Sid Meier's Starships Reviews
Those looking for a core strategy experience may be disappointed, but the game is well suited for those that want a fun (if fleeting) tactical game
Sid Meier's Starships produces a few good tactical battles before its AI loses steam and its strategy gets frustrating.
The way that ships, planets and research all simply accrue numbers in various areas rather than opening up new avenues to understand, explore and exploit makes Starships seem like a game set at the end of humankind's ambition rather than the beginning of a brave new age.
Slimming down a typically convoluted Sid Meier's strategy game into a more time manageable endeavor for the player is a solid blueprint. Sid Meier's Starships provides a great baseline, but the working draft art, underwhelming sound effects and animation, and unbalanced gameplay keep this title from ever thrusting off the launch pad. It's a fun game that can be a challenge, but requires you to do most of the leg work to make it fun and challenging.
That said, players who opt for a fiscally healthier expenditure will be missing out on a solid Sid Meier experience, since Starships is a space odyssey that's definitely worth your time.
Civilisation creator's latest focuses on building starships and conquering the galaxy, and is perfectly tuned for lapsed gamers who loved his earlier work
Sid Meier's Starships is a simplistic, strategic and cerebral space version of Civilization, albeit a short one. It's meant to keep your attention for a short amount of time and succeeds in consistently doing so. It does have sprinkles of economic depth like it's Civ brother, but it doesn't demand gamers sit and engulf themselves in the learning process to achieve success. For gamers not wanting to dedicate their entire beings to the Civ games, this might be a worthy substitute.
Sid Meier's Starships may not be exactly what fans were expecting as a follow-up to Beyond Earth, but viewed as a low-cost strategy title which can run on both older machines or iPad devices, it's a well-polished and addictive experience.
Sid Meier's Starships is a short and sweet companion game to Civilization: Beyond Earth that doesn't overstay its welcome. Without many options for game setup and a multiplayer mode, Starships is limited in scope, but its ship-focused combat and breezy progression has a broad appeal that fits well for both PC and iOS platforms.
Starships condenses Sid Meier's knack for turn-based strategy into a short, two-to-five hour burst of board game-esque tactics that's as satisfying as it is approachable.
Mr. Meier has distilled many of the elements of his more expansive strategy games into an accessible action-packed romp you can play in a single night
Starships may not be a grand epic like Civilization, but its stripped back design fulfils a purpose. If you normally struggle with the multiple complexities of a 4x strategy game, Starships is a great introduction to the genre. It even offers step-by-step advice at every point if you need it. But for anyone more advanced than total rookie, after a handful of campaigns you'll have seen everything Starships has to offer. Without the usual 4x depth or any multiplayer, Starships lacks the level of replayability. Even though it's priced accordingly, that's still its open exhaust hatch. A couple of afternoons after buying, Starships is likely to be lost among the debris of your unplayed Steam collection.
Still, small beans in a game that is otherwise so elegantly put together. Starships isn't Civ, but it is Sid, and that's fine by me.
For those looking for something different from the standard "Civ" experience, or something that's an even larger departure than "Beyond Earth" was, this may just be the scratch for said itch.
Ultimately, the game left me wishing there was more to it.
Sid Meier's Starships does away with all of the research tree and diplomatic hard work that often comes with a 4X title, replacing them with some brilliant turn-based strategy combat and just enough world conquering to keep any evil genius happy.
Sid Meier's Starships is a good and replayable turn-based strategy experience that will certainly appeal to lovers of classic science fiction franchises and to those who appreciate the way the leader of Firaxis managed to make player choices relevant.