It's...okay – Sid Meier's Starships Review

Pricey apps and I aren't well-acquainted. But when Starships came up, since it had Sid Meier's name on it, I decided to give it a shot. After all, XCOM turned out good, and 2K was behind Starships, so that's a win. Having played it to both victory and defeat, I have to say...I really expected more. So what is it? It's a lite version of Civilization set on multiple planets instead of cities. Each planet has a benefit, and you can set research priorities and other basic civilization-guiding tools. Overall, the "Civ" aspect is painfully thin; this is more of a strategy/tactical game rather than a nationbuilder. You get to assemble one fleet (yep, one) of ships, upgraded as you see fit, to sling around the galaxy, conquering and defending. This part is a little tricky; with only one fleet, you can't station picket lines or do anything clever like leaving a rearguard. It's all or nothing. Once you've moved a fleet into an engagement, the game goes tactical and you maneuver and angle your ships, fire weapons, deploy fighters, and, in short, command some pretty inventive and entertaining tactical turn-based space battles. The downsides, though, are threefold. One, the civ-aspect of the game is barely there. Diplomacy doesn't really do anything, and there's little to excite an empire-builder gamer. (Veteran civvers, forget it all. There's no customizing planets. You can't even rename them.) Two, the 3D graphics, while impressive, caused a fairly new iPad to start stuttering its animations. And three, there's no story. Zilch. Realistically, this plays more like a popular fanbuilt scenario from Civ 4 rather than a new game on its own. It's good, don't get me wrong. I just expected more. A solid B+/A-.
Review by OxcartMC on Sid Meier's Starships.