Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire

"There's No Excuse..."

...To NOT pick up this incredible game.

From the strategy great himself, Sid Meier, comes the expansion to 1999's Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. The game itself is a direct sequel to Civilization II, in which one possible way to complete the game is to build a spaceship and be the first to reach Earth's nearest star (Alpha Centauri), where you supposedly colonize and "your name lives on".

Alpha Centauri, and later Alien Crossfire, take this concept and give us a different spin on it. Alpha Centauri begins with the spaceship suffering a major malfunction leading to the destruction of the ship, but not before seven escape pods, each convieniently housing one of the seven co-captains of the craft, escapes the explosion and crash lands on the Planet below.

Alien Crossfire begins years after the initial crash-landing, in a time when the human civilizations are flourishing on the Planet. Stuck in an ever-present intergalactic war, two alien spacecrafts "duke it out" above the planets surface, before both (ironically in the same fate as the humans' craft) explode, sending escape pods to the surface below.

Now here's where things begin to break down. The introduction states the humans had already landed and had begun to make cities and had assimilated into the Planet. Yet when starting the game, every faction (including the aliens) starts from ground zero, even to the point of showing every escape pod landing on the Planet at the same time. But despite this contradiction, the game itself proves to be one of the greatest strategy games of all time.

Graphics: 9/10
Despite this game being released in 1999 (no new "astounding" graphical updates are present with the expansion), the graphics rival that of the most recent Civilization game. However some slight problems occur with overlapping units depending on the terrain.

Music/Sound: 7/10
Most of the songs and up sounding the same, and personally I'd be amazed if one could differentiate them. Its a futuristic soundtrack, fairly creepy sounding, definitely sets the mood. Where it makes up, though, are the sound effects. Every boop beep and bop, as generic as that sounds, adds to the games atmosphere perfectly. Even having a computerized voice saying "POPULATION LIMIT REACHED" creates the feeling that yes, you are alone on this planet with your only company being your trusty computer.

Gameplay: 10/10
What more can I say? With the ability to create Planet Busting Missiles that make child's toys out of today's nuclear weaponry, to transcending Humanity to the next stage in evolution, this game presses the envelope with its views of how our civilization will advance in the coming centuries. Endless choices and strategies exist as to HOW to achieve these means, whether one plays a hardline military strategy, or a quiet, confident empire builder, this game caters to everyone's strategies.

Replayability: 10/10
Every game is different. With no "campaign mode" to beat to claim one has "beaten Alpha Centauri", this game provides an essentially endless challenge. There is no clean-cut strategy to the game unlike many other similar games out there. No "Build _____ then create _____ and win" strategies work here, especially on the upper difficulties. And with the average game lasting close to four hours, you can see how this game provides the ULTIMATE timesuck, just as the Civilization games do.

Differences from Original:
New Secret Projects
New Natural Features
New Native Lifeforms
Seven New Factions (Five Human; Two Alien)
More Overall Map Variance

Overall: 9/10
Other than the fact that the music is a bit repetitive, there's no single player campaign, and a few graphical errors, this game is PERFECT for the Human Paradigm Controller in all of us. And if you don't know what that is, pick up this game and give it a shot.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/09

Game Release: Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire (US, 10/20/99)