“Civilization: Beyond Earth” came out without Mac support in the beginning, reportedly due to a tight release schedule and the developers trying to push the game out in a certain time frame. While this disappointed Mac fans to some extent, it also gave them a chance to see whether or not the game will be worth buying at all – the several weeks of waiting were more than enough to gauge the public reaction to the new installment in the “Civilization” series.
The game is now available to Mac users on Valve’s Steam platform, and due to the way SteamPlay works, players who already own the Windows version won’t have to purchase the Mac one separately – they can just log into their Steam accounts on a Mac computer, download and play the game immediately. While the release has gone more or less smoothly, some users have been reporting small bugs in the Mac version, so gamers should proceed with caution.
So far though, reception towards the game has been mixed, and not as positive as most were expecting. “Civilization” is a very popular franchise, and each game so far has managed to be incredibly successful. This installment, however, is struggling to properly attract fans so far.
While the game’s entire premise and theme have been changed completely, replacing the semi-accurate historic theme with a sci-fi futuristic one, most fans have noted that the change is only cosmetic. Beyond the shiny new surface, the game plays mostly the same as “Civilization 5”, and some have commented that it actually feels like a cut-down version of its predecessor, as it’s missing certain features, such as religion.
However, gamers should remember that this is usually how things work out with “Civilization” games – the fifth installment in the series might be popular and enjoyable now, but it certainly wasn’t that way on its release day, and the game needed several expansion packs before it reached its current state of near-perfection.
Because of this, fans have been hopeful that the current problems of “Civilization: Beyond Earth” will be addressed by the first major expansion pack. It’s not known when that is scheduled to come out, but the main game is currently still receiving updates to its core content, so an expansion pack or other forms of major DLC might not be too close yet. Still, the general consensus is that those who have enjoyed the last game will definitely have fun with the new one, although they should not come in expecting anything revolutionary yet. Those who want something more interesting should wait for the DLC packs to hit the market.