Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword

As a longtime Civilization 4 fan there where many things I bemoaned, particularly the poor implementation of espionage and awkward pace of the late game. For those not aware of the franchise Civilization allows the player to guide a tribe from its earliest roots all the way into the near future. Of course the big perk of this game is alternate history such as having the Aztecs invade Spain or having Mahatma Gandhi nuke his rivals into the stone age. Warlords expanded the list of Civilizations while providing more options and Beyond the Sword updates the game with all sorts of cosmetic and functional changes.

The cosmetic changes are simple yet effective, units now reflect the ethnicity of their country making the game seem less Eurocentric. For example if you play as the Chinese your swordsmen wield a powerful Dao while the Mayan swordsmen carry an obsidian club. Unlike the Visa mod the cosmetic changes don’t really carry past the invention of gunpowder but at that point the differences are mostly superfluous anyway.

With ten new civilizations several great options are made available. For example Portugal and the Netherlands come with unique naval units and traits that allow them to colonize far away lands without crippling their economy. Ethiopia often excels at research and espionage and most other countries are just plain aggressive. My only big disappointment is “the native Americans”. With so many North American tribes to choose from and 3 Mesoamerican cultures already in the game I feel that lumping together all of the United States indigenous ancestors is a major disservice.

The game balance has been improved by adding a few new technologies and changing what some of them do. Trade occurs earlier in the game, spiritual advantages are no longer made obsolete by the calendar and building some of the cooler wonders requires a new technology called aesthetics. The relevance of each gunpowder unit is more noticeable too, each one showing up more or less during the right century. New units such as anti tank personnel and paratroopers even the playing field for those not lucky enough to have vast oil supplies.

For those who aren’t inclined to conquer the world through force a variety subtler means are now available. For example the Apostolic Palace allows you to create your own theocratic society based around your state religion. Through this mechanism you can influence other civilizations to perform magnificent crusades for your religion or simply make them adopt your favorite civics. With enough planning an early diplomatic victory is possible as well, as all the faithful of the world declare your country the supreme ruler. Another powerful weapon is espionage. The entire game was modified to accommodate this feature and espionage can provide all manner of small and grand tools for your conquest. Basic use of espionage should allow you keep tabs on foreign cities while a more advanced player should be able to perform missions such as technology theft, spreading propaganda and poisoning water supplies.

My favorite new feature is the random event system that feels perfectly tailored to your civilizations unique character and point in history. For example in the early game you will encounter slave revolts and earthquakes while the late game is full of plain wrecks and archeological discoveries. These events help give each game a unique feel while neither crippling nor empowering any faction. My least favorite aspect of the game is their implementation of corporations. They are a pain to found and keep track of and don’t work as seamlessly as the games manual would lead you to expect.

While this expansion is in no risk of being considered skimpy they still padded it out further with a whole slew of scenarios, some designed by Firaxis employees while a few others are old community favorites.

The most talked about one is afterworld. It is full of new graphical resources and plays much less like civilization and much more like X-Com or Jagged Alliance. Another strange but wonderful genre romp is Fall from Heaven: Age of Ice. Developed as a prequel to the fan favorite fantasy mod this game is extremely difficult but the cool narrative makes the challenge worthwhile. Two more Science fiction scenarios are included, one taking place in the distant stars while the other places players in a dystopian near future. This last one can also be played as a mod allowing you to tack on amazing technology to a regular game, but some minor changes see to it that your game just doesn’t feel right.

Much more grounded in reality are the various historical scenarios included such as Charlemagne’s wars and World War II: road to war. In these scenarios it is easy enough to just pick a side and replay history again and again from a dozen perspectives. Lastly the game is now much more stable during LAN and internet play, so odds are you might actually get to see the end of those afternoon long campaigns played against your friends. With improved balance, stability and versatility this is easily the best expansion I’ve seen this year.