hex tiles instead of square tiles
    Much better graphics
    Visible research web instead of more linear hidden research web
    Better artifact system
    Marginally better AI?

    I think that is it.

    Now let us look at what SMAC had that was better than BE:

    Better story line, what little there was in each
    Much better factions/faction distinction
    Voice overs from all faction leaders, not just one generic voice reading quotes
    Unit customization, that gave a few dozen core designs, hundreds of specialized designs, and literally hundreds of thousands of possible variants.
    Wonder videos, not just panning over a blueprint.
    Terraforming, as in raising/lowering terrain, and the sea level as a whole.
    A chart in the UI that tracked your relative strength.
    Atrocities such as planet busters, nerve stapling, and nerve gas.
    The ability to manage social policies as actual policies you could change

    That is just off the top of my head. That is what we get after 15 years, a watered down Civ 5/SMAC hybrid, that dumbs down, or completely removes some of the best aspects of SMAC. The only reason to play this instead of SMAC, is you may have played SMAC a million billion times, and want something new, even if it is the kiddy version with limited depth.    … Expand
  90. Violett
    Jun 14, 2015
    5
    Really nothing new. Though I'm a big fan of Civ series this game is EXACTLY the same as Civ5, just under another sauce. Though fans of old Alpha Centauri might find it intriguing.
  91. FelipeAlbrecht
    Dec 14, 2014
    5
    My first impression when I started a march: It does look like a Civ5 Mod. I really do not know whay I paid 40 euros for this "mod". The game is not so bad. The "civs" are interesting, but they strongly look like normal civs from Civ5 but with another names and futurist clothes.

    The technology tree is interesting, but *very* confusing. You know which path to follow when do you play    My first impression when I started a march: It does look like a Civ5 Mod. I really do not know whay I paid 40 euros for this "mod". The game is not so bad. The "civs" are interesting, but they strongly look like normal civs from Civ5 but with another names and futurist clothes.

    The technology tree is interesting, but *very* confusing. You know which path to follow when do you play vanilla Civilization, but it was impossible in Beyond Earth. What I did? I focused in one of three colours that are: I am a pure human, I am human but I like aliens too, and I am a machine. These specs are interesting, because you got new units from them. But again, it was really hard to follow a strategy.

    Besides, why strategy? The IA is to dumb that will lost for the IA from first civilisation running on a old DOS. It is sad to see how a Sid Meier's game can have so horrible IA.

    After all, the game is... okay. The aliens are interesting, but repetitive. The technologies are interesting., but confusing.

    My conclusion: Wait a few more months or some promotion, buy the game for 15-20 bucks and spend an evening playing. It does not worth more than this.    … Expand
  92. Ehriggn
    Dec 28, 2014
    1
    In no way deserving of a high score, large important parts of the game do not work properly.(covert ops, improvement repair, station spawning, line of sight), and the parts that work perfectly are poorly thought out(Affinity system is imbalanced at end game, sponsors and cargo choices are imbalanced at start).

    There would be a lot of good things to say about BE if those things were in    In no way deserving of a high score, large important parts of the game do not work properly.(covert ops, improvement repair, station spawning, line of sight), and the parts that work perfectly are poorly thought out(Affinity system is imbalanced at end game, sponsors and cargo choices are imbalanced at start).

    There would be a lot of good things to say about BE if those things were in anyway new. or even improved from Civ 5. The list of things that are copy/pasted from Civ V is long and shameful. (DIplomacy, city management, trade, SAME BUGS like planes not finishing an animation, just repeating it over and over, worker improvements, Multiplayer instability, Even the opening screen that states the game has a HISTORICAL setting and any similarity to people is coincidence, etc, etc)

    Beyond Earth is half the game Alpha Centauri is, and not even a fraction of the game Civ 5 is. I would recommend either of those games over Beyond Earth.    … Expand
  93. Fjonk
    Dec 4, 2014
    6
    I am a loyal fan of the Civilization serie, having played more than 45 days of Civilization V on a pirated copy only to buy it on steam in order to show my support to the brand, allowing me to play an additional 45 days. However, Beyond Earth has caused major turbulence to my dedication of the brand.

    Firaxis wanted, of course, to continue the Civilization serie, but also to evolve the    I am a loyal fan of the Civilization serie, having played more than 45 days of Civilization V on a pirated copy only to buy it on steam in order to show my support to the brand, allowing me to play an additional 45 days. However, Beyond Earth has caused major turbulence to my dedication of the brand.

    Firaxis wanted, of course, to continue the Civilization serie, but also to evolve the brand. The outcome was Beyond Earth. For those who are aware of its prequel, Civilization V, Beyond Earth is simply Firaxis take on a Sci-Fi based Civilization V. Now, the strength of Civilization V was its historical accuracy and description, which Firaxis managed to bring forward beautifully. After Firaxis announced Beyond Earth and its Sci-Fi theme I was already hesitant. I don't believe that I hold a grudge against Sci-Fi based strategy games, but I would never favour it over the historical narrative Civilization V had. Regardless of the theme and setting, I admired the thought that Firaxis could and would meet my expectations, and then exceed them.

    It saddens me, however, to say that Beyond Earth fell short. I feel that given the new setting Firaxis managed to distract itself, and drift away from what previously had made the brand so special. Beyond Earth had very few new features or unique development, that could possibly suprise and intice experienced players. Instead, Firaxis completely revamped Civilization V into Sci-fi Beyond Earth.

    I would be furious if Beyond Earth was Firaxis' panic move, in order to continue the serie. As if there was no more future for development to the setting seen in Civilization V. Civilization V proved itself worthy due to its unique setting. Beyond Earth, however, is just another game with the Sci-fi theme.    … Expand
  94. Vorpal_SF
    Jan 15, 2018
    5
    I came into the game with high expectations. I've been a Civ fanboy since the very beginning and Alpha Centauri was, in many ways, my favorite Civ experience. So, I was very hopeful. Maybe that was my first mistake.

    Beyond Earth and Rising Tide feel like they were designed someone who played enough Civ to like it, but never understood how and why it worked as a game. So, there are the    I came into the game with high expectations. I've been a Civ fanboy since the very beginning and Alpha Centauri was, in many ways, my favorite Civ experience. So, I was very hopeful. Maybe that was my first mistake.

    Beyond Earth and Rising Tide feel like they were designed someone who played enough Civ to like it, but never understood how and why it worked as a game. So, there are the clearly referential moments and common elements of design. But very little of the game balance or structured experience that made Civ really worth it. For one thing, the difficulty level is pretty flat. I started on the second difficulty level, got bored in a half hour, tried again on 3, got bored in half an hour and then finally played through on Gemini, the fourth level ("hard" per the game's description text) and got pretty bored. Unlike every other Civ game, no other Civilization attacked me until I already had an insumountable advantage, without even really spending any effort building a military. Being jumped on by other Civs is the check against people like me, whose tendency is to focus on making hyper-developed cities and building a tech advantage. I spent the last third of the game basically just wanting to beat it once, for personal satisfaction, but desperately bored and wanting the game to end.

    Besides the difficulty curve problems, which who knows, may have been solved if I went up to a higher level, the design just shows an ignorance of pacing and balance. One of the great hidden mechanics in the Civ series is how the different types of movement constrain you to a small, but ever-growing chunk of the map. When you start, you're on your island or continent, so you spend a lot of time focusing on the metrics of land conquest, expansion and road-building. Then you start exploring but your early ships are either limited to the coastline, or have a tiny capacity, so building transport networks or moving invasion fleets takes time, effort and planning.

    Nope, says Beyond Earth, everything can embark on its own boat, right from the start. Land and water might as well be the same thing. No mechanism to force you to concentrate on certain things before broadening your horizon. No mechanism that makes early game feel fundamentally different from late game. It's all the same, the numbers just get bigger.

    In most Civs, the tech tree does branch, but it stays in a fairly narrow wedge. No one can get too far ahead or behind unless they're massively dumping points into science and praying they stay alive long enough to benefit.

    Nope, says Beyond Earth. This hyper-branched stem-and-leaf approach means that if you want, you can run for endgame techs whenever you want and deploy a massively overpowered unit early.

    On and on, it goes like this. Rather than the carefully balanced, limited slate of buildings, Beyond Earth just throws in twice as many, all of which do really similar things and mostly just increase numbers. Units get some powers designed to make combat a little more interesting, but since you can get to endgame techs much faster than a computer (since the computer doesn't just min/max and run for an endgame tech) you can just walk over them with a unit 1-2 generations advanced.

    So, yeah. I really wished that they gave this project so someone with a better sense of game design, who could take the time to figure out a mechanic that added something to the experience, rather than just throwing in more units and more buildings which did basically the same thing: slightly changed large numbers in ways that made no appreciable difference.

    Man I hope Civ 6 is better than this.    … Expand
  95. Stefanakis
    Jan 24, 2015
    2
    Lots of gamers awaited this game for a long time. Too much time passed between this and Alpha Centauri. Me of course among them. But I am sad to say this is a shadow of a game. Did they try out the mechanics ? Every time you end up micromanaging a fleet of trade vessels while waiting. There is no real choice in anything. This game needed another 6 months of testing and/or development.Lots of gamers awaited this game for a long time. Too much time passed between this and Alpha Centauri. Me of course among them. But I am sad to say this is a shadow of a game. Did they try out the mechanics ? Every time you end up micromanaging a fleet of trade vessels while waiting. There is no real choice in anything. This game needed another 6 months of testing and/or development.

    And I can proudly say that I am a Sid Meier fan. Civilization is the game I played and am playing more than any other game combined. I hope they take another good look at it . Maybe a DLC and another 50 bucks will fix it ...... /irony off    … Expand
  96. HungryHippo123
    Apr 14, 2015
    5
    They added some new elements but its really just the last one and copy and pasted on and they changed a few things and that's all really, and i felt i always did the same thing over and over
  97. ptrayal
    Apr 16, 2015
    6
    Well, this was the first Civ game I've bought since Civ 2 or 3 and I was a big fan of SMAC back in the day (with the wonderful alien expansion). This though, is nothing like SMAC. I really want it to be, but it's not.

    Pro's: Nice graphics (though from what I've heard, the tiles are similar to Civ V), decent tech tree/branch/leaf thing, I like affinities and virtues, seeding is a neat    Well, this was the first Civ game I've bought since Civ 2 or 3 and I was a big fan of SMAC back in the day (with the wonderful alien expansion). This though, is nothing like SMAC. I really want it to be, but it's not.

    Pro's: Nice graphics (though from what I've heard, the tiles are similar to Civ V), decent tech tree/branch/leaf thing, I like affinities and virtues, seeding is a neat feature.

    Con's: No faction editor, factions are pretty bland and have nothing to do with you after you land, the AI is pretty bad, aliens are nice but not very smart, no unique geographic features/landmarks (give me my Pholus Ridge).

    It's not a bad game, but I definitely do not think it is the "spiritual successor" to SMAC. Maybe a distant cousin, but no successor. Which is a shame, because I really want it to be.    … Expand
  98. sbuenger
    Aug 15, 2015
    5
    It hurts to rate a game poorly in a series I enjoy so much, but I wouldn't recommend this game if you're a returning Civilization fan. Below I'll list the bad and the good.

    THE BAD 1. The game feels like a skin/mod for Civilization V. It felt all too familiar too soon. I was especially disappointed that the same strategies for Cvilization IV and V still apply to Beyond Earth. This is    It hurts to rate a game poorly in a series I enjoy so much, but I wouldn't recommend this game if you're a returning Civilization fan. Below I'll list the bad and the good.

    THE BAD

    1. The game feels like a skin/mod for Civilization V. It felt all too familiar too soon. I was especially disappointed that the same strategies for Cvilization IV and V still apply to Beyond Earth. This is the core flaw in the game, as it gets boring quickly and thus has no staying power.

    2. The maps are boring. Nothing unique in the alien world, just different names for the same tiles.

    3. The DLC adds components to the game that should have been included at launch.

    THE GOOD

    1. The affinity points are a fresh addition; however, the amount of units are still limited.

    2. The new tech tree provides a more engaging visual when teching up

    BOTTOM LINE: Don't buy this unless you catch it on sale. Newcomers to the series may enjoy it, but veterans beware.    … Expand
  99. Fany000
    Feb 22, 2019
    5
    At the first look game seems to be very tempting, space version of great civilization V. But the whole game feels like a not completed piece. This should stay as a DLC for Civ V and then it would be considered as a masterpiece, but somebody has decided to make it a full game and that is the biggest problem of Beyond Earth.

    First, if you look at the game it's just reskin for Civ V, then    At the first look game seems to be very tempting, space version of great civilization V. But the whole game feels like a not completed piece. This should stay as a DLC for Civ V and then it would be considered as a masterpiece, but somebody has decided to make it a full game and that is the biggest problem of Beyond Earth.

    First, if you look at the game it's just reskin for Civ V, then you find out that many other things are just taken from Civ V and simplified. For someone it is a plus, but for me it was a little bit dissapointing. After 2-3 hours a stereotype appears as you do always same things and ways to develope your civilization are very trimmed. The thing I found out to be the most irritating about game is attitude of AI towards aliens lifeforms, all of them just seem to love them and if you start a proper war with them, your earth "comrades" always scold you. I think there should be more variety among nations in this attitude.

    Another minus is the missing campaing, it would be really nice to play this in some story mode. There is only sandbox mode and multiplayer a small amount of content for the full game, pity. Otherwise I really apreciate the idea of sci-fi Civilization, but it could be done better to be the honest part of Civilization family.

    Pros:
    All the good stuff from Civ V is preserved
    Nic graphics
    Wide range of ways how to develop your nations
    Proper Civ gameplay

    Cons:
    Predictible behaviour of AI
    Sterotype comes very quickly
    Missing campaign
    Classic Civ is still more funny and satisfying
    A lot of things could be done better

    Good but average game, there is plenty of better turn-based strategies than this.
    Time spent playing: 20 hours.    … Expand
  100. Parik
    Apr 7, 2020
    7
    This game isn't a really NEW Civilization, but it can give you a few dozens hours of fun while you are waiting for discount for Civilization 6. I like the idea with poisoned hexes and alien nests. Different ways of your progress make every game a bit unpredictable and you can't say what direction would be better before you land on a planet.
    I find new tech web is fuzzy, but on the other    This game isn't a really NEW Civilization, but it can give you a few dozens hours of fun while you are waiting for discount for Civilization 6. I like the idea with poisoned hexes and alien nests. Different ways of your progress make every game a bit unpredictable and you can't say what direction would be better before you land on a planet.
    I find new tech web is fuzzy, but on the other hand it gives much more freedom to your scientists.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

59
#59 Best PC Game of 2014
21
#21 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
4
#4 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 78 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 78
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 78
  3. Negative: 1 out of 78
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 9, 2015
    90
    Cancel all your plans and fill up the fridge, because once you launch Beyond Earth you will not want to leave your home. [13/2014, p.46]
  2. Worth Playing
    Dec 23, 2014
    85
    Passive AI and lackluster online support from the community isn't enough to make Civilization: Beyond Earth a total wash. If you've enjoyed the series over the years, you'll likely spend many hours with this entry as well.
    Read full review
  3. Games Master UK
    Dec 21, 2014
    80
    Prepare for tech tree troubles, but the amount to discover and overall quality wins out. [Christmas 2014, p.64]
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