Civilization: Beyond Earth may not break any boundaries, but it is still an enjoyable new addition to Sid Meier's legacy. Certainly nowhere near SMAC - which the devs have been trying to highlight for some time - Beyond Earth changes the formula up enough to make it feel more than just a reskin.

Beyond Earth puts you in control of a set of colonists sent into deep space in order to find a new Earth. At the start of the game, you are given several choices to make regarding your sponsor, space craft, and initial colonists – besides the choice for sponsor, which is like choosing your Civ, every other choice directly affect your early game, which plays a bigger part in this iteration of Civ.

Once your colonists land and set your first city, you are given an explorer unit plus any bonus unit based on your choices at set up. Like Civ, early exploration is key in getting an early advantage; however that is more emphasized in Beyond Earth, with the presence of resource pods and excavation sites. Resource pods are exactly the same as ancient ruins in Civ, giving a random bonus when you pick it up. Excavation/artefact sites are very much like the excavation sites in Brave New World, except that you gain a random bonus from them without losing your explorer, although it would have to go back to one of your cities to gain back an excavation module.

One key area that the game tries to emphasize are the aliens on the planet. Aliens are present from the very moment you make planetfall, and are quite hard to face head-on without upgrades, but become nearly a non-issue after you grab a few upgraded units. These aliens are mainly docile when left alone, but they can turn aggressive if you step too close to a nest, which spawns new aliens. In time, and, depending on your affinity, you can train your own alien troops to fight for you.

Unit progression works differently than in Civ – you have a few base units to work with initially, which improve as your gain levels in your affinity, your moral alignment of sorts which also leads to certain victory conditions depending on which affinity you choose. Once you level up your affinity, certain units get to be upgraded – all units usually receive a combat boost, but you get to choose side-upgrades, such as additional movespeed, bonuses for attacking with friendly units around, bonuses for flanking, and so on – while nowhere as deep and complex as SMAC’s custom unit set up, this gives a twist to the way units work in contrast to Civ V.

Along with unit upgrades working differently, Beyond Earth adds a 4th unit type - orbital units - which occupy their own special layer, the orbital layer. Orbital units have a limited life span, and crash down as salvage as soon as their lifetime ends. Placing them is also tricky, as orbital units cannot have any overlapping areas, thereby forcing you to plan ahead in plopping them down. They accomplish various things, from removing miasma, to generating resources, and bombarding enemy units and cities.

The tech tree has been replaced with a tech web – each major research area has a “leaf” research which costs more to finish, but gives a bunch of benefits. Culture remains present in the game, but gone are social policies – you have three virtues, which give you varying bonuses, along with bonuses for choosing x amount of tier 1, 2, and 3 virtues from each branch.

Graphically, Beyond Earth is not so different from Civ V – the interface feels wholly the same, and, while the units, buildings, and landscape have changed a bit, it is still most certainly running on the same engine as Civ V. Leader screens are a bit of a letdown, as there is no special backdrop to negotiations – just a blur filter passed onto the map while you talk to a leader.

Victory conditions have changed in Beyond Earth – you have to fulfil goals and objectives towards each of the victory conditions, which require you to be on certain affinities. Domination is still present, however, if you wish to go about global conquest. The victory conditions are interesting enough, although some are a bit tedious, particularly the Promised Land condition.

Overall, Beyond Earth changes enough to be interesting, and more than just a reskin of Civ V, although barely. It lacks a certain personality to it, perhaps largely due to the leaders being very bland. If you’ve been looking for a mix-up to Civ V’s formula for a change, this brings that along. A good game that would’ve been better with much more, but is still worth checking out.

Civilization: Beyond Earth may not break any boundaries, but it is still an enjoyable new addition to Sid Meier's legacy. Certainly nowhere near SMAC - which the devs have been trying to highlight for some time - Beyond Earth changes the formula up enough to make it feel more than just a reskin. Beyond Earth puts you in control of a set of colonists sent into deep space in order to find a new Earth. At the start of the game, you are given several choices to make regarding your sponsor, space craft, and initial colonists – besides the choice for sponsor, which is like choosing your Civ, every other choice directly affect your early game, which plays a bigger part in this iteration of Civ. Once your colonists land and set your first city, you are given an explorer unit plus any bonus unit based on your choices at set up. Like Civ, early exploration is key in getting an early advantage; however that is more emphasized in Beyond Earth, with the presence of resource pods and excavation sites. Resource pods are exactly the same as ancient ruins in Civ, giving a random bonus when you pick it up. Excavation/artefact sites are very much like the excavation sites in Brave New World, except that you gain a random bonus from them without losing your explorer, although it would have to go back to one of your cities to gain back an excavation module. One key area that the game tries to emphasize are the aliens on the planet. Aliens are present from the very moment you make planetfall, and are quite hard to face head-on without upgrades, but become nearly a non-issue after you grab a few upgraded units. These aliens are mainly docile when left alone, but they can turn aggressive if you step too close to a nest, which spawns new aliens. In time, and, depending on your affinity, you can train your own alien troops to fight for you. Unit progression works differently than in Civ – you have a few base units to work with initially, which improve as your gain levels in your affinity, your moral alignment of sorts which also leads to certain victory conditions depending on which affinity you choose. Once you level up your affinity, certain units get to be upgraded – all units usually receive a combat boost, but you get to choose side-upgrades, such as additional movespeed, bonuses for attacking with friendly units around, bonuses for flanking, and so on – while nowhere as deep and complex as SMAC’s custom unit set up, this gives a twist to the way units work in contrast to Civ V. Along with unit upgrades working differently, Beyond Earth adds a 4th unit type - orbital units - which occupy their own special layer, the orbital layer. Orbital units have a limited life span, and crash down as salvage as soon as their lifetime ends. Placing them is also tricky, as orbital units cannot have any overlapping areas, thereby forcing you to plan ahead in plopping them down. They accomplish various things, from removing miasma, to generating resources, and bombarding enemy units and cities. The tech tree has been replaced with a tech web – each major research area has a “leaf” research which costs more to finish, but gives a bunch of benefits. Culture remains present in the game, but gone are social policies – you have three virtues, which give you varying bonuses, along with bonuses for choosing x amount of tier 1, 2, and 3 virtues from each branch. Graphically, Beyond Earth is not so different from Civ V – the interface feels wholly the same, and, while the units, buildings, and landscape have changed a bit, it is still most certainly running on the same engine as Civ V. Leader screens are a bit of a letdown, as there is no special backdrop to negotiations – just a blur filter passed onto the map while you talk to a leader. Victory conditions have changed in Beyond Earth – you have to fulfil goals and objectives towards each of the victory conditions, which require you to be on certain affinities. Domination is still present, however, if you wish to go about global conquest. The victory conditions are interesting enough, although some are a bit tedious, particularly the Promised Land condition. Overall, Beyond Earth changes enough to be interesting, and more than just a reskin of Civ V, although barely. It lacks a certain personality to it, perhaps largely due to the leaders being very bland. If you’ve been looking for a mix-up to Civ V’s formula for a change, this brings that along. A good game that would’ve been better with much more, but is still worth checking out.