Forum Overview :: Civilization: Beyond Earth

This game deserves more of a critical savaging than it has received. by Hans Clastorp 11/02/2014, 9:35am PST The big, fundamental problem is that it's basically unimaginative, which as far as I'm concerned is a critical failure for a sci fi world-building game. What really fucks me up is they had a great idea with the Exodus Gate endgame where you have to bring weak-ass human colonists through and use them to found vulnerable, worthless outposts. This adds a lot to the endgame, which has always needed something. In my last playthrough, by the time I built the gate all the terrain on the map had been claimed, so I was forced to raze the cities of my neighbour to make room to setting my hyoomans. The hyoomans are vulnerable, which theoretically sets up an interesting trade-off of needing to make war while also needing to protect weak territory on the fringes of your empire. Unfortunately they undercut this idea by making it by far the most difficult victory, and also the fact that the AIs are so passive that even on the hardest difficulty they really don't seem to pay any mind as you cruise to an inevitable win 20 turns out. If they had just taken that idea, scrapped the other victories, and retooled the rest of the game around this, I think it would have been a really cool and effective twist on the concept. There would still be a lot of other problems, such as: - The aliens are boring. There are only 5 or so different alien units, and they are the same on every biome. (Are there different biomes? One seems more purpley, another sort of orangey...). They have absolutely no impact on the game beyond the early expansion phase. In the press leadup Firaxis made a big hairy deal about how the aliens Aren't Just Barbarians!! But this is basically complete bullshit. Supposedly they will be less aggressive towards you if you leave them alone, but I never found this to be the case or make any material difference to anything. Even if you choose the Harmony route you can't do anything except kill them. - The map is really really ugly. The muted colour scheme in general is terrible. It's almost impossible to see miasma on forest tiles. The different biomes (if there are different biomes) are almost identical, with idential resource types. - Really uninspired colony types, whose leaders endlessly repeat the same line every time they talk to you. They fucking suck and I hate them all. I try to play as the most annoying ones (African Union, Polystralia) so I don't have to look at their shitty faces. Maybe it's because I'm currently reading Red Mars, which is a really great and (as far as I can tell) thoroughly researched depiction of the establishment of a planetary colony. The arguments around terraforming, the technology (even though it's not very far removed from present day), the various interests in play, all have a ton of character. The rudimentary attempts at adding character to the world of C:BE are extremely abstract and vague. Oh, I built a Xeno Sanctuary? Great. What's that? Who gives a shit? There's nothing grasp onto in terms of telling yourself an interesting story about your colony's development (which, really, is a huge part of my enjoyment of civ games). Anyway, my point is this: Civilization: Beyond Earth is an utterly conservative, soulless reiteration of a superior game, with only nominal and failed attempts to address the well-known shortcomings of its predecessor. NEGATIVE!

This game deserves more of a critical savaging than it has received. by Hans Clastorp 11/02/2014, 9:35am PST     I'd love to see Reynolds' reaction by fabio 11/02/2014, 2:28pm PST         I don't get the impression he cares about games anymore. He moved into f2p, NT by he wants to get paid and get out 11/02/2014, 2:53pm PST         SMAC's multimedia producer Mike Ely has a writing credit. IMDB lists five others by serial malcontent 11/02/2014, 2:58pm PST     I did give it a critical savaging by WITTGENSTEIN 11/02/2014, 5:50pm PST     Oh, shut up. by pinback 11/03/2014, 6:57am PST         I can actually hear you selling yourself down the river by serial malcontent 11/03/2014, 8:50am PST         Just the kind of incisive analysis I've come to expect from Caltrops by Hans Clastorp 11/03/2014, 8:54am PST             Re: Just the kind of incisive analysis I've come to expect from Caltrops by pinback 11/03/2014, 4:38pm PST                 You give up too easy by Hans Clastorp 11/03/2014, 4:51pm PST                     I dunno, man. by pinback 11/03/2014, 6:21pm PST                         uh.. I think the map looks good, actually NT by RetroRomper 11/04/2014, 6:13am PST             Here is my problem with this kind of criticality... by RetroRomper 11/05/2014, 10:11pm PST                 Tilting at the purple windmill. by pinback 11/06/2014, 3:33am PST                 Criticism IS fun! by Mischief Maker 11/06/2014, 5:08am PST                     Your plan only works if everyone here has the same taste in games. Which, hey, NT by maybe that's the way it is. 11/06/2014, 5:52am PST                         That's like saying everyone who turns down McDonalds has the same taste. NT by Mischief Maker 11/06/2014, 6:13am PST                         Ideally people know what they like well enough to bridge that gap. by Worm 11/06/2014, 6:30am PST                             Do more Let's Not Play videos. NT by Caltrops Cares 11/06/2014, 12:35pm PST                     Anyway, I think Retro's point is: by pinback 11/06/2014, 8:20am PST                         Re: Anyway, I think Retro's point is: by Hans Clastorp 11/06/2014, 9:19am PST                             I think I know what's REALLY going on here: by Mischief Maker 11/06/2014, 10:24am PST                                 You are a crazy person. by pinback 11/06/2014, 1:10pm PST                                 pinback : 4x games :: MM : shmups by Fullofkittens 11/06/2014, 3:58pm PST                                     Absolutely not true! by Mischief Maker 11/06/2014, 4:48pm PST                                     Absolutely true! by pinback 11/06/2014, 7:50pm PST                                     He's got you there, MM NT by WITTGENSTEIN 11/06/2014, 8:14pm PST                                         It only seems that way because shmups are cheaper and more prolific than 4X. by Mischief Maker 11/07/2014, 4:22am PST                                 I didn't purchase BE. And axe grinding is fine, but are you guys really writing NT by about videogames? - RertroRomper 11/09/2014, 7:49pm PST                         Re: Anyway, I think Retro's point is: by Caltrops Cares 11/06/2014, 12:52pm PST                             Really, what the fuck are you talking about? by pinback 11/06/2014, 1:13pm PST                                 Re: Really, what the fuck are you talking about? by Mysterio 11/06/2014, 1:23pm PST                                     OH SHIT nigga just turned shit around on me NT by pinback 11/06/2014, 1:41pm PST                                         When Firaxis stock dips, pinback emails, "We sick?" NT by EBONICS, YO! 11/06/2014, 3:25pm PST                         Well you wouldn't say someone is wrong for waiting for it to go on sale right? by Worm 11/06/2014, 1:49pm PST                             Nobody is wrong for waiting for a sale, no. by pinback 11/06/2014, 2:30pm PST                                 Gosh yeah I should pre-order it and play the shit out of it to crack this case. by Worm 11/06/2014, 3:20pm PST                                     Your hard-line principles have obviously made you a happier person. by pinback 11/06/2014, 3:24pm PST                                         Whatever, I'm glad you won. Congratulations. NT by Worm 11/06/2014, 3:36pm PST                 Re: Here is my problem with this kind of criticality... by Hans Clastorp 11/06/2014, 9:00am PST                     This "reskinning" bit is starting to sound like people played for 30 minutes. by pinback 11/06/2014, 1:48pm PST                         When I saw the "Frenzied Aliens" option in a video I laughed. NT by Worm 11/06/2014, 1:50pm PST                             That option is not part of the standard game. NT by CALTROPS BE MAKIN' FUN OF OPTIONS 11/06/2014, 2:28pm PST                                 Oh ok? NT by Worm 11/06/2014, 3:03pm PST         How is THIS game? FUCK YOU THERE ARE OTHER GAMES! WAAAAAH! NT by pinback 11/03/2014, 8:59am PST         Re: Oh, shut up. by Roop 11/13/2014, 6:16pm PST