14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Firaxis working on the new Civilization: Beyond Earth believes that the strategy game will benefit from the evolution of hardware that has taken place since Alpha Centauri, the last time the franchise used a similar theme.
Developers from the studio tell Gamespot that, “there are some big differences between the sprite-based graphics of Alpha Centauri and the fully 3D environments in Beyond Earth. We had a laugh among ourselves talking about some of the limitations we used to work under, graphically, because of the limitations of our hardware, versus what we can do today.”
At the same time, Firaxis says that the core mechanics of Alpha Centauri are holding up very well and could power a modern title, which is one of the strengths of the strategy genre as a whole.
The new Civilization is positioned as a spiritual successor to the old Firaxis release, which has amassed a very loyal following over the years.
The new title is designed to expand the customization options that gamers have access to, use tech in an entirely different way and use five new victory conditions.
Civilization: Beyond Earth will be offered exclusively on the PC before the end of the current year.