Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Expassion Pack
Alien Crossfire

By: Bill Stiteler

Genre: Turn Based Strategy

Format: CD

Developer: Firaxis

Mac Port By: Westlake Interactive

Publisher: Aspyr

Minimum Requirements: Full version of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, 180MHz 603e, MacOS 7.6, 32MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM, 800x600 color monitor

Network Feature: Yes

3Dfx Support: No

Retail Price: $44.89

Availability: Out Now

I'm struck by the fact that generations aren't twenty years apart anymore; they're more like...five. I base this on the law of inverse stupidity/coolness, which states that the coolness of any fashion is inversely proportional to how stupid the preceding generation thinks it is. I mean, I had to go as far as a jacket that turned into a vest to get my parents to roll their eyes, but now there are 20 year olds bugging the crap out of me. Sure, New Wave had dumb hairdo's, but Jessie Camp? I mean, come on, JESSIE CAMP?

Ever the sharp-eyed trendwatchers, the Sid Meier crew has noticed this short-term generation gap and made it into the centerpiece of Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire (SMACX), the expansion pack to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (SMAC). Apparently the "X" stands for "Crossfire" and the "C" is silent. Damn MLA.

Crossfire takes place "a few years" after the human landing on Planet, yet all the original factions are gone (though you can set the game to play with those instead, or a mix of old and new). In the place of the Unversity, the Believers, and the stodgy old Gaians are new, younger, more attractive leaders, with new outlooks and new goals. And man, did they strike me as dumb. At first, anyway.

The Data Angels? The Cult of Planet? The PIRATES? I shuddered as I thought I was looking at Alpha Centauri 90210. The original factions of SMAC were believable, mature archetypes--groups you could actually envision emerging in a far-flung colony, at least if you've watched Planet of the Apes enough times. Merchants, librarians, religious fanatics. The factions of SMACX, on the other hand, seemed to have been drawn out of...well, let's just say I haven't seen a line up like that since I stopped watching movies on USA ("Okay, so there's this hacker, and her buddy sails the seven seas").

And in another game, they would be just stupid stereotypes. How quickly I forgot that Alien Crossfire has that magic name in its title. The computer geeks are actually a blend of information seekers and capitalists (and who know the difference between E and 3, I might add). So it is with the other factions, a blending of the previous factions to create an interesting new outlook. Cultists who worship and nurture the self-aware planet? Okay. Sea-based militia who want to harness the power of the waves? I see. And best of all, perhaps my most hated nemesis from SMAC, Chairman Yang, has been overthrown, and now the Free Drones try to find their own way, but are they any better off being exploited by popular vote?

One thing that bugged me is that, apart from the Free Drones, there isn't really any explanation given for the rise of the new factions. I guess Lady Deidre's Q rating dropped mid-season. Not that this damages the actual game-play, but it was like a fly in the bedroom at night. It's the same game taking place on the same planet in essentially the same time period, but there's all these new people there, while the old voice-overs still hang around.

And let's not forget the eponymous aliens creating the crossfire in which the humans are (apparently) caught. The Usurpers and the Caretakers have both come to Planet to foil each other. The Usurpers want to exploit Planet's power (like most of the humans), and the Caretakers, who, well, guess.

The thing about the aliens is that they're not really all that alien. Oh, they have a different culture, different interludes and all, but their outlook isn't all that odd. They're really just people with different victory conditions, which I believe is the sum total of what I learned in graduate school (there, you've just saved yourself three years). The aliens create the same units as humans, occasionally with different art (really, who doesn't appreciate the elegant beauty of a terraformer) and some special rules apply. Aliens drive most of the population out of a human city they capture (and vice versa). Aliens can't vote in human councils (a real pain when they start mucking with the ocean levels). And the rival factions hate each other so much, they won't make peace or sign treaties with humans who do. This adds a lot of flavor to play, but it's still hard to not think of them as sweaty guys in rubber suits.

Along with the aliens come new technologies, although there's only a handful. Thankfully, a lot of them are directed towards sea development and gaining more from building ocean bases. This is another example of those things Meier does where you don't notice what's missing in a game until he adds it later. Other than that, however, they don't really capture the New Science feel of SMAC--they're mostly just better weapons.

All this is really just nitpicking, though, as SMAC was a great game, and SMACX added to that. I was really enjoying Alien Crossfire..until I won. I'd brought the rest of the world to heel as the mighty Usurper Faction (I assume it's the heels, anyway), and as the last outpost bowed before my indominatable will...the game crashed. I restarted, went back to my autosave, and this time, they didn't feel like surrendering so quickly. Sigh. So I whupped them down again, accepted the final surrender, and crashed. I restarted with minimal extensions, rebuilt the desktop, increased the memory partition, and still I kept crashing like a 70's pop/folk star.

Think we can get Sid to eat a bug?

Other than that annoyance, however, SMACX is a good expansion. In a game that's already infinitely replayable, you get new angles to play. The factions may seem a little hokey, but take a deeper look, and you'll see some interesting texture beneath the aggressively youthful faces.

At least until Aki Zeta Prime hosts the MTV Beach house. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go invest in big pants, and add "phat" to my website's metatags. Yah, boooooooooy!

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May 26, 2012