RATING: 9/10
VERDICT: Strategic excellence
REVIEW BY: KRISHNA BAHIRWANI
PUBLISHER: 2K Games
DEVELOPER: Firaxis Games
GENRE: Turn-based strategy 4X
PLATFORMS: Windows PC
Civilisation: Beyond Earth makes the transition for the franchise to space absolutely seamlessly giving players new to the series, a great entry and to the veterans enough changes to make the game both familiar and interesting at the same time. This delivers to the gaming community what it would expect from a franchise that has been perfecting turn-based strategy for over twenty years.
The game is set in 2600 AD painting a picture that's not hard to imagine with the way humanity is going. Our mentality of consumerism and focus on a luxurious lifestyle can bring us to the point where we make immense scientific progress but our planet cannot take any more of the abuse we have put it through. Our only hope at this point will be to migrate outside earth and that's exactly where this game takes you with the first batch of who used to be earth's inhabitants looking for a fresh start.
The game starts keeping this exactly in mind, allowing you to be the master of the choices you would make if you were leading an expedition to leave Earth. You must make five choices to start your journey including designating a sponsor, choosing colonists, picking your spacecraft, selecting your cargo and deciding on a planet. After making these choices you are immersed in the journey you engineered.
Beyond Earth is a turn-based strategy game which means it essentially works on the same principle as chess – you build a strategy, anticipate your opponent, analyze their logic and then break it regardless of if you're up against computer generated opponents or real people.
The game builds on the Civilization experience with amazing new additions which can engage the player philosophically or strategically and in some cases do both. Most notably, we have the Affinity system which plays a central role in every Beyond Earth game and decides what kind of a human race you create in the future. There are three affinities – Harmony, Supremacy and Purity, which basically are the three ways you can choose to lead humanity as a civilization.
Purity is the affinity which represents that you do not want this alien experience to change you and you want to stay true to what you were back on Earth. Supremacy is the affinity wherein you put the focus on the technology that ensured the survival of the human race and look to become one with technology to be the dominant force on the planet. Harmony is the affinity that on a philosophical note tells us that we have learned from our battles against nature back on Earth and are do not want to make the same mistake all over again and so we decide to become one with our new home regardless of how much that will change us. This is a great way to ask the players an important question both for the game and for themselves and encourages intelligent debate on things we should be talking about anyway.
The only thing that could take away from the experience, even though only slightly is the wait, this might not be so much of a problem of this particular game but I feel like it is something this genre needs to improve upon. It's not always fun to keep hitting the next turn button hoping for an interesting twist that makes your think, which may or may not come.
Publisher comment
“Having celebrated its 23rd anniversary last year, Civilization has cemented its reputation as one of the greatest and longest running franchises in video game history,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth builds upon that success by pushing the series in new directions with players exploring an unknown future on an alien planet.”
Developer's comment
“The Civ team was excited about the opportunity to continue the story of Civilization into the future, because it allows the team to break free of historical context,” said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games. “We’ve always let our fans create the history of mankind, and Civilization: Beyond Earth will now let them create the future.”
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