The "Civ" Clones. Call to Power, Aplha Centauri etc

[Zardnaar]

2+ Years ago I managed to borrow a copy of Alpha Centauri Alien Crossfire. I loved that game. Unfortionatly I haven't been able to find it again since early 2001. Recently I was hunting through a bin of old games and bought a copy of Call to Power 2. I also remember playing Colonisation circa 96 but I only played it briefly.

So what do others think of Alpha Centauri and Call to Power and whats the story behind them. Call to Power looks alot like Civ for example. Is CtP 2 worth plaing nowdays?

 

[Amenhotep7]

Alpha Centauri Rules!!!

 

[Perfection]

Alpha Centauri is very good!

Still sucks compared to Sim City 2000, of course!

 

[Archer 007]

Call to Power was a very poorly made game in my book. Alpha Centauri is great though.

 

[Amenhotep7]

I'm glad to hear others thought AC rocked out loud! [dance] [dance]

P.S. Perfection-Have you ever considered upgrading to Sim City 4000?

 

[Thrawn]

Originally posted by archer_007
Call to Power was a very poorly made game in my book. Alpha Centauri is great though.

Indeed. I regret buying it, even though it was cheap.

 

[Archer 007]

I paid $20, and that was $20 too much. It just didnt have the same feel to it.

 

[Mojotronica]

AC had incredible atmosphere, especially with all those quotes one got to hear when new tech was developed, a great government model and the unit building was fun too. Some complain that it's AI was flawed, making it easy for the human player to dominate.

Many people liked Master of Magic -- I thought it was too "big" for it's own good -- too many units, too many city improvements, too much. And the AI was kind of crappy in that game too.

The first Master of Orion was almost as good as the first Civ, but it's sequels were both disapointing -- they suffer from being too "big" and detailed, IMHO.

Colonization was an interesting game, but I think that the development of specialists was an acquired taste for players. One either liked it or hated it.

The core Civ games are fun because they've steadfastly avoided mucking up the core systems with too much detail. Civ 2 pushed the envelope, but it was so well-designed that it all worked well as a game. The Call to Power off-shoots was WAY TOO detailed to be playable, and I think Test of Time had the same problems.

 

[puglover]

I've only downloaded the trial version of Alpha Centauri and I enjoyed it very much. The ability to make your own units, the cool naming of techs, the awesome barbarian mindworms, and well-made factions were very amusing. 4/5

Call to Power II disappointed me. The number of unrealistic units, limit on cities in certain governments, and the poor historical accuracy made me give it away to my neighbor. 1/5 :saiyan:

Civ2 was an EXCELLENT game. After I got it, I played it 'till my eyes popped out. The fun units, enjoyable gameplay, historical accuracy, and long lifespan was greatly enjoyable. But the one thing I hated was the power of city walls (I lost 5 armors to 1 measly phalanx!) 5/5

Civ3 was a big step up from Civ2. It had better graphics including animations, more techs, leaderheads, better battles, weaker (almost too weak) city walls, and Great Leaders! And it was more fun than any other computer game I've played! 5/5

 

[Immortal Wombat]

CtP II is worth playing, just not out of the box. There are mods aplenty that fix it sufficiently to make it a very good game, and many would argue even better than Civ3. However, getting any useful feedback on it on CFC is somewhat difficult. Drop into Apolyton for the CtP community.

Note, you should now be able to get either CtP or CtP2 for somewhat less than $10, so its not a major loss even if you hate it.

 

[CivCube]

Didn't they just release the CTP II source code?

 

[Archer 007]

Yes. Its avaiable over at Poly.

 

[Zardnaar]

I bought CtP2 for about 6 bucks. Don't knowif I can be bothered with playing it though.

 

[SanPellegrino]

I liked AC and especially the underestimated ToT, but I really hated CtP. I bought the first one and it was the only game that literally ended in the trash

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Alpha Centauri rocks. 'nuf said.

The CtP series appeals to a very few, I'm one of them, so if you're not sure probably stay away from it. If you do get either CtP or CtP2 patch it before playing. They're great games IMO but not for everyone.