Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1500 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Take 2
• Released on: 2007-07-20
• Platform: Windows XP
• Original language: German

Amazon.co.uk Review

Civilization has been the PC’s premier turn-based strategy series now for over a decade, offering you near infinite freedom to create and nurture your own society and conquer the world through either military might or cultural influence. For many though it’s always been overly tempting to rely on warfare not words, so this expansion pack has been created specifically to encourage more peaceful means of domination. It also focuses on expanding the options for playing the game in the time period after the invention of gunpowder. This means it is now possible to achieve a diplomatic victory much earlier in the game, while at the same time making space victories more difficult because of the more complex requirements.

In keeping with the modern theme the concept of global corporations is also introduced into the gameplay, which works similarly to Civilization IV’s use of religion, except this time your people spreads economic benefits in exchange for specific resources. Other tweaks include expanded espionage options to stir up an enemy’s population, and SimCity style random disasters. That’s all on top of the expected addition of new civilisations (ten new ones, from the Dutch and Portuguese to the Babylonians and Mayans), six new leaders (including Abraham Lincoln, Boudica and Charles de Gaulle) and eleven new historical scenarios. In this sense the expansion has the best of both worlds, with all the expected new content and gameplay options but also a fundamental change to the way you play, and win, the game.
Harrison Dent

Manufacturer's Description
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is the second expansion pack for the definitive strategy title Civilization IV - the 2005 PC Game of the Year and world-wide hit. Focusing on the late-game time periods after the invention of gunpowder, the expansion will deliver more epic game and scenario content than any Civ expansion pack in the history of the series. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will contain 12 amazingly unique and challenging scenarios created by the development team at Firaxis, as well as some esteemed members of the Civ Community. In addition, ten new civilizations, sixteen new leaders, five new wonders, a variety of new units and several new gameplay innovations will offer players even more strategic options for expanding their civilisation's power as they strive for world domination.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic
Civilization add-on packs have for the most part, always been good. Beyond the Sword is by far the best yet. It provides some excellent scenarios, and makes some fundamental changes to the to the main game as well.

I am usually not a great fan of scenarios, and as such don't play them that much. There are however, 11 new scenarios included with BTS, and some are fantastic. They include fictional scenarios, as well as historical ones. I play mostly the latter, and have spent many hours on the WW2 scenario.

It's the main game though, that I really feel has been improved though. As well as 'cosmetic' changes such as new units and new buildings, some fundamental game mechanics have been altered. These introduction of espionage from nearly the beginning of the game. This can actually be invested in in the same way as research and culture, and the counter sits beneath the two. Another example of this is the space-race victory. The game has gone back to its roots with this- like civ 1, you can pick and choose how to build your ship. If your beaten in launching your ship, you have the option of making yours faster and you may still have a chance.

On top of this, there are other smaller changes which none-the-less add to the game. One example is random events (like earthquakes, plane crashes, weddings between civilization), which can have either a negative or positive effect on things.

If you have Civ4, Beyond the Sword is an absolute must-have expansion.

The best expansion pack in the history of Civilization
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is an excellent expansion pack, bringing many new and updated features to an already great game. It includes 10 new civilizations (Dutch, Portuguese, Holy Roman Empire, Byzantines, Khmer, Sumerians, Ethiopians, Native Americans, Mayas and Babylonians), and several new leaders for existing civilizations. Furthermore, there are many new buildings, wonders, scenarios and technologies.

There are several new features, including corporations, random events, an improved espionage system and advanced starts, as well as innumerable updates and improvements to existing features and the game interface.

Espionage is now an important part of gameplay, and spies are available from near the start of the game. Espionage points are accumulated against rival civilizations, and spies can perform missions when present in enemy cities and tiles, at the cost of a certain amount of espionage points. City improvements can be built to improve your civilization's espionage output, and the new Great Person - the Great Spy - can accumulate a vast amount of points against a rival immediately.

Random events are a great addition to the game, adding variety and more decision-making to games. Each game usually includes a couple of quests, which involve the production of a certain amount of units/buildings to gain a reward for your empire.

Forts have now been revamped. They allow city defence promotions to be used when units are defending them, they can house aircraft and can be used to form canals. Air units now can gain promotions to improve their interception or evasion ability and more. Siege weapons now have a limit to the damage they can cause when attacking a unit, which generally increases as siege weapons become more advanced. They can also be effectively attacked using flank attacks. Horse Archers and several other mounted units can perform a flank attack whilst attacking a stack of units in which siege weapons are present. This results in damage being inflicted upon the siege weapons, and sometimes them being destroyed outright. Changes have been made to the graphics, and units will not walk in a straight line to a destination - they run a little more naturally. Units are a little more diverse, and look different for some civilizations. The map fades in and out, and the whole experience is actually smoother and faster than Civ4 or Warlords. There are many more improvements which I cannot list without writing an essay about this expansion pack!

Finally, the scenarios (also known as mods) are excellent. I have only looked at a couple, but the feedback from other players about them is very good. Final Frontier is like Civilization in space, and a completely different Civ experience as you battle with spaceships, black holes and radioactive clouds! The Road to War is a World War II scenario, very well built and accurate in its representation of Europe. They are very exciting and very well made.

There are some bugs in the game at the time of writing, but having been released for only a few days so far, patches will be written to fix these and to balance the gameplay further if required.

If you are a Civ fan, you will not be disappointed with this game! If you are contemplating buying Civ4, get this too! I would recommend that if you are buying from scratch, that you leave Warlords - all the Warlords features, except for a few scenarios that are not worth much, are included in Beyond the Sword. I am very happy with this game, Firaxis have done a great job. I have to agree with what they say on the back of the box, that Beyond the Sword "delivers more core gameplay and scenario content than any other Civ expansion in history".

The Second Expansion
Right, so you are looking at this and wondering if this is for you - that's why you are reading customer reviews right? OK, so I'll try to explain the changes made first so that you can get a handle on if this IS for you. Firstly, certain game models have been changed: You can spin off colonies, which will be a new civ vassalized to your own. Seige weapons and air units (and interception) operate differently, with a more realistic/complex approach. Espionage is available with Writing (far earlier) and no longer costs cash but instead uses Espionage points which are generated by certain building, events, a Great Spy, and/or as part of fiscal planning as it's own slider like research or culture. There are corporations which can provide benefits (depending on which corporation) and can generate cash. There are random events both positive and negative, both minor and major. Of course there are new units, buildings, civilizations and techs as well. And then there are the scenarios, which are varied and some so different from the base game as to be almost unrecognizable. So, do expanded game mechanics, new units and civs and a variety of scenarios draw you? Then this is for you. If it's just the scenarios, some of them are available online for absolutely free as they are the best of fan creations to begin with. I for one greatly enjoy the changed mechanics and the new random events and quests.

For those not in the know (say you are buying this as a gift) it does require the base Civilization IV game but not the later Warlords expansion.

Note: there is a patch available, just go to advance options and tell it to check for an update while connected to the internet.