Sid Meier's Starships

Sid Meier's Starships lacks the strategic depth of Civilization, but the added tactical layer, and shorter game times make it a fair substitute, especially if you're looking for bite-sized strategy.

It’s a game you can complete, and when you do, you’ll want to start playing again immediately, perhaps bumping up the difficulty level or increasing the map size. That’s exactly the same kind of replayability spark that Civilization had all those years ago.

Although the price tag is much more reasonable than your average console title, $14.99 may lead other gamers in a different direction. That said, players who opt for a fiscally healthier expenditure will be missing out on a solid Sid Meier experience, since Starships is a space odyssey that’s definitely worth your time.

For gamers not wanting to dedicate their entire beings to the Civ games, this might be a worthy substitute.

Starships may lack the complexity and nuance of other strategy games, and it feels a bit rough around the edges in places, but its accessibility, terrific turn-based combat, and bite-sized duration combine to create a tempting alternative to a multi-evening marathon campaign.

Humble and solid. Each game is different and requires reading the everchanging environment and learning to take advantage of the aleatory features. The perfect strategy game to play in short sessions.

Sid Meier's Starships is a good and replayable turn based strategy experience that will certainly appeal to lovers of classic science fiction franchises and to those who appreciate the way the leader of Firaxis managed to make player choices relevant.

Sid Meier’s Starships does away with all of the research tree and diplomatic hard work that often comes with a 4X title, replacing them with some brilliant turn-based strategy combat and just enough world conquering to keep any evil genius happy. This is the sort of game the Romulan Empire would love.

Sid Meier's Starships takes a stab at space empire building with a light, turn-based tactical combat. It ends up too light though, with a very straightforward and simple strategic layer, and a decent but repetitive combat. It would have done well to take a step in the direction of classic Starfleet Command games to deepen the combat system. It's worst problem is though lack of feeling and chrome: you are not building your own eponymous Starships that you care about with the sterile and clinical technology system of the game. [Apr 2015]

It’s the same game on PC and iOS, which explains its simplicity and low difficulty level. It just wasn’t designed to steal months of your life, but works great in short, relaxing sessions. [05/2015, p.64]

Sid Meier's Starships is a good game with some limitations that prevent it from a great experience. If you're looking for a slow-paced strategy game, this is a good choice.

Technically disappointing, we expected more from this new Sid Meier title, but is fun, with a classic hex strategic gameplay.

More short-term play-friendly beast. [June 2015, p.78]

The first hours playing Starships is great fun, because it’s easy to get into and not that hard to learn the basics. After a couple of matches, though, it becomes obvious that the game is lacking complexity and depth, where it would be really needed: in tactical combat diplomacy and planet management. But even if Starships lacks long-term motivation, it’s a game you’ll be coming back to over and over again.

The enjoyment you'll get out of Sid Meier's Starships largely depends on your expectations. If you expect a game with the depth and engaging gameplay of Civilization you'll be disappointed, but treat it as an unusually deep and strategic tablet game and you will absolutely get your money's worth.

Sid Meier's Starships is a good strategy game with a strong combat system. But we miss more complexity in its gestion and diplomacy options.

Fast-paced and accessible are not words commonly used to describe turn-based strategy games, but Sid Meier’s latest is a fun, breezy strategic time killer.

Fun, quick and light strategy game, Starships is a great introduction to strategic gameplay or for those who don't have time for a longer experience. On its own, it feels shallow and lacks extensive replay value. Not suited to PC, I think Starships will do best on mobile.

Sid Meier's Starships is a good introduction to 4X games or a good way to entertain yourself during long trips. It doesn't have Civ's depth, but it still is a enjoyable game.

Starships is simple, slick, semi-strategic fun. It’s incredibly accessible and lacks the sometimes overbearing menus and micromanagement that can make strategy games dizzying and intimidating, making it a nice point of entry for those looking for a casual experience within the genre.

Sid Meier's Starships is a short and sweet companion game to Civilization: Beyond Earth that doesn't overstay its welcome.

A light and pleasant strategy game, with a slightly chaotic artificial intelligence and repetitive mission scenarios.

Sid Meier's Starships is a quick and quite entertaining turn-based strategy game. Perhaps it's the beginning of a new sub-genre that might be called 5X with a fifth 'x' corresponding to eXpress. It is often said that brevity is the soul of wit but any regular follower of the Civilization series will remain hungry for more. It just has to be seen for what it is: fast food or something to snack on between meals.

Even though the space ship combat is challenging and fun, I don't think it has a lot of long-term appeal. The supporting strategy elements in Starships are too shallow and there's no cohesive narrative holding things together.

If you normally struggle with the multiple complexities of a 4x strategy game, Starships is a great introduction to the genre.

The problem with Starships isn't its quick and light gameplay, which actually has some very nice design ideas. Its problem is a complete lack of balance and refinement: the AI is lacking, some mechanics are negligible and others are way overpowered. We expected more from a game with Sid Meier in the title.

Sid Meier's Starships is a light strategy games imagined for the tablet gamers audience. It's a good game, but not a memorable one.

The pace is a welcome relief from other Sid Meier games, and the ship customization is simple yet multifaceted. However, the game has severe tactical balance issues, and is lacking any multiplayer component.

Nothing more and nothing less than a porting from the iOS version. Buy it only if you have an immoderate love for Sid Meier.

Sid Meier's Starships provides a simplified, portable gameplay snippet of the series turn-based gameplay that ultimately makes it a difficult recommend for Civilization fans. While the game was clearly designed for a tablet, there is still some entertainment to be found in brief gameplay sessions.

Sid Meier's Starships lack of depth and features to really arouse the gamer's interest. Moreover the iOS origin of Firaxis's latest title really shows when you play on PC, and the result is unacceptable for any gamer that has played a real Civ game before. The game is still enjoyable thanks to a worth y gameplay, specially on a tablet, but the Sid Meier branding is more of a marketing trick than a real seal of quality.

It’s a nice distraction and even a good bit of fun depending on how much you enjoy space combat titles, but only if you go in knowing full well that this is a port a mobile game, absent of much the charm and detail we’ve come to expect from Sid Meier titles.

Every Sid Meyer production should speak to a very specific audience, but Starships is way to simplified to engage strategy veterans.

Although this is not a bad game, Starships feels like a simple version of Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations. It is fun to upgrade ships and fleet, but this is not an epic experience due to its small nature.

Starships is a small game. This in itself is not a problem as long as you do not expect a strategy monster the size of a Civilization.

Sid Meier’s Starships’ battles held my attention for a handful of games, after which point the tactical AI’s behavior became exploitable and the strategic layer became too muddled and unpredictable.

Overall, Sid Meier's Starships is simply too simple and bland to hold the interest of empire builders for long, and its best feature, the battles, is neutered by lackluster AI.

Connection to the Sid Meier's Civilization is just fake, this game doesn’t even offer any strategic orgies. Lower your expectations and you can have some fun making war not love... That counts, right? [Issue#251]

Sid Meier's Starships lacks depth and good graphics, but it's a fun turn-based strategic game that can be played for hours.

Sid Meier's Starships is a pretty good challenging strategy game, with tactical depth, but suffers from a lack of artistic ambition and a flat atmosphere that leaves one indifferent.

If you like those days-long Civilization sessions going through thousands of years of human development, the brief sessions of Starships leave you feeling like there's something missing – like you're eating a salad when you really want a hamburger.

Starships is, first and foremost, a mobile game. It’s way too simple and flat (in every sense of the word) for PC, but is OK for a tablet. [May 2015, p.72]

There are lots of things Starships does poorly, but at least as far as I’m concerned the lack of meaningful tech tree and shallow starship construction really don’t suffice in a game that, after all, has Starships in the title.

Starships isn’t terrible, but it isn’t the polished product you’d expect from a studio with Firaxis’ history. Comparing it to its full-scale PC competitors, like Endless Space and GalCiv is cruel, as it’s sub-par in every single regard: unbalanced, repetitive, badly explained, rather ugly, with a dreadful mobile phone UI, and buggy as hell. Even judged against Firaxis’ other mobile games, Civ: Rev and Ace Patrol, this is small and crude.

Hard to recommend over the far more accomplished "Beyond Earth." [Issue#160, p.94]

Rather than offering up a bite-sized entry into the somewhat intimidating strategy genre, Sid Meier's Starships serves up a half-baked entry that fails to provide much in the way of strategy.

Sid Meier's Starships is a strategy game for those that really don’t have the time it takes to learn complex mechanic. Sadly it’s lacking a good AI and feels a bit unpolished at the same time.

Had it been released as a good sized piece of DLC for Beyond Earth, it might have felt completely different, but as it stands I cannot help but feel a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

There is no question Sid Meier’s Starships should have been much better.

Less an endless voyage through the stars, and more a space-bus journey to the shops. If you're intimidated by Civilization this is an reasonable starting place for the 4X genre, but it's not for those seeking a deep or lengthy experience.

What do you associate with the name Sid Meier? Epic strategy. What do you get in Sid Meier’s Starships? A simple conquest game that can satisfy your appetite for 4X about as much as a cheeseburger.

My first thought as soon as I opened the game was “wow this feels cheap.” The feeling never went away, and just got even deeper.

Space warfare in Sid Meier's Starships is meaningless. Although the game could develop the theme of Civilization: Beyond Earth, the game is trapped in a boredom and superficiality. Cutting the strategic part for the not-so-detailed action didn’t (and couldn’t) work at all.

Had the realization of that universe been more fully fleshed out—expansive and deep rather than restrictive and boardgame-like—Spaceships could have found success as a kind of post-human strategy game. Instead it feels lifeless. But not in the existential, gazing-into-the-void-of-space way. More in the way that an aging child realizes that her blanket is just a blanket, and promptly stops caring about it.

Its sci-fi galaxy is mostly abstracted, and its unit models are simple and blocky. It's not those issues that really put me off of Starships, but rather the way it seems to aspire to that narrow, dated idea of what makes a "good" mobile game. I can turn aside the quick and obvious assaults on PC sensibilities--the rough graphics, the lack of options--but it's the cynical design that guts me, in the end.

Ultimately Sid Meier's Starships feels like a game that might have been great in VGA back in the 90s.