The allure of being a god king over an entire race of people has always been attractive in gaming. Going back to the early 1990s people have been attracted to the idea of starting a civilization with almost nothing and building it through the ages with great achievements in science and epic deeds in building and war. The clash of civilizations - Sid Meiers style - has been going on now for over a decade, so many wondered what, if anything, could be added to that kind of game. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword answers that question with an emphatic ‘quite a lot.’

Beyond the Sword is the latest expansion for Civilization IV. The premise of this series is players build a great civilization from scratch, guiding it through history and making decisions about civics and religion as well as foreign policy. For those who have never played this game, Civilization is a turn based simulation of all recorded history, where players start with a single nomad unit and either a warrior or a scout unit on a black map. From these meager beginnings they will found a city and a civilization, then study technologies and build great cities an empires. Players select from a choice of different ethnic groups with appropriately named cities, and set out to be the greatest civilization in recorded history. Starting with Civilization 2, multi-player options were added allowing players to pit themselves against each other in the race for world dominance through the ages.

Players improve the landscape, found new cities, build roads and military forces, and construct improvements in their cities to make them more productive and better protected from the elements and other races. As the series progressed, innovations were added to each version, changing and expanding some things and eliminating others. This expansion brings back some elements from past series such as the spy and paratroops, while adding a lot of new wonders and some techs as well as the corporation concept.

The new units and technology are meant to improve the last game as the name suggests, but a lot was added to the earlier ages as well. Players will find many of the things added in the Warlords expansion in this product, with the most important being all the new civilizations that expansion added, plus even more civilizations (as well as new leaders for old favorites). Players can now play as the Sumerians, the Babylonians, the Byzantines, the Native Americans, the Holy Roman Empire, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Ethiopians, the Khmer, and the Mayans, ten new civilizations and 16 leaders in all. The game also includes 11 new scenarios including space and science fiction themes, which bring it back to the days of classic Civilization 2. The first thing players will notice is a change in the early years, as a new early wonder first seen in ‘Warlords’ is available - the Great Wall. If you build it your territory is immune from barbarian attacks for the rest of the game, so it’s a great wonder to build. It also will actually show up on the map snaking its way along the border of your cultural influence, starting from the capital. Areas outside the wall you control also get its benefit.

The next thing players will notice is some wonders expire with different techs and last longer; Stonehenge is an example of this. But you will see an entire new tech called aesthetics, which leads to several brand new world wonders. It will take some getting used to, but now wonders are more logically laid out and some early ones are really worth getting even if they expire. There are seven new wonders in this expansion. The most important is the Apostolic Palace, which is a medieval religious version of the United Nations. The diplomatic game has been reworked and new options are now available, such as a vote to give rival cities to others based on the cultural control of said city. This can be done with both the Palace and UN, and players can win the game with a diplomatic victory through the Apostolic Place.

The most radical new part of the game is the return of a full array of spying options. There is now an intelligence screen and players can spend additional treasure to expand espionage operations as well as target a particular ruler. Players can destroy terrain improvements, city improvements, production, cause revolts, and a number of other devious operations making these almost a sub game.

To go along with the spying, new security buildings are available, as well as several other new building types and civilization specific buildings. New leader traits have also been added and several older ones have been reworked; these changes make the game very different as a new wonder is available that allows any change without unrest, but it isn’t available until the Industrial Age.

The last major addition is the corporation concept; these are not available until the Industrial era, and to found a corporation requires a great person. The type of great person determines the type of corporation, and each corporation has different benefits. For example, a Great Artist can found Civilized jewelers, which adds money and prestige to each city they are located in. Corporations spread by building executives and sending them to another city, where a branch is opened that consumes the executive. You also have to pay a slight fee for the opening, but the benefits last for the rest of the game. There are also subtle changes in the game. Workers and generic military units no longer use the same sprites, as an effort has been made to give them a unique look based on history, so a Native American swordsman looks like an Sioux warrior for example, and German knights look different from Asian ones. This is an excellent expansion for a top game. I didn’t even mention all the new modern military units such as missile cruisers, attack submarines, and mobile artillery - as well as the return of paratroops to this game system. This add-on is more than worth the money; if you like this game system, you must have this.

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