Sid Meier’s Massively Anticipated Reboot ‘ Beyond Earth’ will Come with Mantle API

infopc | April 14, 2014 | Technology | No Comments

Sid Meier’s Massively Anticipated Reboot ‘ Beyond Earth’ will Come with Mantle API

Sid Meier’s Civilization Series has been part and parcel of the
childhood of many gamers around the world, myself included. If you
consider yourself a fan of the RTS and Turn Based Strategy genre than
the Civilization series is a rite of passage, along with the other
classics such as Age of Empire and Command and Conquer. Before I descend
into too much nostalgia, let me clear something up. Civilization:
Beyond Earth is definitely not a sequel but technically speaking it
hasn’t been stated as a reboot (of the highly acclaimed Alpha Centauri)
either. So my calling “Civilization: Beyond Earth” a reboot might be a
factual fallacy; a re-visitation would be more appropriate but that
would make for a shallow headline. Moving on.

Mantle API will Power Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth – Coming to Windows, Steam OS/Linux and Mac OS

I will tell you one thing though. Sid Meier’s team has left no stone
unturned in an attempt to distribute it to the widest audience possible.
The game not only supports every major platform including Windows,
Steam OS, Linux and Mac OS but will also have Mantle API support
hardwired into the code. Expect to see Mantle API fueled performance out
of the box and without any synthetic updates unlike Battlefield 4 and
Thief. It goes without saying that DirectX is supported and unless I am
mistaken, Nvidia will be working on bringing out a DX 11 Optimization
Driver for the game in a tit for tat fashion.

And in all honestly, I heartily approve of this cat and mouse chase
of Red and Green. Because in the end the only people that are benefiting
from this topsy turvy race are the Gamers. Here is the official
statement from the PR department over at Firaxis Games Studio about
their upcoming IP:

As part of an expedition late to find
a home beyond Earth, you will write the next chapter for humanity as
You lead your people into a new frontier and create a new civilization
in space. Explore and colonize an alien planet, research new
technologies, amass mighty armies, build incredible Wonders and shape
the face of your new world. As you embark on your journey you must make
critical decisions.

Single Player Civilization: Beyond Earth is not very processor
intensive, its not very GPU intensive either. Unlike an RTS where units
are being created at arbitrary intervals and there is a general feeling
of chaos, the gameplay of a Turn Based strategy is very disciplined.
Thus do not expect to see significant gains over either Nvidia DX 11
‘Wonder Driver’ or ‘Mantle API’. However the Multiplayer of
Civilization: Beyond Earth should be another story entirely and I
absolutely cannot wait to see the numbers in action (and play the game
of course).