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#146 THE SWEEP OF TIME Zero_Tolerance is intrigued to ponder how Sid Meier's Dinosaurs and Civilization III will mesh together. #145 WHY THE ALT. CIV. SECTION DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION (PT. 2) Ron Hiler wants to convince you that the playing field for TBS games has not been forgotten, but simply had a chance of venue. #144 THE GROWTH OF REAL TIME STRATEGY RTS games: AS takes a look at their evolution, before returning to his Civ game... #143 WHY THE ALT. CIV. SECTION DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION (PT. 1) Ron Hiler wants to convince you that the playing field for TBS games has not been forgotten, but simply had a chance of venue. #142 MEMO TO FIRAXIS: NOW THAT CTPII IS OUT Raingoon is back with a message to Firaxis: what to do and what not to in CivIII. COLUMN ARCHIVE

Last evening I finished reading Centauri Dawn, the first in a series of three books written by Firaxis Games' Michael Ely based upon the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri universe. I had ordered the novel from Chapters' website on November 30th, the day of or the day after the announcement of its release. Only a half hour prior I had read a sample chapter from the book and was immediately engrossed with the characters and storyline and subsequently placed my order; at long last, it arrived on Tuesday of this week past and failed to disappoint. If you are familiar with the SMAC and subsequent Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire episodic tales, you will feel right at home with this book. If you haven't, you are missing out on something brilliant. Ely has worked as a multimedia designer, computer game producer/designer, a filmmaker and now an author. If the first installment of this SMAC book series is any indication, this Firaxian could undoubtedly weild a many tall tales ;) and bedtime stories. Perhaps the most difficult part about not being able to read the second novel today is not so much because it hasn't yet been released but at the time of this article's writing we do not known when it set to be released. The agony of it all!

Ely wrote the aforementioned tales that were posted leading up to the release of SMAC and then the expansion pack SMAC-X, and I must admit that after reading the first few chapters of the SMAC tale installments I found I could no longer concentrate on them. Thinking that perhaps it was the fact that my eyes had grown weary from staring at my monitor all day, I proceeded to print a couple more chapters before finally giving up. Did I think that they were poorly written? No. Did I not have the time to read them? No again. The more I think about it, perhaps it was the waiting game that spoiled it. Being, again, episodic in nature it required reorienting oneself with bits and pieces of previous chapters to make the latest one sink in to any definitive degree. Centauri Dawn solved this problem. The main characters and supporting figures are true to their nature, yet can still keep you guessing as to their next actions as you read; after all, difficult times call for difficult decisions and consequences. The storyline is believable, given the circumstances. Again, since I did not read the background files that this novel is primarily based upon I can attest to the fact that you need not have read them to enjoy this book, although I am certain you would be able to bring something more to the reading if you have.

You are probably beginning to ask yourself "what is Dan getting at here exactly". Good question. No, I can assure you that this is not a spoiler article of Centauri Dawn.

The original Civilization, CivII, and the two Call To Power's cover too great a timeframe and countless degrees of circumstances where writing a background story to it would be unquestionably pointless (window dressing at best). CivIII will undoubtedly also find itself in this category, and Dinosaurs is shaping up to be the same. There are no definitive characters that we are able to take the reigns from, and indeed the idea of these titles is that there is no background story to introduce you to the game -- that's a part you're there to fill. That said, it is my hope that SMAC will inspire similar titles in the long line of Civilization titles that allow us to read a little behind the scenes before we jump in with both feet. For me, it increases the enjoyment of a game if we are able to place ourselves in the shoes of a character that we can most identify ourselves with.

Many people will tell you that gamers such as ourselves are becoming illiterate because we do not read as many books as people our age in the past used to. While I can't speak for all gamers (I haven't meant them all, for starters :)), as a Civer I can tell you that last time I checked it was pretty hard to give orders to your troops or sign a peace treaty with your neighbours without being able to read. And now, we have taken this to the next level. I personally recommend Centauri Dawn for that certain Civer on your birthday list in the New Year. I wonder how long it will be before it's available in public libraries...

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About the author: Co-Owner/Administrator -- Apolyton CS, Director of Operations -- GameStats News Network. First-year undergraduate, Carleton University. Dedicated Strategy-genre enthusiast.

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