80
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.
25
This awful strategy game is not worthy of even a single playthrough neither on PC, nor on tablets.
73
More short-term play-friendly beast. [June 2015, p.78]
8
It isn't deep and it isn't worth paying lots of money for but it is fun and well designed in my opinion. Yes it does feel more like a mobile game but at least unlike a mobile game app it doesn't want you to spend more money through micro payments. Just treat it as a fun distraction and no more.
3
I see a lot of missed potential here. This could have actually been a really deep and interesting game but they just didn't spend the proper time on it. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they just took some code from Beyond Earth and slapped this together in a month. Remember the space stage in Spore? Picture that but you can only visit about 30 planets. Yes I am not joking here. I was playing on the largest map available and there were about 30 planets. You may be wondering why I'm giving it such a high score when the game is so clearly terrible. Well even though this game is a terrible excuse for an anything Sid Meier at least has the decency not to charge 60 dollars for this. I got it for 15 which makes it at least somewhat worth it. That still doesn't change the fact that I'm using Spore which was a huge disappointment as a comparison to this game. Spore is better in nearly every way. And I think it's only 5 dollars now. Go buy that if you are thinking about purchasing this.
3
Simple, basic, turn-based strategy game. Ships have levels in a variety of traits you can upgrade; by the end, all ships are identical, and the only time a difference exists is in the early game when you can't afford to upgrade everything yet. Ships cannot be destroyed, only temporarily disabled; you -will- fight the entire enemy fleet every time you take one of his worlds, and losing every ship in your fleet is only a one-turn inconvenience. The level of complexity and depth is about what you'd expect out of your typical free flash game; it only looks so pathetic when you measure it against its genuine competition; actual PC strategy games that you pay for.
Sid Meier's Starships
Released On:
Mar 12, 2015
Metascore
Mixed or Average
64
User score
Generally Unfavorable
4.3
My Score
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Metascore
Mixed or Average
64
19% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
69% Mixed
40 Reviews
40 Reviews
12% Negative
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
Jan 21, 2016
80
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.
Apr 30, 2015
75
It’s the same game on PC and iOS, which explains its simplicity and low difficulty level. It just wasn’t designed to steal months of your life, but works great in short, relaxing sessions. [05/2015, p.64]
User score
Generally Unfavorable
4.3
20% Positive
25 Ratings
25 Ratings
24% Mixed
30 Ratings
30 Ratings
56% Negative
70 Ratings
70 Ratings
Mar 30, 2015
9
I would actually recommend it ,on the account of me having fun playing it. These days my patience for learning new and complex games are (perhaps unfortunately?) at an all time low. Starships was a surprise, in that it was -really- easy to get into. You don't have to read a manual 10 times the bible just to undock your ship, or learn how the economic's work. Sid Meier's Starships pretty much puts you right in the middle of things, yet giving you some help along the way. There's only a few tech-trees if you compare it to the Civilization games, and as such things do feel quite a bit simplified. The good thing about this is that it makes the game easy to get into, and still as you learn by playing, you soon find that strategy and thinking helps a lot. I would love for Firaxis to add to this game, it's practically begging for a good Hot-seat mode (Like the Old Master of Orion games (MOO 1+2) more diplomacy options ,more ship / customization options, and actually, a little more of everything. It's the first space strategy game I've tried in the last 10 years I haven't needed to will myself into playing, but now that I like it? I want more, lots more. There positives are : Easy to get into Smooth gameplay Interesting setting / technologies The many different kinds of missions , in addition to thrilling space battles A sheer joy to play (when you're winning difficult fights) The negatives (for me) NO FULLSCREEN?!!! ...... That's uber-annoying, what are Firaxis thinking? Alt+F4 to quit!?? Where's the QUIT TO WINDOWS (or DOS) button???? No multiplayer? ..**** why???? It's a turned based game that practically begs for a Hot-seat mode GUI , this -really-really-really- needs work ......I thought they knew how to do this after Civ and X-com Lack of gameplay depth, options like setting up diplomatic treaties, alliances ++ Though the game can quickly pull you in, it soon leaves you wanting more I certainly hope the game gets better With patches / fixes and addons
Mar 19, 2015
9
Mobile game released for PC, just so we're clear. Streamlined, light-strategy experience focused on tactical starship battles, big on unit positioning and angle of attack. It's not meant to take two weeks to finish a game. Where it succeeds is distilling classic Civ features into their basic fundamentals for a Civ-light (very light!) feel. I'll tell you how I feel about this: personally, I'm a Total War game kind of guy, and ideally would spend days on careful worldwide strategy and minute positioning in battle. But now I'm also a parent with a full time job, and I don't have that kind of time. So to me, getting the same general strategy fix in a fraction of the time by shaving away some of the complexity is not a bad thing. I still wrestle with optimizing territory control, determining research tree path, ship loadout and overall playstyle strategy, preventing AI moves that could cost me the game, etc. It just happens a lot faster. For $15 that's kind of a selling point now. As long as this doesn't become the future of Civ games (and it's clearly NOT Civ-6, so I don't think we have to worry), there's a place for this as a light-strategy companion piece.
Mar 13, 2015
70
Sid Meier's Starships is a good introduction to 4X games or a good way to entertain yourself during long trips. It doesn't have Civ's depth, but it still is a enjoyable game.
Mar 15, 2015
66
Nothing more and nothing less than a porting from the iOS version. Buy it only if you have an immoderate love for Sid Meier.
Apr 10, 2015
60
Connection to the Sid Meier's Civilization is just fake, this game doesn’t even offer any strategic orgies. Lower your expectations and you can have some fun making war not love... That counts, right? [Issue#251]
Mar 20, 2015
50
Had it been released as a good sized piece of DLC for Beyond Earth, it might have felt completely different, but as it stands I cannot help but feel a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.
Jul 16, 2015
25
This awful strategy game is not worthy of even a single playthrough neither on PC, nor on tablets.
Mar 13, 2015
9
It's fun intuitive gameplay, but simple. It's worth the 15$ and will be even more worth it when firaxis ties it in with beyond earth creating another layer of game mechanics to and that unique feel that we've been looking for from Sid. I would totally get it. Its repetition doesn't really deduct from the gameplay and its oddly satisfying.
Mar 18, 2015
7
- If you like turn-based combat, you must try this game. - A lot of missions (one or more missions per turn) - Very easy to play turn-based combat - Combat with good options (torpedoes, laser, plasma cannon). - Good graphics and sound - Quick to learn, easy to play - But, become to easy to play when you learn all - Good managament options. Easy turn-base management (build cities and wonders, just like Sid Meiers Civilization series) - Is not a huge game, to spend hundreds of hours playing. Is a casual game, for fun and relaxing.
Mar 13, 2015
7
People need to stop rating and reviewing this as if it were a $60 PC game. I paid 12 bucks and am enjoying it quite a bit on both PC and tab. It is what it is. No more, no less. As far as mobile games go, it's one of the best out there. As far as PC games go, it's actually not too bad either. This has more gameplay and replayability than a lot of full-price games. I only wish they HAD made a full AAA PC version of it!
Apr 4, 2015
4
If you don't know anything about Sid Meier, look him up and what games he did. He and Civilization are probably the biggest names in the genre ... and then comes Starships. At first I thought I was missing something but it's really that simple. I'm not saying simplicity is a bad thing but for a Sid Meier title this is more than just bland. The core gameplay feels as interesting as the space age in Spore. Instead of moving spices and terraforming you get missions on each planets. About 5 different. Considering that this is pretty much all you do the entire game it's fair to say that it gets old very quickly. Research, outfitting ships and managing planets is linear and just as uninteresting. The fact that this is also a mobile game really shines through. Graphics are really basic but at least the window can be rescaled freely. It doesn't pretend to be a full Civilisation game but still, for having Sid Meier in the name it just doesn't deliver enough. 4 points for being a game (with almost no content) and working very well on PC (and not being a bad port)
Mar 16, 2015
4
I'm pretty underwhelmed, especially for $15. This is clearly an uninspired direct port of a mobile game (which I didn't discover until after I bought the PC version), and even the mobile version is underwhelming & shallow as a game. All the 4X concepts are there -- exploration, resources, research, diplomacy, combat -- but most of them are shamefully underdeveloped. You have only limited control over the victory conditions -- either all them, or any one, but not subsets -- and the opening splash screen is actually miselading: it says you can win by controlloing 51% of the galaxy, but you actually need either 51% of the total population _or_ every single star system. Domination victory turns into a grind, yet a simple one (hint: focus on torpedoes). As a $3 mobile game, it might have been worth it, but it is vastly overpriced at $15. Avoid this. [Reposted: somehow my original score of 4 got changed to 2]
SummaryAssemble and helm a fleet of starships and travel between planets as you explore, build, negotiate, and fight to preserve your vision for humanity.
Platforms:
- PC
- iOS (iPhone/iPad)
Initial Release Date:Mar 12, 2015
Developer:
Publisher:
