Review: Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

by Nick Haywood on 23 July 2007, 09:43

Tags: Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO), Strategy

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Conclusion and awards

So, time to make what I will of Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword and as you can probably guess, I was mightily impressed. I have to admit that when this first landed on my desk I was in two minds. Whilst more of Civ IV wasn’t going to be a bad thing, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to playing through perhaps 20 hours of what would essentially be more of the same.

But Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is far, far more than just more Civ. As you’ve seen, Firaxis have gone way outside the boundaries of a normal expansion pack and given fans something more and altogether more worthy. Not only do you get a few new historical campaigns, which should keep Civ IV junkies happy, you’ve got all those superb mods which don’t just extend the life of Civ IV but give it a whole new set of legs taking the basic game mechanic and either expanding certain areas or warping it so far out of kilter it almost becomes a whole new game.

Click for larger image


Now anyone making an expansion pack for any other game in any other genre should stop what they’re doing and have a look at what Firaxis have achieved with Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword. This is a lesson in how an expansion should be done. Don’t just give the gamer a new set of levels and a new weapon or two, stop being so bloody mean. Get out of the office, get on the web and see what the community are doing. Folk build these mods because people play them, so why not bung a few quid the way of the bedroom programmer and get him or her to code up a mod for you?

So, as you should have guessed by now, Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is a more than worthy addition to the Civilization series and, more than that, it’s a lesson in how expansion packs should be made. If you’ve got Civ IV and want more then Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is most definitely the game for you. Buy it.

Pros
Tons of new units, buildings, leaders etc
Completely new late-stage scenarios for Civ IV
Fantastic mods with loads of gameplay
Mods take Civ in new directions
Loads of different playing styles, it’s almost like a mini-game fiesta!

Cons
Some of the graphics look a tad dated

How an expansion pack should be, bloody brilliant.

HEXUS Awards

Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

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HEXUS Forums :: 16 Comments

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Posted by Tobeman - Sat 28 Jul 2007 10:47
As if Civ has ever been about graphics! ;)

I can, and am, playing this religiously as the only game I bother playing for the forseeable future! Nothing beats culture bombing your mate over Hamachi with a Great Artist to stop them from expanding :lol:

Or in, in my last game against Keith I went on a bit of a power trip when he boxed me in and built Hastings inbetween two of my cities. I stormed 3 of his cities :lol:

Oh god the possibilities are endless… still haven't got round to using a Corporation yet!
Posted by kopite - Sat 28 Jul 2007 20:23
I havent bought it yet mainly cos my brother has borrowed my civ 4 game.

THe civ games have always been very dangerous for me. I still blame civ 2 for my A levels not going so well(I was playing till about 4 in the morning every day)

The reviews ive seen of this have all said its great so I think I will have to get this bought soon
Posted by chuckskull - Sat 28 Jul 2007 23:30
Been playing this all afternoon, and by that I mean I started this afternoon and just stopped now 11:30 :P Cant go out anyway kittens to look after so seemed like a good way to waste a night. Loads of fun, it seems to have fixed most of the niggles most people had with Civ 4 and added a lot more.

…and I just ended all life on Earth by cracking the Earth's crust, which amused me far more than it probably should have.
Posted by YorkieBen - Mon 30 Jul 2007 11:54
d/l'ed it from steam yesterday (I wsant going to buy it, then my brother bought it and I got tempted) for $28 inc tax so works out quite well.

Its great fun so far! AI seems quite aggressive on my game, the celts have just landed about a dozen units on one of my island with no warning :(

chuck how the hell did you manage to do that?
Posted by chuckskull - Mon 30 Jul 2007 14:37
YorkieBen
chuck how the hell did you manage to do that?

Using to many nukes apparently. I was backed into a corner but I was the only person with ICBM's so I was using them defensively, and any spare were being dropped on the biggest enemy cities. I got a warning about using to many, ignored it and then bam the world destroyed and barbarians win a domination victory :O_o1: Thats what happens when you play on deity with aggressive AI turned on :P

Also stacking nukes makes a big bang I discovered.

This was using the next war epic mod(which is awesome btw) not sure if it happens in vanilla play.

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