Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

 PC
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1084 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 343 out of 1084
  2. Mixed: 374 out of 1084
  3. Negative: 367 out of 1084
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  1. Kraks
    Oct 27, 2014
    5
    I've played well over 1500 turns at this point and still haven't had what I would call a "fun" game. The UI is pretty miserable when compared to Civ 5. The tech tree, for instance, doesn't really *pop* out anything except the affinities. You get to search and hover over everything to figure out where the wonders are.

    And on the topic of wonders...why don't many of them build anything    I've played well over 1500 turns at this point and still haven't had what I would call a "fun" game. The UI is pretty miserable when compared to Civ 5. The tech tree, for instance, doesn't really *pop* out anything except the affinities. You get to search and hover over everything to figure out where the wonders are.

    And on the topic of wonders...why don't many of them build anything at all? The feel very uninspiring and not very wonderful at all. I built 3 or 4 last game and not a single one of them had a building on the landscape.

    The aliens are annoying. You go from barbarians that can be turned off or at their worst can be defeated in a 100 turns or so to aliens that are never ending, respawn nests, and harass your units ceaselessly. Or, you can build your tech tree to focus on being friendly and adapting to them. Who cares though? That isn't really very interesting, and again, the lack of anything physical from this (other than alien units) is very bland.

    As for the AI, it is downright annoying. Diplomacy is one thing. Being spammed by the competition every single turn with the exact same boring audio and requests is awful. It doesn't take very long for their voices (especially the Asian lady) to grind on your ears like nails on a chalkboard.

    Speaking of annoying, the trading is just awful. Every 20 - 30 turns you have to reassign your traders. They should adjust this to only needing interaction if they are attacked, the city is attacked/under siege, or if something changes with your relations with the other faction. If you have 10 - 20 trade convoys or vessels running, you can easily expect to spend 50% of your interactions in the game just managing them.

    Oh, another UI problem....the victory types aren't explained. You can hover over most things in the setup of the game and get some information, but the victory types just say Domination (ok, duh), Contact, Promised Land, Emancipation and Transcendence. I had to look them up to figure out what some of them were.

    The game **could** be fun, but it really is just a slightly different take on past Civ games with less of a physical presence in the world. Most of the things you do augment what you've already built, not build anything new. It is very common to have the territory and your units looking bland and similar at turn 1 and turn 200.

    As it currently stands, I would not recommend this game. Civilization 5 was so well done, has so many mods, and the expansions are actually most of what this game contains. There is no reason to upgrade, and it is arguable that this is not an upgrade at all.    … Expand
  2. nebulousfury
    Oct 27, 2014
    7
    Overall this is a quality game with hours upon hours of game play which will suck you in for quite a while. However there is a certain "empty" feeling in the game at times. What they have added I think should certainly be kept for future games... however what they have taken away should probably be added back. This game has more potential than Civ 5 - however it falls slightly short ofOverall this is a quality game with hours upon hours of game play which will suck you in for quite a while. However there is a certain "empty" feeling in the game at times. What they have added I think should certainly be kept for future games... however what they have taken away should probably be added back. This game has more potential than Civ 5 - however it falls slightly short of Civ 5 in a few aspects.… Expand
  3. 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
  4. navlasop
    Oct 27, 2014
    5
    Okay, finished the game three times now.

    TL;DR It's okay, but it's lacking...polish and soul. If you got cash around, sure buy it. If not you can wait for a sale in a couple of months, no sweat. Long version: The game and the mechanics are solid. The quests are a nice addition, as well as the way you can customize your buildings. tech and "race". As for the aliens they're scary    Okay, finished the game three times now.

    TL;DR It's okay, but it's lacking...polish and soul. If you got cash around, sure buy it. If not you can wait for a sale in a couple of months, no sweat.

    Long version:
    The game and the mechanics are solid.
    The quests are a nice addition, as well as the way you can customize your buildings. tech and "race".
    As for the aliens they're scary first game or two, then you just leave em alone. Wish they could have done it better.

    Tech tree will be confusing first couple games until you learn it.
    Combat is decent enough.

    Max map size seems to be way smaller then huge maps in CIV 5. Tough you can forget about more then 4 cities unless you go all in biowell.

    Diplomacy...feels like it's just tacked on. None of the other races/AI players feel like they have a personality.

    Finished the game through harmony and purity...all you get is a grey popup saying some stuff, then two seconds later, the same but with some colors and voice.
    Come on! At least give us a small in game cinematic for a win... First time i won i was like...was that it??? And there's no statistics on your victory screen as in previous CIV games, just quit to menu or "one more turn". Very un epic.    … Expand
  5. 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
  6. 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.
  7. 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
  8. TheVJ
    Oct 27, 2014
    5
    I'm giving this a 5/10 for now because it just does too many things wrong. Actually, the only positive change is the tech web - that is interesting and works well. But everything else is such a mess, from the civs barely being any different (tiny bonuses are all the variation you'll get), to leaders having no personalities to there being no victory/loss screen and many other issues, thisI'm giving this a 5/10 for now because it just does too many things wrong. Actually, the only positive change is the tech web - that is interesting and works well. But everything else is such a mess, from the civs barely being any different (tiny bonuses are all the variation you'll get), to leaders having no personalities to there being no victory/loss screen and many other issues, this game is just not good right now and I'd strongly suggest playing a modded Civ V with both DLCs over this for now.… Expand
  9. 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
  10. brobro34343
    Oct 27, 2014
    7
    In its current state Civilization: Beyond Earth is a good game, but has some current glaring problems that keeps it from being a great one. Just like its predecessors, Beyond Earth keeps you busy, however some development decisions are quite head scratching. The tech tree feels new. The music is great and the unit designs are new and engaging. The UI has a very clean look, but this lookIn its current state Civilization: Beyond Earth is a good game, but has some current glaring problems that keeps it from being a great one. Just like its predecessors, Beyond Earth keeps you busy, however some development decisions are quite head scratching. The tech tree feels new. The music is great and the unit designs are new and engaging. The UI has a very clean look, but this look isn't as eye catching as Civ 5, this is especially true for the Tech tree.. The mini map is placed in an odd place and is quite small, making it feel useless. The hazardous gas Miasma is hard to see on the map and resources don't pop out. The biggest gripe is the lack of personality of the leaders. Each leader seems unexpressive or irrational. I went through my entire first play through having all leaders neutral expect for one who was friendly. This friendly leader had the most negative things against me. Many of the things said by leaders are copied and pasted from Civ 5 or aren't voiced. Also luxury resources have been taken out so trade between leaders suffers, leaving you with little interaction. You have no idea how other civilization are doing because the demographics have been removed and the military advisor isn't there to compare military might. Beyond Earth understandably doesn't have City States, so they use Stations instead. These stations can not be allies so trade routes are your only option.Spying has been improved, meaning they can now perfume more tasks within cities. Your spies seem to fail higher tasks too often. My Special Agent failed two Level 5 task and two level 4's consecutively. Aliens are new but seem to act hostile at random moments, creating a level of mistrust. They have little benefit so wiping them out seem the best thing to do even when playing as Harmony. The MOST questionable thing by far is the fact the game just ends when you win or lose. There are no charts no map just a picture. You can look at the final chart in the main menu but you still have no way in knowing how you lost. Hopefully this all will be fixed with updates but until then it's nothing special.… Expand
  11. Raziel92
    Oct 27, 2014
    4
    >> I'd just like to say that this isn't a review from an angry Alpha Centauri fan - I never played that game so I'm not comparing Beyond Earth against it.
  12. JugoZille
    Oct 27, 2014
    7
    I love Civilization. I also like Beyond Earth. However, I had more fun with the other Civilization games or Alpha Centauri.

    The gameplay is very close to Civ5, but the SciFi setting is too generic and not used to full extent. I dont really know what to do with the aliens. I tried to be on "harmony" with them, but they kept on destroying my workers and traders, so I eventually had to    I love Civilization. I also like Beyond Earth. However, I had more fun with the other Civilization games or Alpha Centauri.

    The gameplay is very close to Civ5, but the SciFi setting is too generic and not used to full extent. I dont really know what to do with the aliens. I tried to be on "harmony" with them, but they kept on destroying my workers and traders, so I eventually had to kill them.

    It seems for me that the difficulty was lowered, too. Usually I have a tough time when playing Civ games on medium difficulty, but in beyond earth I never had any trouble, I dont even build military units.

    I will continue on playing, but I am not as exicted as with other Civ games.    … Expand
  13. Ferigad
    Oct 27, 2014
    6
    It´s a good game with flaws, that´s why i can´t give it more then a 6 in my opinion. The singelplayer mode is interesting, but still feels a bit unfinished. It has balance issues and the multiplayer experience is spoiled. Any game with more then 4 users will end in a close to guarantee crash/disconnect of some or all players in the first 50 rounds.

    The look of the game is like civ 5,    It´s a good game with flaws, that´s why i can´t give it more then a 6 in my opinion. The singelplayer mode is interesting, but still feels a bit unfinished. It has balance issues and the multiplayer experience is spoiled. Any game with more then 4 users will end in a close to guarantee crash/disconnect of some or all players in the first 50 rounds.

    The look of the game is like civ 5, only with alien planets this time. Many colors, but no real difference between the different tile sets of the planets. Some of the text segments seems to be 1:1 copy from civ 5. That leads to the assumption that at least some parts , like the diplomatic system, was simple copy past over. Even with a moderate or high difficult scale, the AI won´t react very clever or creative, so the singleplayer experience will run dry at some point. Still you get 50-100 game hours out of it, but after that you have done it all and seen it all.

    So in the end, whats left? It´s a good game. And it has still flaws that compromises the game play experience. If i had to put my finger on it, i would say it is a game in mid/late beta. Singleplayer is deffinitly release ready, even if it´s shallow, but multiplayer is still beta. The issues with mutliplayer goes from crashing/disconnects to not calculated bonuses from the start screen, gui freezes and some other minor issues. Games with more then 4 Persons are not possible, and even with a max. of 4 ppl it will sooner or later lead to a crash or disconnect of an player.

    At other circumstances i would give it a 7-8 (more like a 8 because i am a civ fan, but honestly, it would maybe a 78 or 77 because in the end it´s not a new game, it´s civ 5 with a new look, far less content and slightly different systems), but the game is composed out of multiplayer and singleplayer.    … Expand
  14. dannieeddie2008
    Oct 27, 2014
    7
    First time playing Civilization: Beyond Earth I thought this looks amazing and suc as different game to Civilization V. I got into the game and everything was the same the way the game played is the same, the look of the game is the same, they have also taken out quotes from Civilization V and put it into Civilization: Beyond Earth. The game in it self is a different game, and I love howFirst time playing Civilization: Beyond Earth I thought this looks amazing and suc as different game to Civilization V. I got into the game and everything was the same the way the game played is the same, the look of the game is the same, they have also taken out quotes from Civilization V and put it into Civilization: Beyond Earth. The game in it self is a different game, and I love how you choose your own Civilization to play as. I like the new tech tree and how the aliens are a lot more harder to attack.… Expand
  15. MaxFource
    Oct 27, 2014
    1
    Spiritual successor to SMAC? NOT...EVEN...CLOSE!!

    -No Unit Workshop -No Terraforming -No Social Engineering -No Secret Projects that actually excite you to pursue them SMAC, a 15-year old game, is kicking C:BE's ass up and down the field when it comes to creativity, excitement and intrigue of gameplay. One more turn, just one more turn? NOT!! C:BE is nothing more than a    Spiritual successor to SMAC? NOT...EVEN...CLOSE!!

    -No Unit Workshop
    -No Terraforming
    -No Social Engineering
    -No Secret Projects that actually excite you to pursue them

    SMAC, a 15-year old game, is kicking C:BE's ass up and down the field when it comes to creativity, excitement and intrigue of gameplay. One more turn, just one more turn? NOT!! C:BE is nothing more than a super-skinned mod that Firaxis threw together at the last minute and decided to rest on their laurels
    with the success of Civ V; and then to make it sting like the dickens they had the audacity to put out their hand and say, "That'll be $50, please." Once this game moves to the $5 bin, it MAY be worth it.
    Better yet, play Civ IV:BTS with the cool Planetfall mod if you want a nice sci-fi civ experience.

    Was Sid Meier even an active member of the design team when this was being created? Because it doesn't seem like it. I mean...he did make the design team at least play SMAC for a weekend before coming together to start making this game, right? I would hope so, but that doesn't seem to be the case; not from what I'm seeing with C:BE - so devoid and bereft of creativity and nuance.

    Ever since 2K Games became the publisher for Firaxis, the Civilization title's pull on gamers has been dwindling. Once 2K got involved in the franchise, it's been nothing but a money-grab and wallet-milking enterprise. You want new stuff? DLC..."gimme your money". You want expansions? Here's some stuff we
    deliberately left out of the game at the beginning..."gimme your money" if you want it back. In case no one has really noticed, with 2K, they purposefully publish games with missing content so that they have a reason to release DLC or expansion packs just to charge you again and again; all the while making you
    believe that they've come up with new and exciting content material to add to the game. They did that when they went from Civ IV to Civ V, and they are doing it again with Civ V to C:BE. Civ V:BNW was well-polished and brimming full of content and gamplay, but what does 2K/Firaxis do? They purposefully strip out all of the advancements and richness of BNW and give us a barren, lifeless C:BE, just so they have some place to go in the future and ultimately charge us more money for things that should've been in the game from the get-go. Hello...2K/Firaxis...you're burning through loyal customers by doing this, and they're not coming back. There are TONS of indie gaming studios that are turning out great, engaging games for far less and they reward you for buying their game by offering free add-ons and free DLC. You should try that, Firaxis.

    Buh-bye 2K and Firaxis, Buh-bye!

    I do NOT recommend this game to SMAC enthusiasts.    … Expand
  16. dyspeptic
    Oct 27, 2014
    8
    Last Played: Oct 2014

    PROS: + Espionage is completely reworked + Better units accessed through an "affinity" rather than tech system + Ranged units remain important throughout the game + Visual style is quite nice + Tech web allows you to ignore certain techs CONS: - Diplo is still weak, featuring only the inclusion of "favors" for when the AI demands something for nothing - Only one    Last Played: Oct 2014

    PROS: + Espionage is completely reworked + Better units accessed through an "affinity" rather than tech system + Ranged units remain important throughout the game + Visual style is quite nice + Tech web allows you to ignore certain techs

    CONS: - Diplo is still weak, featuring only the inclusion of "favors" for when the AI demands something for nothing - Only one navy and one air unit? Come on! - Only the might and growth virtue/policies seem worthwhile

    Review: I admire the risks taken with this game, and I see a lot of things that I like, as well as things that need refining, and things that should have changed, but didn't. Espionage is much better than before, having been completely reworked into a system where agents cannot access missions above the total "action limit" in the city, which increases as successful missions occur, decreasing when your enemy places an agent in the same city. Another positive change is the way higher-tier units are accessed-through the non-essential "leaves" which grant "affinity" points in the tech web. You could achieve some goals without ever levelling your unit types. Annoyingly, however, the good promotions of the past are ditched in favor of a flat 10% bonus every time the unit levels--the good promotions are now embodied by a choice which affects all units of that type on level up. One thing that was greatly improved, however was the continuing significance of ranged units (which no one built past crossbows unless they had the "improved range" perk). This is critical in SMBE because there are fewer unit types and only three factions--you need all the unit diversification you can get. EDIT: There are also unique affinity units which are unlocked at higher affinities (7+) though they are pretty much all land units.

    Other changes include the nice visual style (even the harshest critics acknowledge it looks different) and the ability to totally ignore techs in the web--I think it would be difficult to finish with every tech like one could before.

    There are some serious issues, however. The AI still regularly demands trade deals (even when they have poor relations and will reject the deal they suggested) and offers only "favors" (although I guess offering anything in return is a new feature). Furthermore, the "warmonger" feature is broken--I destroyed one outpost (not a city) and for the rest of the game I was a warmonger to every other player, leading to several 100+ turn cold wars. Speaking of annoying enemy factions, Franco-Iberia seems a bit broken, as they tend to interrupt every turn with a hate message. Wonders are accessed through tech, so it isn't clear why this should be, but it is.

    Further weaknesses include the further diminished air and navy (if I see these in an expansion I am going to be extremely mad--this better have been an accidental oversight and not a money-maker); and the unbalanced virtues (only might and growth get points when I play, health is poorly addressed by other trees).

    Basically, there are good and bad things about the game. I like it overall and I will keep playing it (hence the positive score), but Firaxis needs to patch up some holes (including missing/absurdly long unit animations and unit image superposition in the "specialize unit view" window) if they want more than just fans to like the game.    … Expand
  17. Szlomka
    Oct 27, 2014
    0
    You saw the nice launch cinematics? Well then, You still have a Chance to walk away with profit! Since that's probably as much pleasure as You can walk away with, once You buy the game You will have thrown money in the furnace.

    The whole game is a re-skinned civ 5 with some additional focus on barbarians. Sadly, the interaction with these barbarians - aliens does not create the feeling    You saw the nice launch cinematics? Well then, You still have a Chance to walk away with profit! Since that's probably as much pleasure as You can walk away with, once You buy the game You will have thrown money in the furnace.

    The whole game is a re-skinned civ 5 with some additional focus on barbarians. Sadly, the interaction with these barbarians - aliens does not create the feeling of being in a galaxy far far away, instead You receive familiar burdens from civ 5 that must be overcome and annoyingly irrational opponents... judging by whose behavior they probably should be alien themselves as logic and sensibility don't figure prominently in their stratagems.

    The whole thing makes me completely lose any sense of immersion. The glitches and bugs from civ 5 are still there, however I don't have the stamina to bear through a large world campaign to confirm the return of the onset of sluggishness post around turn 150 or so - which used to be attributed to memory leaks in civ 5 - that's how bad it is. Tried multiplayer twice - game crashed for one of us at turn 47 and 65 the second time around. The solo campaign felt obscurely lifeless with no sense of accomplishment.

    The graphics are fine. The glitches I guess could be lived with (knowing that they never do get fixed), but the simple offering of a change of colours and names on a previous title doesn't merit this price nor this publicity.

    So in summary...; Dear Sid, please when You release Beyond Earth II ( and I have no doubts You will - as there always will be people who blindly pre-order or buy on impulse based on 50+ super positive "professional" reviews) take the time to take a page from Your own book. Marry civ 1-4 with Master of Orion 1-2 and snap on a mini tactical component that Master of Magic had. Stop the dumbing down and promoting mundane clicks in place of rewarding planning ahead and tactical flavour.    … Expand
  18. Discreter
    Oct 27, 2014
    2
    I don't normally write reviews but after playing this disappointment and seeing the high scores from "professional" critics I felt I had to.

    Being a CIV and Sid Meiers's veteran and growing up with these games, I agree with the Negative scores for this game. CIV 5 when it original came out wasn't the greatest game, only with DLC and mods did it start having potential. Maybe the    I don't normally write reviews but after playing this disappointment and seeing the high scores from "professional" critics I felt I had to.

    Being a CIV and Sid Meiers's veteran and growing up with these games, I agree with the Negative scores for this game.

    CIV 5 when it original came out wasn't the greatest game, only with DLC and mods did it start having potential.

    Maybe the previous hit's were just too good and everything that comes out now just can't compare.

    The innovation of creating games in people garages and not in studios has meant a loss in creativity.

    When I buy the next release I'm not looking for (necessary) the best graphics, but great game-play and something new to enjoy.

    This game is ok, but not great and the innovations are the technology web, 3 playing styles, questing and varying ways to win.

    The Bad:
    No improvement on diplomacy has even been made worse
    I'm landing from outer-space the map should be revealed and I should choose where to land. They need to come up with a fog of war or the landscape changing over time option.    … Expand
  19. War_Horse
    Oct 27, 2014
    3
    Probably one of the most underwhelming entries in a big name franchise since Dragon Age II, though not nearly as fun or interesting. Some say or think this is just Civ V in the future and on a different planet. No, not really. This is quite different than Civ V. It plays like a Civ game, but certainly doesn't FEEL like a Civ game. First off; you don't really pick a civ/figurehead/crest orProbably one of the most underwhelming entries in a big name franchise since Dragon Age II, though not nearly as fun or interesting. Some say or think this is just Civ V in the future and on a different planet. No, not really. This is quite different than Civ V. It plays like a Civ game, but certainly doesn't FEEL like a Civ game. First off; you don't really pick a civ/figurehead/crest or anything to sort of identify or rally behind. You pick like a general perk represnted by a little generic symbol and then you proceed to pick three more little perks. One effects like your focus on something, like culture, growth, etc. Another one is like an early game bonus, like reveal coastlines, or have a wider area to choose from when you drop your city, then you pretty much just get a second start up perk, like start with a tech or building.

    So it feels like they tried to add more customization, but none if it is that good or interesting and you lose a lot the style and personality or whatever. you feel more like some faceless organization trying to settle on a **** planet than a ruler trying to bring prominence to a civilization through domination, high culture, massive expansions or whatever you feel like. As a result a lot of us(me and about 7 other friends I played with) had no real goals or aspirations to do much of anything other than find some crashed satellites and **** None of us cared what we did or what happened

    "I'm losing, how am I losing?"
    "I'm winning, how am I winning?"
    "Do I care?"
    "No, but get the **** away from my resource pod."

    Oh yeah, there's quests now. Not like the city-state quests. But quests that get you little perks. Like, kinda cool concept, but no one gives a ****.

    Oh and let me tell you... about the super awesome planet EVERY match takes place on. Okay, there's a bunch of aliens that can kick your ass. You won't be able to scratch a siege worm until near mid or late game. On the plus side, they're not always hostile. Like I had a swarm of aliens outside my area who didn't give a **** about me. Thing is that some of them do care. But really the thing that really sucks is the ****ing miasma every-****ing-where. This **** damages any and all your units if you end a turn on a space with it... and this **** is ****ing everywhere. You can be blocked off by nothing but miasma and alien swarms, or in my case once, city-states settling too close to me. because now you approve who comes near you for different bonuses. kinda cool... except they can prevent you from expanding in areas. One time I couldn't go south at all and my north was aliens and my west was a huge canyon that I couldn't cross.

    Tech has a sort of cool new approach to it, but at the same time, is a lot more tedious to actually get what you want or need. Instead of a bracket, it's more like a web that branches out in several directions. Each direction has another several techs that each open up about two other sort of sub techs with more stuff. Honestly... it's just the tech bracket if someone shattered it on the ground and all the pieces were strewn about into little categories. The principle's the freaking same, as it should be, but why make it like this?

    Really, it doesn't feel like Civ at all and I actually wonder why they try to pass it as a Civ game other than to use brand recognition. You're not building a country/empire or anything. You're some faceless bland organization with no detailed history or national pride associated with it, try to start a colony on a new **** ass planet that wants nothing but for you to not progress anywhere or actually accomplish anything. Which is really kind of fine by you since there's no incentive to try and build up anything. There's no history to make, there's no territory really worth taking, the map doesn't even make making yourself a giant colored blob much of a thing. There's no real incentive other than to further progress some generic sci-fi tech for a weird generic symbol thing and a bland ass person(I guess, you hardly see them anyway) that represents you. Just nothing distinguishes you and there isn't much to do to change that and to shape a world with your ideologies and stuff.

    Overall, it introduces some 'interesting' spins on some systems as well as a few completely new ideas. But overall the entire package it's delivered in is bland and uninspiring. The biggest challenge of this game aside keeping your units alive in the toxic environment is mustering the initiative to want to even do anything to keep playing.    … Expand
  20. AddictivKaos
    Oct 27, 2014
    4
    Started playing it with music on and it was atmospheric and I had hope it would be a good game, but as the game went on I was playing without the music and the core game play is just stale and boring. I had hoped they'd improved Civ5 or at least made a different game, but it is just an overhyped and overpriced mod. Anyone paying full price (or the Australia tax) - get a refund!
  21. Brabizon
    Oct 27, 2014
    3
    A long time fan of the series, from the original up to Civ 5 BNW, and SMAC in between, I was expecting something special in line with the former games. After almost 12 hours of gameplay it's evident BE falls short in a number of areas:
    - Bland, uninspiring, murky graphics where it is difficult to discern resources and land types.
    - Boring civ factions without distinctive attributes and    A long time fan of the series, from the original up to Civ 5 BNW, and SMAC in between, I was expecting something special in line with the former games. After almost 12 hours of gameplay it's evident BE falls short in a number of areas:
    - Bland, uninspiring, murky graphics where it is difficult to discern resources and land types.
    - Boring civ factions without distinctive attributes and personality, and only 8 of them.
    - Pathetic AI (aliens and competing factions) far too passive and weak
    - The Tech Web and the UI in general is cluttered and could use colour coding for better understanding
    - Game lore/sci-fi concepts lack imagination. 600 years into the future and I would expect few of the national/ethnic divisions on earth to resemble those of today. Also mankind has achieved interstellar travel yet can't engage in plantary terraforming, still uses bulldozers to clear trees and requires formative research in genetics, physics and engineering. Wouldn't this knowledge have been with the colonists on arrival?

    The worst thing for me though is that the game in general is lacking in soul, and feels empty and mechanical compared to it's predecessors. I will persist for a little while yet, but can't imagine it will even come close to the far superior Civ 5 BNW which is a well-rounded and engaging Civ experience.    … Expand
  22. Adolphobia
    Oct 26, 2014
    0
    if you have ever played Alpha Centauri stay away from this CIV5 expansion...

    this is the first time i write a review, because i feel ripped off and disappointed, once again the publishers manipulated our love for a classic game, when i saw the "made with staff from the original Alpha Centauri" i instantly pulled out my credit card and bought this full price, i guess by "staff" they    if you have ever played Alpha Centauri stay away from this CIV5 expansion...

    this is the first time i write a review, because i feel ripped off and disappointed, once again the publishers manipulated our love for a classic game, when i saw the "made with staff from the original Alpha Centauri" i instantly pulled out my credit card and bought this full price, i guess by "staff" they meant the people that moped the floors in Firaxis back in the day...

    i can't believe that 15 years later, nothing has improved, the design was better, the writing, better and darker, the whole atmosphere, music, sound effects, graphics, AI, i could go on and on... did anyone that played the old Alpha Centauri had anything to do with this? i'm sick of this guys ruthlessly making money out of the loyal fan base, instead of giving us the games we want, watered down adult themes, no videos after completing wonders, combat has been simplified to a point its not even tactical...

    welcome to the age of glorified Rock, paper and scissors.

    i guess i'll have to wait another 15 years for the DLC of the DLC 60$ reboot of Alpha Centauri.

    oh and NONE of the problems from civilization V have been fixed.

    Great job Firaxis, you just alienated and infuriated all the loyal gamers that grew up playing your games, i'll never buy another game from this ruffians, **** you SId...    … Expand
  23. Setari
    Oct 26, 2014
    4
    This gets a 5/10 from me, because it is legitimately borked. The beginner difficulty has enemies attacking you, and the game does not do a good job of explaining what's new in the game.

    I guess I expected too much from Sid Meier in the way of a tutorial, showing what's new from Civ5. It took me forever to figure out how to get the Covert Ops units, much less these tanks and aerial units    This gets a 5/10 from me, because it is legitimately borked. The beginner difficulty has enemies attacking you, and the game does not do a good job of explaining what's new in the game.

    I guess I expected too much from Sid Meier in the way of a tutorial, showing what's new from Civ5. It took me forever to figure out how to get the Covert Ops units, much less these tanks and aerial units that the AI are using that I can't even figure out how to get, since I've searched all over the tech tree.

    Actually upon further review I am lowering this to 4/10.    … Expand
  24. 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
  25. 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.
  26. 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
  27. Surg3on
    Oct 26, 2014
    6
    Generally a disappointing reskin of Civ5 with what looks like very little work put into it (seriously, Firaxis either didn't spend much money or the employees spent a lot of time watching cat videos on YouTube). Luckily the core game is OK and looks nice. I would recommend waiting until the first expansion pack to fix the multitude of terrible UI decisions, useless diplomacy, trade routesGenerally a disappointing reskin of Civ5 with what looks like very little work put into it (seriously, Firaxis either didn't spend much money or the employees spent a lot of time watching cat videos on YouTube). Luckily the core game is OK and looks nice. I would recommend waiting until the first expansion pack to fix the multitude of terrible UI decisions, useless diplomacy, trade routes mess, missing win screes, slapped together wonder screens.

    I do like the new style of military upgrades and the tech tree is a good idea (if very difficult to learn). The aliens will be good after some patching.    … Expand
  28. EffigyX
    Oct 26, 2014
    6
    Not a BAD game, but not distinct enough from Civ V, and matches up poorly against the added depth and complexity added by the latter game's expansions.

    And unfortunately, Beyond Earth is also no Alpha Centauri, with bland factions and a background narrative that failed to engage me. It has nothing like the sense of SMAC's bitter ideological conflict between extremist factions led by    Not a BAD game, but not distinct enough from Civ V, and matches up poorly against the added depth and complexity added by the latter game's expansions.

    And unfortunately, Beyond Earth is also no Alpha Centauri, with bland factions and a background narrative that failed to engage me. It has nothing like the sense of SMAC's bitter ideological conflict between extremist factions led by mad geniuses.

    Unless you MUST play it, I'd recommend waiting a few years for more content to be added.    … Expand
  29. Ansatsu83
    Oct 26, 2014
    7
    Game is pretty darn good. There are some really nice features, such as multiple different types of upgrades based on which affinity you are going. The world is nice, the aliens feel more intimidating than barbarians from other civ games. I like the affinity system (harmony, purity, or supremacy), which can give you major variations on how you play. Major complaints are the weapon/unitGame is pretty darn good. There are some really nice features, such as multiple different types of upgrades based on which affinity you are going. The world is nice, the aliens feel more intimidating than barbarians from other civ games. I like the affinity system (harmony, purity, or supremacy), which can give you major variations on how you play. Major complaints are the weapon/unit scaling based on the upgrades you achieve. There is too much of a noticeable upgrade in their damage. I cant create my own nation despite being sci-fi, have to use one of the small amount of premade nations. Most of the benefits of the premade nations are only viable for the first 100 turns of the game, after that they are pointless as research and buildings will give enough benefits to cover everyone they have (speaking of Brasilia and Polystrailia). It also seems that while you can evolve units, there is a significantly less units, overall, since you are forced to choose one affinity evolution, per unit type. There are only 3 or 4 specific units, to each affinity and the rest are evolved from base units. Total base units are 6 to 8, which means you are essentially limited in units you can produce. The ui for the technology trees is really odd, as well. Took me about 5 minutes to figure it out. The problem is the sub trees, which most techs have at least 2 sub trees. Problem is, it doesn't properly clarify the sub tree aspect in the tutorial. The whole city defense system is set up in a weird way, too. You can attack it with only a couple of high tier units, but using low tier is pointless as they will die quickly. This means you cant easily take over nations earlier in the game, unlike civ1-5. Just these little issues that end up causing me to rate it lower than I wish I could. Still a great game, though!… Expand
  30. FlamingGamer
    Oct 26, 2014
    5
    Disappointed is a light word here, disgusted is more appropriate. Here's a perfect example of spending more on marketing than on the game itself. Really, I mean, this is just lazy, flat, cardboard and embarrassing. More work went into some mods for Civ 5 than went into this game. Speaking of which, that's what this should have been, a mod. It makes me sick that I've waited so long forDisappointed is a light word here, disgusted is more appropriate. Here's a perfect example of spending more on marketing than on the game itself. Really, I mean, this is just lazy, flat, cardboard and embarrassing. More work went into some mods for Civ 5 than went into this game. Speaking of which, that's what this should have been, a mod. It makes me sick that I've waited so long for this and now I just want to go back to playing Endless Legend.

    That being said (or ranted), it's Civilization. After 600+ hours on Civ 5 it's probably safe to assume I'll be giving Civ BE multiple chances to redeem itself with updates, patches, DLC, and of course microtransactions. I feel screwed though, ripped off. This won't be forgotten 2K, you gave us a $60 mod for Civ 5 and hyped the hell out of it. That's just insulting.    … Expand
  31. bthomas
    Oct 26, 2014
    6
    Beyond Earth brings a few nice additions to the franchise. The new branch-leaf concept for the Tech Web makes for a more versatile playthrough, and the new Affinities and their related unit upgrading system is really interesting.

    UI and overall graphic experience is reasonable. The filter on the Tech Web is really handy and in my opinion is one of the best UI improvements in the    Beyond Earth brings a few nice additions to the franchise. The new branch-leaf concept for the Tech Web makes for a more versatile playthrough, and the new Affinities and their related unit upgrading system is really interesting.

    UI and overall graphic experience is reasonable. The filter on the Tech Web is really handy and in my opinion is one of the best UI improvements in the franchise.

    AI problems still persist, though. Workers have no sense of opportunity, and AI civilizations have no sense of measure when deciding what to offer or demand in a peace deal.

    It is a good game, but I expected more.    … Expand
  32. Awesumo
    Oct 26, 2014
    4
    Beyond Earth just feels a bit hollow. Take civilization and strip out the history -or take Alpha centuari and strip out the unique civilizations. What you are left with feels like a rather soulless game.
    The planet - effectively an extra opponent/ally in AC feels like nothing but large numbers of barbarians that have their aggression turned right down. Another disappointment.
    There    Beyond Earth just feels a bit hollow. Take civilization and strip out the history -or take Alpha centuari and strip out the unique civilizations. What you are left with feels like a rather soulless game.
    The planet - effectively an extra opponent/ally in AC feels like nothing but large numbers of barbarians that have their aggression turned right down. Another disappointment.
    There just isn't enough here, it looks nice but plays like a half finished mod.
    One last thing - the Diplomacy is ridiculous and the AI openly cheats.    … Expand
  33. gyrate
    Oct 26, 2014
    0
    The leaders in this game will recite the exact same lines as Civ V and this will carry on with their reactions to you building near them and so on. Unlike SMAC you can not build cities on the water. For some reason this was just too difficult for them even though modders figured it out. I can only guess it's for later DLC. People will argue that it's not supposed to be a predecessor to itThe leaders in this game will recite the exact same lines as Civ V and this will carry on with their reactions to you building near them and so on. Unlike SMAC you can not build cities on the water. For some reason this was just too difficult for them even though modders figured it out. I can only guess it's for later DLC. People will argue that it's not supposed to be a predecessor to it and it's certainly not. I wish that it was but those that want to side with that camp can take comfort that this is really just a new skin for Civ V. Jump with joy and get the DLC wave of love that makes you warm and cozy. If they make it so you can build cities on the water and give these faction leaders actual personalities let me know. Until then if you own Civ V the only reason to buy this is if you wanted a darker skin in a sci fi setting. As I feel it is half of what I desired and Firaxis continues to hate on the old school fans that made them what they are I give this a zero. Have fun milking all of your fan boys they deserve it.… Expand
  34. Zirconiumfist
    Oct 26, 2014
    8
    Is it a revolutionary new take on the classic Civilization series? No. However it presents enough new features and ideas to make it well worth your time and money. I love the Affinity upgrade system, it allows each game to feel different despite the relatively small number of "Civilizations" (sponsors). True the diplomatic interactions are much the same, and the voice over for the leadersIs it a revolutionary new take on the classic Civilization series? No. However it presents enough new features and ideas to make it well worth your time and money. I love the Affinity upgrade system, it allows each game to feel different despite the relatively small number of "Civilizations" (sponsors). True the diplomatic interactions are much the same, and the voice over for the leaders is a bit limited and repetitive, (though I like how their appearance changes as they become more strongly aligned with an affinity) but the covert-ops has been simplified and offers a variety of exciting operations (like summoning alien siege worms). I like the non-linear tech web, it allows you to reach "ultimate" techs and units much faster than in previous Civ games, but the five possible victories still take a few hundred turns to achieve. So far I've only completed two games and my biggest disappointment is the victory screen. No stats, no world overview, no ranking,just "you win" and it exits to the main menu. I feel like a mod will cover this in the near future, but I don't understand why Firaxis would omit that feature. Overall, a great turn based strategy that largely improves the solid Civ 5 base mechanics but still has room to improve. I can only hope that future DLCs and patches will actually atone for the silly mistakes and questionable design choices.… Expand
  35. Sazrak
    Oct 26, 2014
    0
    Just terrible, the game is nearly unplayable in a literal sense. Any online play takes several tries to get off the ground because the game crashes constantly in multiplayer, although it is admittedly better in LAN play than over the internet. It tends to be a toss-up whether or not the racial faction bonuses will work at any given time. The mechanics are unimaginative, with a completelyJust terrible, the game is nearly unplayable in a literal sense. Any online play takes several tries to get off the ground because the game crashes constantly in multiplayer, although it is admittedly better in LAN play than over the internet. It tends to be a toss-up whether or not the racial faction bonuses will work at any given time. The mechanics are unimaginative, with a completely uninspired tech-tree that lets you decide exactly the way you wish your civilization to be the same as everyone else's because the techs are scattered all over the place and full of requirements from other techs placed far away on the tree. In effect, it's pretty much the exact same deal as with civilization 5's normal tree, except less intuitive so it takes a while to get a grasp on how to structure a basic build.

    Barbarians, one of the most annoying and random features of civilization 5, has been given a steroid treatment so that the game can rocket into the dull trope of all alien worlds somehow inexplicably playing host to naturally bullet-resistant life-forms. Rather than being an interesting event and object of interaction with the world, the aliens pour out of nests, meaning that depending on your location they will either be an insignificant nuisance that you don't really need to take a stance on or absolutely obliterate any chance of staying competitive with anyone who was placed elsewhere on the map. Their aggression is mostly tied into the nests - if you are surrounded by them then too bad, if not then you might not even need to escort your workers and colonists to new locations. This is unmitigated by the techs for dealing with them, due to their being placed on high tiers and randomly around the tech bubble.

    You're not alone in dealing with the alien threat, however. Every now and then an unafiliated outpost will land somewhere in your expansion circle, forcing you to go to war with them or 35 turns before they go away. Sometimes two outposts disagree about which one of them is going to ruin your day, and make you decide - never give you the option to tell them both to screw off. This happens at random times throughout the game, and you have no control over it. These are the exact two random events that will happen - outposts taking your spot, and aliens taking your spot.

    This game is lazy at best, more of a late beta than a full release. If you preordered, but are intending to play with friends who did not, you can't use the bonus map types - which is pretty stupid, but the blow is softened by the fact that the new map types are basically small variations on the old ones. In their botched attempt to basically recreate Alpha Centauri, Firaxis has managed to leave out most of the interesting parts of this predecessor - the tech tree is bad, there is no lore to speak of, even the quotes are terrible - and mashed it with the worst parts of Civilization 5's engine. Just awful.    … Expand
  36. Streba
    Oct 26, 2014
    0
    Total waste of money and time. I guess i won't touch this game again after the first play-through. You have to do a lot of meaningless manual work that starts to annoy you after approx. 50 turns. Why do i have to reassign every trade route every 10 turns? Why is there no automation? Why do i get a proposal for open borders every turn from turn 200 on, after i already approved it 10 times?Total waste of money and time. I guess i won't touch this game again after the first play-through. You have to do a lot of meaningless manual work that starts to annoy you after approx. 50 turns. Why do i have to reassign every trade route every 10 turns? Why is there no automation? Why do i get a proposal for open borders every turn from turn 200 on, after i already approved it 10 times? The alien swarm ai and leader ai is totally stupid. Why do my workers remove miasma, when i am on the highest harmony level an get bony from it? Sorry...this game is at this state fundamentally broken :(… Expand
  37. Keengerm
    Oct 26, 2014
    0
    An unplayable alpha. So many bugs and broken systems that it aborts directly after launch. My personal favorite is the broken "end turn" button. Why did Firaxis do this, and why is Sid's name on it?
  38. iceiceice
    Oct 26, 2014
    0
    Better stick with civ 5. this is just a reskin of civ 5. No major improvements. More like a civ 5 mod with a more horrible ai,ui, trade system,units etc. They messed up everything. Theres no sense in playing these unless you really like scifi or hitting next turn button.
  39. 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
  40. kacperf10
    Oct 26, 2014
    4
    While I hate this game, I certainly can see people enjoying it. If you've liked playing Civ V on lower ( by lower I mean lower than 6) difficulties, if you aren't look for challenge, but for simple empire building&wars winning game-CBE is for you. For me AI is completely ruining gaming experience. I'm sick of catching up on tech with completely over-buffed AI and on the end demolishingWhile I hate this game, I certainly can see people enjoying it. If you've liked playing Civ V on lower ( by lower I mean lower than 6) difficulties, if you aren't look for challenge, but for simple empire building&wars winning game-CBE is for you. For me AI is completely ruining gaming experience. I'm sick of catching up on tech with completely over-buffed AI and on the end demolishing there endless armies using couple of ranged units and city to defend.… Expand
  41. 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
  42. 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...
  43. Flawl3s
    Oct 26, 2014
    8
    No, Beyond Earth is not just a reskin of Civ 5, sure it's not the spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, that we all hoped it would be, but it is solid, as much interesting, addictive Sid Meier's title. And we all should remember that Firaxis is known for fixing their games with expansion packs. (just as they did with Civ 5)
    It is a very solid title, which will just get better as time    No, Beyond Earth is not just a reskin of Civ 5, sure it's not the spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri, that we all hoped it would be, but it is solid, as much interesting, addictive Sid Meier's title. And we all should remember that Firaxis is known for fixing their games with expansion packs. (just as they did with Civ 5)
    It is a very solid title, which will just get better as time goes on, buy it now if you are a Civ fan, or just strategy fan in general, otherwise wait for some sales or expansions.    … Expand
  44. ReYnevan
    Oct 26, 2014
    6
    Greatest DLC for Civilization V ever:) and...highest prize ever for DLC;) THIS IS NOT A NEW GAME:) Civilization V was for me greatest game ever so i expect new, fine game NOT DLC:) Beyond Earth is fine, playing well, but is too short for me. Disappointment for now. Almost 40 Euro for dlc is a joke:)
  45. 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
  46. 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
  47. Vetinari34
    Oct 26, 2014
    9
    The people that have rated the game low appear to have rated it low largely because it reuses the gameplay of Civilization 5. Alpha Centauri is one of the greatest games of all time, but its basic gameplay is terrible in comparison to that of Beyond Earth. Over time, Firaxis has molded and polished the civilization experience into the well oiled machine that can be found in this game.The people that have rated the game low appear to have rated it low largely because it reuses the gameplay of Civilization 5. Alpha Centauri is one of the greatest games of all time, but its basic gameplay is terrible in comparison to that of Beyond Earth. Over time, Firaxis has molded and polished the civilization experience into the well oiled machine that can be found in this game. With the freedom of the tech web, affinities, and virtues, every game played is going to be a completely different experience.

    What is lacking that I miss from Alpha Centauri is the voice acting and the wonder videos. While The voice actors for Beyond Earth are great, only one is used to voice the quotes for all of the technologies, affinities, and wonders. In Alpha Centauri, each voice actor voiced their own character's quotes for everything, and it made you really love and care about each character, and the people they were leading. Also, that each wonder had its own cgi video just added to the immersion of the game. I really miss that level of captivation that Alpha Centauri brought to the table. Also, mind worm boils were far more frightening a concept to me than siege worms ever will be. ;)

    This game truly is a culmination of Firaxis' experiences with turned-based strategy. It really brings together the best gameplay aspects of all its predecessors, and adds a few more wonderfully freeing tools. I have over 400 hours logged in Civ V, and I plan to have much more than that logged in Beyond Earth. I cannot wait to see how the DLC will shape this already polished gem.    … Expand
  48. JiminyJickers
    Oct 25, 2014
    8
    Great start of a new franchise. Beyond Earth is an addictive addition to the Civilization universe. There are many new features that makes this game so much more than just and expansion pack to Civ V. I can't for expansions to come out to flesh out the game even more.

    The AI is providing a good challenge and there is a lot of variety in the current factions, even though it doesn't    Great start of a new franchise. Beyond Earth is an addictive addition to the Civilization universe. There are many new features that makes this game so much more than just and expansion pack to Civ V. I can't for expansions to come out to flesh out the game even more.

    The AI is providing a good challenge and there is a lot of variety in the current factions, even though it doesn't appear so at the start. Once you are into the swing of the game, there are many decisions to make to shape your faction and evolve your people.

    Highly recommended.

    There are a few minor bugs but nothing major. The biggest complaint is that there needs to be more factions and options for planet generation. Some of the info screens don't have enough information. For example, I can't find a way to tell which factions are at war with other ones in the diplomacy screen. This has caused me to go to war with neighbours by forming an alliance with their enemies without knowing it.

    A solid entry and I will definitely be picking up the inevitable expansions when they come out.    … Expand
  49. 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
  50. Zagbok
    Oct 25, 2014
    10
    wow just wow, if you did not like the other civ games, go away. If you did like them you will love this. The paths you can take the choices before you enter the game. Wow I enjoyed having more decisions that shapes you people into more than just people some times. The game is not alpha Centauri it is beyond earth.
  51. 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
  52. madskull505
    Oct 25, 2014
    1
    WTF, way too much futuristic that my brain couldn't able to comprehend what is going on. Total waste of time, nothing to learn and nothing is that much fun compared to CIV V or IV, Turn Based Strategy is DEAD.
  53. JonnyEsco
    Oct 25, 2014
    3
    Yea, this game is pretty bad... I loved civ 5 but this I can't follow this one... The tech trees are damn near impossible to follow! I played the game for an hour and my Major city got converted and I couldn't figure out how. It happend without any warning what-so-ever. Learning the game takes a lot of time, and I mean a lot of time. Its like chess times 1000... WTF! Building a strategyYea, this game is pretty bad... I loved civ 5 but this I can't follow this one... The tech trees are damn near impossible to follow! I played the game for an hour and my Major city got converted and I couldn't figure out how. It happend without any warning what-so-ever. Learning the game takes a lot of time, and I mean a lot of time. Its like chess times 1000... WTF! Building a strategy vs 1000 other strategies that can destroy you is absolutely pointless. It's challenging but doesn't match it in the fun factor.… Expand
  54. Dimppa
    Oct 25, 2014
    10
    Civ BE is not worth 10 but nor is it 6. i think it's good game even great, "you can't advance through ages" What did you expect? everyone forgetting what computer is after that leave spaceship?
  55. ecoagg11
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    Nice visuals and such, but core mechanic is no different. UI is much clunkier and harder to manage than previous titles, and being able to gleam any information from the screen is much more difficult. No single player campaigns any more, and the few advancements are just poorly executed versions of Endless Space/Legend series
  56. Joker85
    Oct 25, 2014
    2
    This is a poorly made mod. Every bit of life, soul, or polish that made BNW a relatively fun experience was completely left out.

    The UI is god awful. No scaling. Drab, boring colors. Rome 2 total war UI with space blue instead of black. AI is non existent. The planet terrains are hideous and uninviting. 95% of the mechanics under the hood are literally copy/pasted from Civ5.    This is a poorly made mod. Every bit of life, soul, or polish that made BNW a relatively fun experience was completely left out.

    The UI is god awful. No scaling. Drab, boring colors. Rome 2 total war UI with space blue instead of black.

    AI is non existent.

    The planet terrains are hideous and uninviting.

    95% of the mechanics under the hood are literally copy/pasted from Civ5.

    Tons of features that actually worked in Civ5 were left out for some reason.

    This game is basically an unfinished mod. If the creator of this mod released and stated he needed another 10-12 months before it got into a release state, I'd believe him. But for a company trying to charge for this?

    Unacceptable.    … Expand
  57. Osmanecek
    Oct 25, 2014
    7
    OK. To be perfectly honest - What Civ 5 reached after all expansion packs. No-one really expected, that Beyond Earth will after release. I like where is game heading to, but it is not there just yet. After first or second expansion it will be much more interesting. If you didn´t play Civ 5, than Go for Civ 5 with all expansions - it will take you ages to get bored of it - if ever.. AndOK. To be perfectly honest - What Civ 5 reached after all expansion packs. No-one really expected, that Beyond Earth will after release. I like where is game heading to, but it is not there just yet. After first or second expansion it will be much more interesting. If you didn´t play Civ 5, than Go for Civ 5 with all expansions - it will take you ages to get bored of it - if ever.. And within time this diamond will be polished and waiting for you. For the rest of you, try it - though if you expecting something big - it is not there yet..

    Points I would love to see improved in expansions:
    1) Graphics illustrations!! The man in charge of it should be sacked! :D Everyone in the team did good job and that is why I am so much surprised about one fact - there is so much to discover - yet you can not see what it is looks like, sounds like or taste like.. When you built, discover or whatever something - there should be full screen picture with original sound - and as it is new civ game - I would even like to see some videos - intro is so nice! Same applies to science technology tree and basically everything within game. Even City doesn´t really change a bit after expansion. And guess what, check out the ingame civpedia - there are also no pictures!
    2) Alien civs
    3) I am missing Germany, UK, France, Turkey, Aztecs, Koreans and the others - they should be in this game and with their specific aproach to diplomacy, play style and other things. Currently it doesn´t really matter, for who and against who you will play.    … Expand
  58. Trainor
    Oct 25, 2014
    4
    The AI in this game needs serious work. Linking your in game Ideology to a Strategic Resource makes the AI impossible to maintain any kind of alliance with. AIs of opposing ideologies hate you for your belief even if they are the other side of the world and AIs of the same belief covet the Strategic Resource linked to your shared beliefs with a Dark and Terrible Lust. Other aspects of theThe AI in this game needs serious work. Linking your in game Ideology to a Strategic Resource makes the AI impossible to maintain any kind of alliance with. AIs of opposing ideologies hate you for your belief even if they are the other side of the world and AIs of the same belief covet the Strategic Resource linked to your shared beliefs with a Dark and Terrible Lust. Other aspects of the game are good but this is making the game extremely frustrating to play, the AI needs to be fixed for me to recommend it.… Expand
  59. 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
  60. MrTim165
    Oct 25, 2014
    9
    I personally think Firaxis has done a great job with this Civilization game. The new (and old) system really make it something more than Civ V was, or to me at least. I also really dig the futuristic aesthetic, I love how you're now building an alternate future instead of an alt history.

    On itself, it's a phenomenal game. Great 4X with some really interesting systems. But since it's    I personally think Firaxis has done a great job with this Civilization game. The new (and old) system really make it something more than Civ V was, or to me at least. I also really dig the futuristic aesthetic, I love how you're now building an alternate future instead of an alt history.

    On itself, it's a phenomenal game. Great 4X with some really interesting systems. But since it's another game in the long lineup of other civ games, we're gonna have to compare it to Civ V. Whether or not it's better than Civ V is debatable. They're very similar but slightly different. Some may think Civ V was better, others may think Beyond Earth is better. You're gonna have to look for yourself to see if you like it or not. I personally love it!    … Expand
  61. sherbz
    Oct 25, 2014
    7
    In all, BE is slightly disappointing. It does many things right, but misses out on the golden nougat. It has a very poor UI and there is a distinct lack of narrative. This is important because in a sci fi game, you need one. It didnt matter so much in civ 5, because the Egyptians and romans are familiar entities. You dont have that in BE. So you need a story to fill in the gaps. TheIn all, BE is slightly disappointing. It does many things right, but misses out on the golden nougat. It has a very poor UI and there is a distinct lack of narrative. This is important because in a sci fi game, you need one. It didnt matter so much in civ 5, because the Egyptians and romans are familiar entities. You dont have that in BE. So you need a story to fill in the gaps. The other problem is that the AI has still not been properly sorted out from civ 5. I think 1UPT is a failed experiment. Lets go back to SOD because at least the AI could play better that way. BE is not a terrible game, and as a civ fan, you will like it. But dont expect it to blow your mind.… Expand
  62. morswin
    Oct 25, 2014
    0
    First 30£ on steam it costs now is right now way too much for an EXPANSION or MOD to civ V.
    Second, there is inherently something broken about the one unit per hexagon grid approach. Sure it worked for strategy games such as Panzer General, but all the AI had to do there was to defend, and player would generally only one way attack across 100 hexes or wider maps, with units that could    First 30£ on steam it costs now is right now way too much for an EXPANSION or MOD to civ V.
    Second, there is inherently something broken about the one unit per hexagon grid approach. Sure it worked for strategy games such as Panzer General, but all the AI had to do there was to defend, and player would generally only one way attack across 100 hexes or wider maps, with units that could move 5+ hexes on average. In Civ V and unfortunately Beyond Earth, the combat, and even building improvements with workers, is squashed into small bits of land few hexes in size, with units that usually cant move more than one hex at a time. It is just a mess, difficult for the player to control, and AI is just unable to wage war efficiently.
    The developers should allow for unit stacking, just like civ 4 did, just make sure some negative buffs would apply, or collateral damage for attacks against stacked units.
    Thirdly, there are also over 10 buildings that do only +1-3 science,+1-3 health or +1-3 culture alone, and later in the game you can upgrade them with +1 science, health or culture. Add no city automation, and you end up building hundreds of these manually...
    But there are no buildings with large % bonuses, so each new construction is a little step forward, nothing comparable to civ 4 where obtaining factories could double your production in a few turns, or obtaining education, building universities and oxford could even triple science outcome if combined with a revolution.

    Nice graphics, and tech tree, but that is not enough.    … Expand
  63. BarryEvans
    Oct 25, 2014
    8
    Beyond Earth picks up where Civ 5 left off - quite literally. If you watched any of the developer videos and interviews you will know that they were adamant that this game was not going to be a remake of Alpha Centuri. Instead, you get what feels like a heavily modded version of Civ 5.
    The hexagon squares are still there and the game still plays the same as Civ 5 did. Some of the bugs    Beyond Earth picks up where Civ 5 left off - quite literally. If you watched any of the developer videos and interviews you will know that they were adamant that this game was not going to be a remake of Alpha Centuri. Instead, you get what feels like a heavily modded version of Civ 5.
    The hexagon squares are still there and the game still plays the same as Civ 5 did. Some of the bugs from Civ 5 have even made it into this game, such as the "constant scroll lock" that happens if you press the arrow keys when you end your turn.
    Choosing a faction is currently limited (I think there are 6 to choose from), but I think we can see new factions added in expansion packs.
    The tech tree is a nice new addition, which I happen to like. You research different tech's depending on the victory you wish to work towards. This adds to the re-playability aspect of the game - each game will be different depending on the tech's that you choose to research and also how you choose to interact with the planet.
    Units are the same no matter which victory condition you choose. The stats are the same for each unit, so if you are playing multiplayer, it comes down to how well you use the terrain to your advantage. I would have like to see different skins for the units though, but again, this may come later with expansions.
    For now, I am giving this game an 8. I can see the potential, but I think patches and expansions are needed to push the boundaries further away from Civ 5, because at the moment it feels too familiar. This was probably done on purpose to ween people off Civ 5 slowly, but I think they got the balance between learning curve and different feeling game a bit wrong.
    If you like Civ 5, you will like this game. Expansions will only raise it from the 8 that I gave - ignore the people who gave it less than a 5, they obviously played for 30 mins before racing onto this site to be come one of the first reviewers.    … Expand
  64. Agliolo
    Oct 25, 2014
    1
    Beyond Disappointment.
    I cannot believe how lazy game company have gotten in the last few years, and this game is a perfect demonstration of such. By saying it is a re-skin of Civ 5 would lead you to believe it is at least as good looking as Civ 5, it is NOT. The graphics are cheep and the only thing that looks half decent is the Civilization Leaders. Multiplayer bugs still exists, and    Beyond Disappointment.
    I cannot believe how lazy game company have gotten in the last few years, and this game is a perfect demonstration of such. By saying it is a re-skin of Civ 5 would lead you to believe it is at least as good looking as Civ 5, it is NOT. The graphics are cheep and the only thing that looks half decent is the Civilization Leaders. Multiplayer bugs still exists, and parts of the game have been removed such as strategic mode. The UI has been flipped around and some of the basic information (such as trade routes) are just MIA. A used unit is nearly impossible to see on the map as they go to a 90% transparency. This game look like it is in early Alpha stage in comparison to Civ 5. None of the menus are as well designed, the tech web is ugly and hard to browse. Generally this game needs to go right back to the developers as incomplete. My review would be slightly higher if this was a $10 DLC pack as it should have been. I realize this sounds like a rant, so try it out for yourself, it is literally this bad. 2K and Firaxis should be ashamed to put their name and Sid Meier's on this title.    … Expand
  65. Zamioku
    Oct 25, 2014
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I don't understand why everyone keeps comparing this game with Civ 5 and saying that it's just not as good.
    Personally I think it's a brilliant game in it's own, but if you want to compare it to Civ 5 then I can say without a doubt that it's a much smaller game (less civs, fewer mechanics, fewer specializations) but much better thought out and adapted.
    The aliens are a constant, REAL threat, they are diverse and the rewards for killing them are much more meaningful (due to the quests) unlike the wimpy barbarians of Civ who were just waiting to be wiped out.
    The upgrades, virtues, affinities and all of their effects are all very clear and very visible. There is no second guessing, or wondering as to the effects of my specialization, as in Civ 5 and this gives me a feeling that the game is much more solid.
    There is so much to be said why Beyond Earth is so much better and innovative than Civ 5, but I would rather players take this game separately so they can fully enjoy and graps it's unique concepts.    … Expand
  66. 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
  67. axxiusdecius
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    I disliked how the Civ 5 „streamlined” (read dumbed-down) the great Civ 4 to appease a broader, less sophisticated audience. Well, Beyond Earth simplifies even further the Civ 5, which is a bad thing and a bad omen for the future of the series. It’s still a good game, with some nice new additions and plenty of „one more turn factor”, but it’s not a great game (or even a game, actually, itI disliked how the Civ 5 „streamlined” (read dumbed-down) the great Civ 4 to appease a broader, less sophisticated audience. Well, Beyond Earth simplifies even further the Civ 5, which is a bad thing and a bad omen for the future of the series. It’s still a good game, with some nice new additions and plenty of „one more turn factor”, but it’s not a great game (or even a game, actually, it just feels like a Civ 5 mod/expansion).Let’s see what i mean (note that my review is the view of a Civ veteran, so most things make no sense for those who haven’t played at least Civ 5).
    The Good:
    - because of the separation of „ways” of development („religions”), civs are building different wonders, so it’s gone the annoyance of working tens of turns on a wonder just for it to be built by the AI 1-2 turns before you finish it;
    - the units also upgrade very differently, and so don’t usually look or feel the same for different civs; they also upgrade on themselves, automatically and with no cost, which feels really good;
    - the non-linear tech-tree provides much more research freedom and control;
    - the workboats are gone, the workers can improve water tiles, too;
    - there are a lot of quests and decisions, so the player feels more involved and responsible;
    - there are also choices like getting augmented or not (hello deus ex reference) which get you the approval or disapproval of the other civs; too bad there’s no other visible difference (like how cities or units look);
    - the aliens are more varied and imply different approaches than the typical Civ barbarians; unfortunately, though, they are all insects (no smart apes here);
    - the covert-ops section is more varied and better thought than the spying in Civ;
    - they kept and improved a little the culture layer (virtues);
    - the UI is well-thought, non-intrusive and easy to use;
    - the exploration of sites provides various results;
    The Bad:
    - in the city screen the buildings have no picture, just an icon, and therefore the satisfaction of producing them is reduced; also, the building/unit being produced no longer shows what it does, so I have to go to civipedia to see that, especially if it’s a wonder; i really think the city screen is a big step back and quite bad right now;
    - the wonders also don’t feel satisfying, lacking a picture or animated pop-up;
    - the air war feels underdeveloped;
    - the over-boasted orbital layer is actually not much yet and rather useless, they probably intend to develop it in dlc’s;
    - everything is too streamlined, lacking in lore, one must look a lot in the civipedia to understand what is what;
    - the player doesn’t get the Civ feeling of evolving historically, since it’s only one era;
    - th city-states (stations) are no longer available for any other diplomacy than trade;
    - the techs in the tech-tree all seem the same, because of the same streamlining (they have icons, not pictures);
    The things i would have wished for (and didn’t get, but weren’t promised either):
    - a darker setting, the planet is too earth-like and green;
    - real aliens (sentient), for example in some of the stations;
    - more civs (but they’ll surely come in dlc’s);
    - a political system like in Galactic Civ;    … Expand
  68. 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.
  69. 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
  70. ParagonRenegade
    Oct 25, 2014
    7
    (Site butchered format, sorry. All my neat punctuation and paragraph structure ;-;)

    tl;dr: Civilization: Beyond Earth is a solid addition to the series. Beyond Earth is a spin-off of Civilization 5 set in space on alien planets, with suitably futuristic furnishings. Both games are hex-based and focus on improving tiles, building structures and wonders, and dealing with your    (Site butchered format, sorry. All my neat punctuation and paragraph structure ;-;)

    tl;dr: Civilization: Beyond Earth is a solid addition to the series.

    Beyond Earth is a spin-off of Civilization 5 set in space on alien planets, with suitably futuristic furnishings. Both games are hex-based and focus on improving tiles, building structures and wonders, and dealing with your neighbors. Same old, same old; it's Civ! Thankfully, BE has expanded in several key areas (and scaled back in a few others), here's my observations:
    Pros:
    -The game has a great amount of polish and "fluff" that adds immeasurably to the atmosphere game. This includes the leader diaries, the tech and affinity quotes, and most importantly the Civlopedia. Firaxis' writers put quite some effort into this and it makes the setting feel much more genuine. One thing in particular I like are the unit descriptions for the different affinities, where you can feel the "in-universe" writer's opinion showing through. A supremacist will comment "We are the liberators of mankind" where a purist will say "We are the liberators of mankind" and so on in that vein.

    -Related to the above, the three "affinities" (Supremacy, Purity and Harmony) are interesting and varied choices, and they rely on completely different units sets and use different tactics to win. Purity is the idea that Humans should not modify themselves to adapt to the planet, and glorify Human history. They rely on brute force. Supremacy is the idea that Humans should advance through integration with technology in pursuit of a technological singularity. They rely on tactics, adjacency and AoE effects to be used well. Harmony is the idea that Humans should adapt themselves with genetic modification to fully integrate with their planet, essentially becoming aliens. They rely both on brute force and overwhelming enemies with numbers, as well as using the terrain. I personally use Supremacy, as all those peasants can't ascend themselves.

    -It has a story! Granted, this story is optional and reliant on the player following it, but BE has a story that is actually interesting, that I wanted to see through to the end. The Contact victory condition, where you signal an alien race, is the best in this regard, while the domination victory is the least narrative.

    -The new tech tree isn't linear, instead you start in the middle of a "web" and research out to branching technologies. In both my games so far, I have done completely different things and still been able to hold my own. It's very balanced and thematically interesting, one of the better additions to this game.

    - Covert operations (spies from previous games) are fun and can be devastating, and in one game this one system saved my ass from being overrun. The affinity-specific abilities (like Purity's nuclear bomb or Harmony's biological weapons) in particular are devastating. If you really want to use this to its extent, you need to play as the ARC faction.

    -Orbital units are great fun and a welcome addition to the game. They let you spawn strategic resources, buff tile outputs, buff your units (ala great generals), spread toxic miasma and other things. The Planet Carver (the game's equivalent to nuclear weapons) is the gift that keeps on giving; it's a reusable nuclear bomb that bombards cities and units from orbit. It can often one-shot things and is just... so great.

    -As a matter of personal preference, I greatly prefer BE's setting (the future, on an alien planet) than the old historic one of the rest of the Civilization games (excluding Alpha Centauri). Some will disagree with me, but the various hypothetical and diverging paths of BE are much more engaging than the standard and stale "human history revisited" of each previous game.

    Cons (In short, I'm running out of characters sorry):

    -Game has fewer features than Civ 5 Brave New World, having taken out tourism, religion, diplomatic victory etc. These have been replaced by new systems somewhat, but it's disappointing to have less. I hope they add these back in DLC or in mods, as they are still in the game files and XML.

    -Factions need to be more differentiated than they are currently; the ones we have now are sorta' stock, unless you mull over the Civlopedia and relevant websites to explore their stories. Not everyone wants to do that like me.

    -There needs to be greater diversity in alien life, and more biomes (we have three right now; arid, lush and fungal) would be welcome.

    -Diplomacy is more-or-less identical to Civ 5, and it needs to be upgraded pretty badly. I'd like the Civ 4 diplomacy features like map trading first and foremost.

    -There are identification issues with units and buildings in this game (tech web specifically), as Firaxis did a poor job differentiating with color. On-map units are fine.

    7/10; it's in a better spot than Civ 5 at launch, and is set to be improved radically with mods and DLC. Fans should get it, non-fans should avoid it.    … Expand
  71. 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.
  72. BlackJade
    Oct 25, 2014
    9
    I normally don't give a review on metacritic, this would be the first.
    As some of the user reviews here have claimed, Beyond Earth is not simply a Civ 5 reskinned. To do so would be unfair, as many sequels would fall into this category. In regards to the comparison to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, they have multiple times denied that it is a spiritual successor to it, even the name itself    I normally don't give a review on metacritic, this would be the first.
    As some of the user reviews here have claimed, Beyond Earth is not simply a Civ 5 reskinned. To do so would be unfair, as many sequels would fall into this category. In regards to the comparison to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, they have multiple times denied that it is a spiritual successor to it, even the name itself has Civilization in it. Henceforth, the game mechanism in this game bear more resemblance to Civ 5.

    First of all, as with all Firaxis game, during launch I was well prepared to play a game filled with bugs and glitches. Fortunately, this was not the case for me (there are couples of issues other ppl faced, you should check out the steam forums before buying), the game ran smoothly except for a couple of annoying bugs with came from the ingame tutorial/advisor that can be turned off.

    The affinity system which is a combination of ideology/religion/tech has been greatly implemented to the game and brings a new fresh air to a Civilization vet. It fits the premise very well. The affinity system comprises of 3 "ideology" : purity, harmony and supremacy.The progression towards these affinities come from tech upgrades (by researching new tech which has the affinity logo on it) or through quest. You can branch out to different affinity or focus just on one. However, the characteristics of your units, buildings and quest would change depending which affinity you choose to focus. In my opinion, this system is greatly superior to the ideology system implemented in Civ 5.

    As for the tech web, it can be quite confusing for new beginners and old civilization fans as well. It would take a few games to get used to it, afterwards, it shouldn't be a problem. It makes the game overall more complex and in-depth compared to the old linear research tree.

    As for the aliens, their behaviour isn't the same as the barbarians. There are a types of them, and they do react accordingly on how you have decided to treat them. If you are hostile to them, they would become increasingly aggressive towards you and they would choose to attack you if you get to close to their nest.

    Besides the game mechanistic I mentioned above, the diplomacy, trading and virtue (culture system) remains similar to Civ 5. In conclusion, I would whole heartedly recommend this game to anyone who love Civ 5, as in brings enough familiarity and difference to warrant a purchase. As for newcomers, I would say pick up Civ 5 first as this game can be a little daunting for newcomers in the series. Overall this is a fantastic game, I wouldn't be surprised if I spent more than 200 total hours in this game which makes the money spent worth it.    … Expand
  73. henzu
    Oct 25, 2014
    9
    First of all, this IS a basically CiV 5 in another planet. And no, this is not a re-skin or DLC. There is alot of differences and alot that had stay the same. Which is why there is alot of whining(including here). Most just contradictory them self's or other ppl that didn't like the game. I would say the change isn't as much as Civ 4 to Civ 5, but most of the change I like. Also I findFirst of all, this IS a basically CiV 5 in another planet. And no, this is not a re-skin or DLC. There is alot of differences and alot that had stay the same. Which is why there is alot of whining(including here). Most just contradictory them self's or other ppl that didn't like the game. I would say the change isn't as much as Civ 4 to Civ 5, but most of the change I like. Also I find alot of stuff that ppl are whining about, are just because they are too lazy to use tutorial and read manual...
    The bad stuff first:
    1. Planet customization are limited, which is a odd design choice.
    2. The Leaders seem lack of personality, which is actually not odd, because we all know those leaders "normal" civilization" from history books. But I do find most of these leaders are not so aggressive(if your army is weak in CiV5 even the pacifist will attack you).
    3) UI need more work, it not as clear as CiV5. Also some

    The good:
    1.Aliens. They are not just re-skin Barbarian. They make the start of the game feel totally different then CiV. Best new idea!
    2.The new Science web. Finally there are more then just 2-3way(CiV1-5) to moving forward in science.
    3.Health. A good balancing idea to force player not to build a huge "settlers" army at start.    … Expand
  74. KSL
    Oct 25, 2014
    1
    Unbelievably disappointed because I loved CIV V and all the previous ones before it so had high expectation for beyond earth, I have to say this is most boring, poorly developed CIV ever played! Really tried hard to get into it (over 16 hours) and it was no fun at all! Dull and unimaginative graphics, units and aliens. The game concept is good and should deserve a whole new systemUnbelievably disappointed because I loved CIV V and all the previous ones before it so had high expectation for beyond earth, I have to say this is most boring, poorly developed CIV ever played! Really tried hard to get into it (over 16 hours) and it was no fun at all! Dull and unimaginative graphics, units and aliens. The game concept is good and should deserve a whole new system developed from ground up and not taking bits and pieces from CIV V and forcefully binding new elements together as it feels like a rip-off version of civ v but space themed which made it lack its own character and soul.… Expand
  75. MagpieX
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    There are a few times when you believe that a new game is going to be that successor to your favourite game of the past indeed. Then after it is released you are happy to see your anticipations and expectations being justified. This is not one of those times however and Civilization:Beyond Earth is not going to pick up where Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (SMAC) left off nor does it try toThere are a few times when you believe that a new game is going to be that successor to your favourite game of the past indeed. Then after it is released you are happy to see your anticipations and expectations being justified. This is not one of those times however and Civilization:Beyond Earth is not going to pick up where Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (SMAC) left off nor does it try to provide the same feel and diversion from its roots as SMAC did with Civilization 2 and make a different game based on its Civilization 5 engine.
    Whilst you can see that positive enhancements on the technical side have been made the core of the gameplay feels very similar to if not a step backward from Civilization 5. This is especially true on UI side which lacks key aspects people being used to such as strategic view, or its hidden and generally not very ergonomic. Ignoring that one aspect however for now there is a feeling that they could have done more and did not even try. Beneath the futuristic outlook lies a very vanilla game which essentially is more stable and robust than Civilization 5 was at its release but it is very conservative in approach. It tries to please many appetites but leaves one hungry still. The initial customization of the game is nice but it is ultimately not played out well throughout the game. The factions seem more or less be just dressed up buffbots accompanied by leaders whith a charisma of a city administration official. There are no unique units, truly unique faction aspects, and leaders don't even get to speak their own speeches once a tech has been researched which sets aside an aspect of SMAC where pieces of ideologies and technologies resulting from these were incorporated into the young society of the planet. This ultimately turns your leaders into more or less the same kind of person differentiated only through miniscule differences in diplomacy - let's not even mention it because it has little redemption value to how factions are handled.
    The technology model including affinities feel like a solid change but there is still a feeling they could have done more with it. In general when it comes to gameplay then if you are familiar with Civilization 5 you will quickly become accustomed to the game however on the other hand people hoping for a new game with new rules will be very disappointed. This is especially not helping to dismiss claims of being a Civilization 5 mod - in fact you are more inclined to agree with people claiming so and thus reinforcing them. It is obvious that Firaxis' developers seem to put too much emphasis on streamlining and don't seem to trust gamers enough anymore to allow expanding their formula a little more and make it a little bit more complex and foremostly: a bit more different which was the key difference between Civilization 2 and SMAC. It's probably a good start for a game series spinoff if it's going to get iterated on and shaped into its own distinctive game such as Civilization 5 got however it's not a good entry to a scene which has been bating its breath for a true SMAC spiritual successor which really may be based on over-expectations but then it is more often than not that expectations have to be put high in order to drive innovations. Being forced to constantly lower the bars cannot be healthy for the industry in long term and neither for Firaxis reputation either. Come on, guys, you can do it! Trust us more, we can handle a complex game with a lot of new features, we are big boys and girls, really. A lot of us have been playing since the original Civilization game! As such I am forced to say that whilst it's a decent game per se it is not one to be recommend at this current stage for the advertised price. There is a lot of potential there we still can't see it yet.    … Expand
  76. tronster
    Oct 25, 2014
    10
    New tech web, affinity system, quests, unit upgrade trees, covert ops, virtues tree, and the classic addictive civ game play, but now in space! Time to play until "one more turn" becomes 4am in the morning. (Bonus: Great community, MODs already appearing less than 24 hours after release.)
  77. Chaeote
    Oct 25, 2014
    7
    The customization of your Civilization is nice. You're not stuck with just picking a nation, and getting the pros and cons of it. You can actually pick each bonus.

    It's also a bit different to play. Rapid expansion is basically useless from what I can see, it's a lot better to concentrate on 5 or less cities. The problems however, are kinda infuriating. Each Civ starts at a different    The customization of your Civilization is nice. You're not stuck with just picking a nation, and getting the pros and cons of it. You can actually pick each bonus.

    It's also a bit different to play. Rapid expansion is basically useless from what I can see, it's a lot better to concentrate on 5 or less cities.

    The problems however, are kinda infuriating. Each Civ starts at a different point in time, which is kinda cool, but the problem is, the drop-ship locations where they start seem random. Which causes them to sometimes drop in RIGHT next to your borders you've already established as your own, and then they **** at YOU everytime you expand or make a new town, even though you were there first, and they're the invaders.

    Then, there's your early units...they're basically USELESS. The first soldiers can't win a fight toe-to-toe, even against the simplest alien. The scouts die in 2 hits, if you're lucky. The Aliens are completely unpredictable. They aren't suppose to be overtly hostile, but sometimes they just decide "I KILL YOU!" even if you aren't near their nest, which makes exploration impossible without an alien unit of your own.

    Then if you get in a fight with another civ in the early game, you CANNOT take their towns. Yuu just can't.

    I obliterated every military unit the Civ had, surrounded his capital, and just could not do enough damage to the city. Taking losses are fine, but required 30+ units to take one city is ridiculous. In Civ 5 you could manage it with some decent range attackers and a couple siege units.

    But it just comes back to your units being far too weak for combat, even with a few upgrades, they're gonna lose 50% of their health in 1 round.

    There just doesn't seem to be a way to build an army without concentrating on nothing but making one, even as a defensive only military, they just have zero survivability.

    The Tech web, while neat, is a HUGE learning curve, and I think one thing that would be great would be to be able to zoom out on it completely, and still be able to read what each node does, but you can't. It just goes to an Icon-only view-mode, and completely obscures the subsets of each technology.

    The game isn't bad, but, honestly, it's just not worth playing of Civ 5 w/ the expansions.

    Maybe after some time, people cna make some Mods that'll flesh out and fix some things, but until then... Don't expect anything ground breaking.    … Expand
  78. Perun
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    Its solid TBS as it is, but when you look at it closely, its retextured civ 5
    Races are bland, have no advantages, research is bland, unit upgrades are bland, have no soul, you never feel like you really colonizing alien planet, they done A LOT better job with their game "colonization" than with game about colonizing alien planet, where imagination is limitless
    Dumbed down bland Alpha    Its solid TBS as it is, but when you look at it closely, its retextured civ 5
    Races are bland, have no advantages, research is bland, unit upgrades are bland, have no soul, you never feel like you really colonizing alien planet, they done A LOT better job with their game "colonization" than with game about colonizing alien planet, where imagination is limitless
    Dumbed down bland Alpha Centauri clone made from existing game
    And 50 euro for civ 5 expansion? Are they crazy? Without huge paid marketing advertisment all around gaming sites that game should cost 25-30 euro max
    But hey, dumb person (like myself), will buy this game without checking it

    So game is good, buy it on -50% sale and enjoy civ5 space expansion pack, but definitely not worth 50 euro    … Expand
  79. 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.
  80. Ayreos
    Oct 25, 2014
    5
    The opening cinematic was amazing. The game itself wasn't. Why? Because it is a camouflaged older game, Civilization V. A game the developers seems convinced was successful. And maybe it was, but not with the historical Civ fandom. With this iteration the Civ series has finally shed all pretense to reveal the publisher's true motivation: to copy and profit on Starcraft's popularity. Civ'sThe opening cinematic was amazing. The game itself wasn't. Why? Because it is a camouflaged older game, Civilization V. A game the developers seems convinced was successful. And maybe it was, but not with the historical Civ fandom. With this iteration the Civ series has finally shed all pretense to reveal the publisher's true motivation: to copy and profit on Starcraft's popularity. Civ's old and appassionate fandom was clearly too tight for their income aspirations, yet not tight enough to spare them from slapping the beloved "Civilization" trademark on a Starcraft 2 clone.
    That said, the problems i find with this game are the same i found with Civ5. And they all stem from limitation. There is a new quest system. But these quests cannot be actively pursued and are limited in number and type. There is Civ5's innovative hexagon movement style. However the map is full of miasma (obstacles) and ranged units from the very beginning, making positioning either irrelevant or downright frustrating.
    Map size can be chosen up to "massive", however most unit movement is tailored for the ridiculously small, Starcraft-like maps, which ends up distorting gameplay, as technology and productions goes at one speed, while the units at another. This happens even in slower progression settings.
    Research, virtues and affinity systems of progress are all interesting and apparently versatile, but they end up constraining each other, destroying all emergent gameplay in the process and forcing the player in a narrow corridor of choices. That's because achieving a victory type is not up to strategy, but picking the pre-determined corridor.
    These limitations show how the developer attempted to create a fast, competitive, and perfectly balanced multiplayer experience, by disregarding the singleplayer greatness that made the franchise so popular and beloved in the first place. The result is that instead of a wide breadth intersecting and unforeseen choices and strategies, players are constrained into becoming akin the poor AI they have to combat. Limited in movement, unit stacking, AI depth, progress types and immediate choices, this game punishes what it should by nature reward: experimentation, creativity and ambition. I guess it's back to Civ2 and AC for me. Once again this industry has taught me that my habit of trying games before purchasing them or, god forbid, pre-purchasing them, is the only way to avoid supporting such rotten practices as game-cloning and rehashing. I applaud the developers for having no qualms in receiving paychecks for such behaviors. I wouldn't be able to come to terms with knowing i trick my fans for a wage.    … Expand
  81. 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
  82. cococou
    Oct 25, 2014
    2
    Not a bad game, but is not worth the $90 price tag for Australian buyers. get it when its below $30. NOT WORTH $90 for a ADDON pack for CIV 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  83. AkitoSilver
    Oct 25, 2014
    5
    Beyond Earh disapointed me,doesn't like Cililiazation V,The map is too small ,I think.What is more,It is a pity that they change the sicence net into sicence map,which I think is not good.
  84. Ysguy
    Oct 25, 2014
    8
    I am a long time Civ fan; All the way back to Civ 2. I have played this game for enough hours now and I like it. Is this game a mind blower like Civ 5 when it first came out? No. It has huge shoes to fill. This Civ feels strange or alien to play and it should. It’s hard to conceptually understand that a "xeno" resource is like iron. The stubborn mind wants to label the new units andI am a long time Civ fan; All the way back to Civ 2. I have played this game for enough hours now and I like it. Is this game a mind blower like Civ 5 when it first came out? No. It has huge shoes to fill. This Civ feels strange or alien to play and it should. It’s hard to conceptually understand that a "xeno" resource is like iron. The stubborn mind wants to label the new units and resources with something familiar; but don't you are only taking away from the experience. This game makes sense. Your advanced race arriving on another planet should already know how to build roads etc. Therefore, the game takes early development in a different direction.

    In many ways Civ Beyond Earth seems to have less depth and this is where much of the disappointment around this game comes from. The other Civs gave leaders character and back story, and wonders made sense. But is this depth even appropriate in a sci-fi 4X game? Do I really care about a made up history about a made up futuristic wonder that does something I can’t even relate to? Admittedly I would have loved to have seen more depth to the story, but I can understand how Fraxis may have felt it would have been cheesy. You can however, see a lot of the creative energy in the creation of an alien world, tech tree, units etc. Its hard to relate to a Sci-fi setting. Systems like the faith system and policy system that were very successful in Civ 5 don't translate as well to a futuristic setting. It’s hard to envision where the current faiths or political parties seen today will go. Do they exist in the future? Are they even a factor when first settling a new planet? Other systems like the orbital or spy systems I feel are even better in this rendition of Civ.

    Ultimately I think a 4X fan will like Civ beyond earth. It is not so much a step forward in the series as it is a step in a different direction. I was confused, scared, and angry at first. However once I started roaming across the new planets and stomping bug carapaces I started to enjoy myself. Be open minded, and you will easily find another 100+hours to dump into this game.    … Expand
  85. hipster
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    Rating it a 6 because it was marketed as a full game, but is clearly a reskinned version of the base game with the exception of the tech tree, starting materials, and a slightly reorganized civics tree.

    Tactically, the game plays the same but I think the strategies are very different. Instead of several big decisions made over the game, you make very many small decisions that add up and    Rating it a 6 because it was marketed as a full game, but is clearly a reskinned version of the base game with the exception of the tech tree, starting materials, and a slightly reorganized civics tree.

    Tactically, the game plays the same but I think the strategies are very different. Instead of several big decisions made over the game, you make very many small decisions that add up and can really provide synergy depending on your playstyle. This means that there are probably millions of combinations--every building seems to have two functional options, which might seem insignificant at first, but remember that in Civ 5, some civs had ONE unique building and others didn't even have one, here every building is potentially unique.

    Not worth the $37 (yes, it's already on sale), so I'd wait to buy it. This really feels like it should have been an expansion to Civ5.    … Expand
  86. sundeki
    Oct 25, 2014
    6
    I really wanted to like this game.

    When I first started playing, the first thing that came to mind was "This is just a Civilization V re-skin". That feeling began to go away the more I played and I began to enjoy it quite a bit. Then I began to get a different feeling: The game feels completely empty. There is a complete lack of content and variation. There is no Alien variation. I    I really wanted to like this game.

    When I first started playing, the first thing that came to mind was "This is just a Civilization V re-skin". That feeling began to go away the more I played and I began to enjoy it quite a bit. Then I began to get a different feeling: The game feels completely empty. There is a complete lack of content and variation. There is no Alien variation. I thought: "Well each different map you play on the aliens would have different stats and abilities randomly selected from a pool". Nope, they are identical every single time.

    The Alien AI is even poor. I thought that because of something else in the game (can't say because of spoilers) the Aliens would be far more efficient, adaptive and co-ordinated. They aren't. They are literally glorified barbarians.

    When the devs explained the affinity mechanic, I thought you would have to make hard choices. That you could only really go down one path, that each path was unique in some way. Disappointed yet again. Every game I've played; I've ended up with maxed of all affinities and that was without even trying to get them.

    There is a new mini-quest system that allows you to make small changes to your empire depending upon your choices. At first I thought this was really cool, as I've always enjoyed customization and choosing things for myself in games. Then I realized the quest pool is so small, unoriginal, void of any real choice and repetitive. I found myself doing the same things at the end of the game, that I did at the start of the game.

    The HUD was confusing until I figured it out, the whole thing is just one giant grey blur. The terrain was slightly interesting at first, but once that first feeling fades away it begins to look really ugly. The Diplomacy screen in every way has just been ripped from Civ V. The other factions literally say the exact same thing they did in Civ V. I could go on.

    Overall: the game is effectively a glorified re-skin of Civ V, but 80% of the content was removed and the HUD and terrain has been made ugly.

    6.5/10 : I would pay $30 max for this with hindsight (paid $50) and that's only if I was in a good mood.    … Expand
  87. 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
  88. Rahlekk
    Oct 24, 2014
    9
    A great continuation for the series; the saying "don't fix what isn't broken" applies very well here, as Beyond Earth takes what was amazing from Civilization V and applies it into a new world, or even, a new universe. Gone are barbarians in favor of interesting aliens, with worlds that are extremely lifelike. If you liked Civilization V or any before it, you will love Beyond Earth withoutA great continuation for the series; the saying "don't fix what isn't broken" applies very well here, as Beyond Earth takes what was amazing from Civilization V and applies it into a new world, or even, a new universe. Gone are barbarians in favor of interesting aliens, with worlds that are extremely lifelike. If you liked Civilization V or any before it, you will love Beyond Earth without a doubt. (I also think the user score for this game is quite lower than it deserves.)… Expand
  89. deadlockedworld
    Oct 24, 2014
    8
    Summary: It's really more like Civ 5 and a half. (but I rate Civ 5 a 10)

    I'm only a few hours in, but so far it's really not very different from Civ 5. It feels like they reskinned it, added some new graphics, and a few new ideas. *The interface is ulta-modern, and a little more clunky and difficult to use than Civ 5. *The diplomacy is exactly like Civ 5 except the leaders are less    Summary: It's really more like Civ 5 and a half. (but I rate Civ 5 a 10)

    I'm only a few hours in, but so far it's really not very different from Civ 5. It feels like they reskinned it, added some new graphics, and a few new ideas.
    *The interface is ulta-modern, and a little more clunky and difficult to use than Civ 5.
    *The diplomacy is exactly like Civ 5 except the leaders are less interesting.
    *City states are the same. Barbarians are now aliens.
    *Only thing that is really new is the culture/specialization options. They are interesting and will take some time to explore.

    Verdict:
    If you are a die-hard fan go ahead and buy it. If you have put less than a couple hundred hours into Civ you should wait for the first expansion pack.

    Other:
    These future humans are f-ing boring. The special moments in Civ V are when you get nuked by Ghandi, or slapped in the face by Catherine the Great-- that doesnt work with these bland future leaders.

    Please make the first expansion pack have REAL ALIENS.
    Isn't that the entire point of space civilization? (Want to make this different and better? Include a Cylon/Borg/Zerg invasion mode in the expansion pack -- last person to be overrun/assimilated wins. That would make this fun and a lot different from Civ V.)    … Expand
  90. Kikaz56
    Oct 24, 2014
    8
    Great new Civ game. Lots of fun. Fairly difficult which is a nice change. Still room to improve though. With some minor changes I could easily give this a ten.For now it's a solid 8/10.
  91. 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
  92. Miskin
    Oct 24, 2014
    10
    Having spent more than 20,000 hours in Civ1, Col. Civ2, AC, Civ: CTP, Civ3, Civ4, Civ4: Col, Civ5, I still find Civ: BE interesting and good fun to play. The game world feels fresh and the art beautiful. I very much liked the changes to the tech tree, the affinities and the interactive environment, which acts almost like a faction.. I am sure, there is a lot of room for improvements,Having spent more than 20,000 hours in Civ1, Col. Civ2, AC, Civ: CTP, Civ3, Civ4, Civ4: Col, Civ5, I still find Civ: BE interesting and good fun to play. The game world feels fresh and the art beautiful. I very much liked the changes to the tech tree, the affinities and the interactive environment, which acts almost like a faction.. I am sure, there is a lot of room for improvements, which will come over time, as they did for Civ5.

    I have only 8h played, so what I write here is mostly my first impression. There are a couple of balance issues, and some minor bugs. Frankly, this game is in a much better state than Civ5 has been upon its release, which somehow got better reception from the fans. Therefore, I cannot understand, what is all this noise about. Saying this, yes, I have also tried Endless Legend, which I also liked very much. Overall I think CIV: BE is a superior product.

    I wholeheartedly recommend the game to all CIV and TBS fans. If I had to score I would have rated an 8.5/10. I give it a 10, as gesture of support to my all-time favourite game, because it's not rated fairly.    … Expand
  93. 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
  94. 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
  95. 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
  96. CivforBrains
    Oct 24, 2014
    1
    Another thoroughly bad iteration of the franchise. Horrendous UI and AI, horrific diplomacy and uninteresting barbarians. Firaxis needs to bin this turkey and work on a 64 bit Civ VI that restores glory to this once "do-no-wrong" franchise. About the only good thing I can say about it is that orbital layers are cool (something I have wished for since Civ II Fantastic Worlds) and I supposeAnother thoroughly bad iteration of the franchise. Horrendous UI and AI, horrific diplomacy and uninteresting barbarians. Firaxis needs to bin this turkey and work on a 64 bit Civ VI that restores glory to this once "do-no-wrong" franchise. About the only good thing I can say about it is that orbital layers are cool (something I have wished for since Civ II Fantastic Worlds) and I suppose that they had a demo so I didn't pay $60 for Civilization 5 with a pasted on Sci-Fi theme.… Expand
  97. Macwho11
    Oct 24, 2014
    10
    Great game play of old, nice graphics, great soundtrack to go with the theme, sure feels like CIV 5 (Which there is nothing at all wrong with). Love the touch of quests to make everyone's game feel different. Give it more time to get use to I think will see more better reviews.

    Love 4X games
  98. DarkCornatus118
    Oct 24, 2014
    6
    Entirely reskinned version of Civ5. If you played a lot of Civ 5 and got a bit bored of it's simplicity, then probably don't expect much from this one. If you are new to Civ, it's going to be a really good experience. Not a whole lot of pros for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game, but it's a mod to me rather than a new experience.

    Pros: - Tech map is MUCH better, even if    Entirely reskinned version of Civ5. If you played a lot of Civ 5 and got a bit bored of it's simplicity, then probably don't expect much from this one. If you are new to Civ, it's going to be a really good experience. Not a whole lot of pros for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game, but it's a mod to me rather than a new experience.

    Pros:
    - Tech map is MUCH better, even if daunting at first. Probably the only really major thing to change in the game.
    - Races feel more customisable
    - A little bit more diversity in Tech and Virtue (culture) perk trees
    -No Astronomy!!!!!

    Cons:
    - Every feature from Civ 5 exists as a renamed feature in CivBE. I mean everything (except Religion - DLC?)
    - Terrain is extremely drab and bland. You can't make out clearly what things are and it's just plain ugly!
    - Music is not immersive
    - Same bugs from Civ5. The Production queue jumping (when trying to do something else first). The grey texture lag is now black, but the same.
    -The is even LESS diplomacy than before, absolutely nothing to trade as luxury resources are gone.
    - Health (Happiness) MUST be a priority, expanding or not.
    - Can chose a perk to show outline of every island in game.... SUPER OP! Takes the fun out of exploring!    … Expand
  99. 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
  100. Gameforfun
    Oct 24, 2014
    3
    Nothing has been changed that much. beside the idea of space was a horrible decision !.................................................................
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Awards & Rankings

57
#57 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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