Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

9.5
Excellent

Gameplay	9.0	"Brilliantly varied and better than ever!"
Graphics	9.0
Sound	8.5
Value	10

By Sam Waldron

It is 1:30am, and I have work tomorrow. That is to say, I have work today. There aren't many games for which I would sacrifice this much sleep, or this much sanity (especially not twice in barely over two weeks). But this is Civ. Therefore, this is serious.

Since I've already played and commented on a preview build of Beyond the Sword, Civilization IV's new expansion, I'll try not to retread that ground too much. I highly recommend you read it first, but for the benefit of anyone too lazy to do so, here is a brief recap:

- There is new stuff, as expected (civs, leaders, wonders, units, etc)
- Espionage has been overhauled, so it now comes into the game earlier, and plays a more substantive role
- The Apostolic Palace, a religious version of the United Nations, allows for a faith-based super-alliance, as well as a new kind of Diplomatic Victory
- Better unit movement, smoother running engine, and an all-round more polished game (yes, you read that right - Beyond the Sword actually runs noticeably better than the 'vanilla' game)

That much taken care of, I'd like to move right in and talk about what I couldn't last time (not in any detail, at any rate): the scenarios.

Beyond the Sword features a very impressive array of scenarios. And where the scenarios in Warlords (Civ IV's first expansion) explored historical campaigns, Beyond the Sword moves into less traditional territory. While Rhye's and Fall of Civilization, a new incarnation of a fan mod favourite, charts to a fair degree the historical growth of some of the world's great empires, other scenarios take on a science fiction or fantasy flavour. And some even throw the rulebook out the window, altering the fundamentals of the game.

My first port of call was Final Frontier, a very different take on Civ. This scenario takes place not merely in the future but, as the name suggests, in space. And, while the game mechanics are largely the same, the experience is mightily different from the Civ you know. Gone are the continents and waters, the settlers, workers, spearmen, tanks. And in their place? Star systems: little pockets of life in an ocean of darkness, punctuated by dangerous celestial phenomena (asteroid belts, radiation clouds, supernovae and black holes); starships and space fighters, cruising between worlds. In addition to an entirely new set of technologies, units, graphics, civs, (a new everything, essentially), Final Frontier even changes the way in which cities (sorry: inhabited star systems) use resources. It isn't my favourite of the new scenarios, but it is a very impressive, and visually pleasing, an example of Civ IV's modding potential.

Final Frontier may be a bold revisioning of Civilization, but it has nothing on Afterworld. This can really only barely be called a scenario at all. Really, it's just a new game. Again picking up a sci-fi setting, Afterworld uses the same engine as Civ to set up squad-based strategy gameplay. You control a handful of Gravebringers, wandering claustrophobic passages on a planet best described as industrially gothic. With zombie-like enemies, there seems to be more Diablo here, or at least Space Hulk, than there is Civilization -- and the turn-based squad movement and RPG-style experience and upgrading puts me in mind of the Shining Force games. This is leagues away from being a release title on its own merit, but as a Civ mod it is truly incredible.

Age of Ice takes place in the world of fan fantasy mod Fall from Heaven. Like Afterworld, it contains noticeable RPG elements: in addition to regular units, you will control unique heroes, which are in a way between Great People and regular military units, and can be upgraded throughout the game, assuming you manage to keep them alive. Unlike the previous two scenarios I have described, Age of Ice keeps a reasonable amount of the original Civ content. But that, perhaps, is its brilliance: it manages to hold on to the elements of Civ gameplay which make it so compelling and addictive, while at the same time creating an immersive fantasy setting.

Civ II fans will likely be delighted by the return of a decent World War II scenario. The Road to War offers three variants - Pacific 1936, Europe 1936, and Europe 1939 - as well as a host of different scenario-specific units. Other historical scenarios in Beyond the Sword include Charlemagne (a battle for military supremacy in medieval Europe, but also for the favour of His Holiness the Pope, who has the power to grant you victory by naming you Holy Roman Emperor) and Crossroads (set in the Middle East around 1300 AD, and focussing primarily on trade).

What makes Beyond the Sword particularly economical is that each of the mods and scenarios adds a different hook to the game. Rhye's and Fall adds civs to the game gradually, and lets you switch to playing as a newcomer when the time comes. So, if you mess up as the Egyptians, you can start over as a Viking leader and make good -- but still in the same world where the Egyptians have fallen by the way side. In Broken Star, a scenario based around the collapse of government in Russia, you can bring your faction to power either through conventional force of arms, or by obtaining four nuclear warheads (there's nothing like the Bomb to make people sit up and listen).

Gods of Old, which can be played on any map, puts a new spin on religion, letting you unleash the wrath of your deity on those heathens in the next valley. And Next War brings some of the sci-fi edge of the earlier mentioned overhauls to a more traditional game of civ, letting you roll out mechs, clone soldiers, etc - either in a near-future showdown between four superpowers on an Earth ravaged by global warming and the consequent rising oceans, or as an extension of the regular game.

By including such genuine variety in scenarios to an already exciting bunch of game additions (I am, frankly, rather obsessed with the idea of a religious victory), Firaxis have reinvigorated a title which was already the most epic and the most accessible Civ game yet. And the little touches like random events, choosing which religion you found when you discover any of the religion-linked technologies, and the overall polish (the shine, I mean -- the Poles unfortunately only appear in the WWII scenario) and performance improvement, make it a must buy for Civ IV owners.

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