Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth & Rising Tide for Linux Review

very good
key review info
  • Game: Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth
  • Platform: Linux
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  • Gamepad support: No
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Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth & Rising Tide

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is the direct sequel to the excellent Sid Meier's Civilization V and much more than that. We now take a closer look at the Linux version ported by Aspyr Media, along with the latest DLC, Rising Tide.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth encompasses everything that's been done until now in the Civilization franchise, and that adds a lot of stuff on top of it. And when I say a lot, I actually think that it's not a powerful enough word. The new game brings so many features and gameplay traits that you might start to wonder if they began working on this one before finishing Civilization V.

I played Beyond Earth and the Rising Tide DLC, which is nicely blended into the gameplay. Of course, you can disable Rising Tide, but it's not as interesting without it. After playing it for quite a while, it would seem odd not to be able to have cities on the water, for example.

Beyond Earth remains the kind of game that is difficult to describe, and there is no way that a player will go through everything the game has to offer in one sitting or ten. Unlike Civilization V, which was pretty easy to comprehend, since people could easily relate and refer to the previous games, in this one players need to learn a lot of new things from scratch, and that is something that can put someone off.

Story

I don't think anyone plays the game for the story, especially since it's just a sliver of it and you can't exactly call it that. Basically, each faction has its own background, to which some people might relate, but I, for one, have never paid attention to it.

I just take a look at what they are offering me and go with that, although I find that the option to randomly set up a game is much more interesting. I used to make my own custom sessions, but there isn't too much room to be surprised.

As for the story, let's hope that's not the way we're going to colonize space. One of the ways to finish a Civilization V session was to be the first to have a successful space program. Beyond Earth is kind of following from there, only more into the future.

Gameplay

Before I started to play, I kissed my wife and my two kids goodbye, and with tears in my eyes I started my Steam Machine and I began playing Civilization: Beyond Earth. This would be funny if it weren't also half-true. Civilization games are the only ones that are still capable of keeping me awake through the night.

It's been a long time since I played something until I noticed the sunrise and that I still have things to do. In normal games, you can find various breaks in gameplay, like finishing a mission or loading times, anything. In a Civilization game, there are no breaks. There is always something to do and players just have to press End Turn to see what's happening next.

I played Civilization V a lot, enough to learn pretty much anything there was to know about it, but Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is forcing me to almost start over again. For the first couple of hours, I felt like the dog in a famous Meme that says "I don't know what I'm doing."

I don't know what to choose
I don't know what to choose

There is so much new stuff that I don't even know where to begin, so I'll just start with the familiar things. Planets, factions, and maps are pretty much structured like the ones in Civilization V, but with more parameters. You really won't know anything about those when you're playing for the first time, so it doesn't matter what you choose.

I started a new game and just hit play. I got a small world, which is good at first, a normal pace, and a lush world. I also started with Duncan Hughes, and I think that he's part of the Rising Tide since I started with a city on the water.

So, I wanted to play as I always do in these games. I wanted to expand fast, have multiple cities early on, and become an economic force half-way through. Having multiple cities ensures a large income, but it also leaves you open to attacks early in the game. I got lucky and I wasn't bothered, but I didn't really know what I was doing, especially at the beginning.

I'm sure that I built stupid stuff and wasted energy (the currency) on projects I didn't really need, but slowly I started to understand. One of the most powerful new tools are the trading convoys and vessels, which are very useful. They bring a lot of important stuff into the cities and allow cities to prosper.

Somewhere at the beginning people are hit with the biggest hammer of all. The new research tree is beyond intimidating. At first, I wanted to pay close attention to what I was researching, but it's too much. Unlike the linear research tree in Civilization V, the new game has a radial research tree and pretty much everything in there is new. It will take many, many hours of gameplay to understand the new research as I used to and that's not something I'm eagerly awaiting for.

Research tree in Beyond Earth
Research tree in Beyond Earth

My goal is usually quite simple. I befriend everyone, I gather a lot of money and a reasonable amount of forces, and then I slowly expand my domain. By the time all the other powers get sufficiently upset with me, I'm way too powerful for them to do anything about it. I can't really do that in this game, as it's much better balanced. For now, I'm just working on not upsetting anyone and I got the hang of it, or I was just lucky.

Moving the cities around is fun. It takes three turns for a complete move, but it's a great way to expand the reach of the city. Occupied titles remain yours even if you move the city. I also read that the Diplomacy options have been expanded, but it's still a complex system and I need more experience with it.

I also like the new artifact system. When your explorers roam around the planet, they find various artifacts, which can be excavated. They can be researched one by one, or you can gather three of them for a bigger reward. Most of the time it's a new free building or technology, and that's always cool.

What I didn't like was that the wildlife acted pretty much like barbarians, but there is a lot of it, and they tend to attack my units and my convoys. After I killed quite a lot of them, the game informs me that all life is connected in a hive mind on the planet, so I shouldn't kill them. Now it tells me!

I got crushed on the first two playthroughs, but now I'm at my third, and my strategy seems to be working. I also have trouble with the spying missions, which I find annoying, but it's not something that's all that present. The quest system is interesting as well, and some of the decisions that you need to make in those quests can really affect the rest of the playthrough. Interestingly enough, one of the quests was about net neutrality, and I had to choose a path. Cheeky!

Graphics

I'm not going to spend a lot of time here since Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth looks good enough, and it works pretty well on Linux systems. The color palette is a little bit too much, and some of the units are not different enough, but that's not a problem. I couldn't tell that I was playing on SteamOS and I think that says it all.


The Good

  • Never a boring moment
  • Really different from Civilization V
  • Risind Tide DLC is really good

The Bad

  • Wildlife is too aggressive
  • The research tree is confusing

Conclusion

I've played Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth and I feel that I just scratched the surface. There is much more left for me to explore that it almost feels threatening. I can understand why some people didn't appreciate it as much as Civilization V because in many respects it's like a new game.

It's a complex game, and Rising Tide brings even more complexity. One thing is for sure. If you're not willing to put in the hours to enjoy a New experience, and New is the operative word, you're not going to enjoy it. From what I can tell, the game will only get better with new DLCs, but it's an awesome experience without them as well.

story 7
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 8
audio 8
multiplayer 0
final rating 8.5
Editor's review
very good
 
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Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth & Rising Tide (22 Images)

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