Video: Ars talks Civilization with the man himself: Sid Meier

This "War Stories" video explores how <em>Civilization</em> almost wasn't a turn-based game.

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[Biceps]

I have no idea how many hours I have spent playing the various Civ games, but it is in the thousands. My buddy and I often just boot up a CO-OP game and play against the AI (which is the only part of the game that doesn't seem to have increased in complexity or depth over the years). It is a great way to be able to play a game with a friend in the evenings, while still being able to have a normal conversation because you dont have bullets zinging by and explosions going off everywhere. Greatest game series of our time, IMHO.

 

[Biceps]

Great as Civilization was, Sid's Alpha Centauri was better by far. I still play it every other month or so.

But where, oh where, is the reboot? Don't tell me it was Civilization: Beyond because it most emphatically was NOT!

It’s in copyright hell.

It was published by EA, who retains the rights, but lacks the studio (or interest) to make a new one. Firaxis (now owned by 2K) has the skills, but no rights, and no Brian Reynolds who wrote all the lore. Reynolds himself apparently doesn’t like the game that much (which absolutely broke my heart to hear) and isn’t interested in 4Xes anyway anymore. He did leave the window open to making some other game in the same universe that wasn’t a 4X, but he didn’t seem particularly interested in that either.

Firaxis did the only thing they could - Beyond Earth. For all that it was nowhere near the original, the expansion made it a quite enjoyable game. Worth another try if you haven’t played it since that came out. It isn’t SMAC, however.

I played Beyond Earth twice, and was so very disappointed. I did not, however, realize there was an expansion that improved the game. I think I will have to give it another whirl... right after I get tired of Satisfactory.