Remember Pandora: First Contact, a sci-fi 4X game announced by Matrix Games back in April this year? Well, Slitherine, Matrix Games ad Proxy Studios have sent word that they have reached beta, and are now calling for beta testers to try their turn-based 4X strategy game.
To sign up as beta tester, visit the Slitherine beta test signup page. You will need to get an account there and sign a non-disclosure agreement, typical in this sort of thing.
Little is known yet about Pandora: First Contact. We know it’s a turn-based sci-fi 4X game, that takes place in a newly-discovered and colonized Earth-like planet. You’re expected to encounter resistant native wild life there, an ancient civilization, and other factions that are competing for control of the planet. You will need to negotiate treaties with these other factions, forge alliances, terraform the land and build farms, mines, forts and other buildings.
Pandora: First Contact - Unit Design
Other features include, ruins and artifacts to discover, unit design (by choosing from a variety of classes, weapons and armors) and a research tree with technologies that provide buildings, units and weapons.
Sounds like a mix between Civilization and Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, right? That’s probably because it is :)
I’ll make sure to try to get my hands on a copy of Pandora for an hands-on preview as soon as possible. Meanwhile, for more information on Pandora: First Contact, visit the official product page on Matrix Games.
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Looks interesting, appreciate the heads-up.
Beta signup was easy, soon my ninja will be ready for the assault on the base in the hollow volcano.
AI. It always comes down to the AI. I don’t care if the graphic is the equivalent of Civ I or Alpha Centauri. After Endless Space, I will NOT put money into 4X games that only showcase graphical prowess.
If I want pretty pictures, I’ll play Crysis.
AMEN!
I’m long since tired of the trend in 4x games to focus on pretty pictures. Any decent strategy game could probably be played on a piece of paper and card board counters. Don’t need anything fancier than that. But the world desperately needs a TBS strategy AI that can think its way out of a wet paper bag. And yes, it can be done. Just needs a game company to move the focus from all the time spent making pretty pictures. If I want to see pretty combat videos, I’ll pull out a Battlestar Gallactica DVD.
Ohhh, you said it!! BSG is awesome, in every way. And the new BSG series is shaping up to be appealing as well. But, yeah…the bulk of gaming studios nowadays only seem to focus most of their energies on eye candy and pretty artwork. It would be nice to see some of the more seasoned game makers come back to life and school these younger studios on HOW it is done.
I’m playing the beta now and getting my ass handed to me.
I can’t tell if I signed up or not. I got to the NDA page, accepted, filled out the form, hit submit… and it took me back to the NDA page. Tried one more time with the same result. Is that it?
I have exactly the same thing, it stays in a loop or something… pretty weird. Not sure if I signed up now or not? I tried it like 5 times.
Same thing happened to me. Tried on 3 different browsers.
I asked Matrix Games about this. I’ll post here their feedback.
Matrix sent word that they fixed the issue and that you should be able to register without any issues now.
Looks deep enough and that screen shot looks like it’s straight from FFH :D
Signed!
Definitely gotta check this one out!
And yet one more strategy game with way too much information on the screen combined with TEENY TINY FONTS.
Get a clue, people. One reason people like the golden age games so much, and some people still play them, is the visuals were easy to understand and not like studying a textbook.
I think you are making a highly preferential argument, where I prefer all the extra bells and whistles which sometime require teeny tiny fonts. I also miss the days when you had to study a wire bound manual like Falcon, but were rewarded with amazingly deep game play.
So the “Golden Age” is really based on your preference.
Do you mean like Civilization 4: http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/4761/civ4screenshot0046.jpg ?
It appears the sign up page is working now.
This game looks like the type of game I have been looking for along time :)