Reviews for Sid Meier\'s Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

Strengths: -Loads of new content: New civilizations with new leaders, new buildings, technologies, and concepts -Accelerated starts -New units and combat -A lot of new scenarios, adding more re-playability

Weakness: -As with Civilization IV, a high-end computer is recommended as it can be graphically intense on the computer -No Leonard Nimoy narration for new technologies

Beyond the Sword is one of the best expansion packs for Civilization series fans, as it really adds to an already great Civilization IV. In my opinion, one of the best gameplay changes made was in the area of espionage. As a former Alpha Centauri player, I felt that both Civilization III and IV were lacking in the espionage/spy mechanic in comparison to Alpha Centauri (Probe Teams were the best!) Spies take way too long to research to and cost too much gold for their small effects. However, Beyond the Sword changes that with its new espionage system. Now spies can be created very early in the game and the system uses points rather than sheer amounts of gold. These changes makes spies an effective tool to sabotage and disrupt your rivals even early in the game. Also included are Great Spies, a new form of a Great person, which makes espionage even more effective and rewarding. In addition, the new civilizations and leaders add a lot of new flavors for people to try out. There are also a few new technologies to research and Great Wonders to build. The most significant is the Apostolic Palace which enables U.N.-like abilities and expands the Diplomatic path. Another addition is random events (such as floods, tsunamis, requests from groups, etc.), which can help or hurt any civilization. A few new options and improved AI in custom games really strengthens the experience. In addition, If you feel like starting a game, but don't want to go through all the eras from the start, Beyond the Sword adds an Advanced Start option, which gives you the ability to start in a later era and have the ability to use points to purchase units and other things to get you started. As for weaknesses, Beyond the Sword is like Civilization IV in that it requires a good computer and video card to run it smoothly and beautifully. The last bit is that Leonard Nimoy does not narrate the new quotations for the new technologies, making these quotations stand out too much and takes a bit away from the original Civilization IV feel (Sid Meier narrates these quotations). Overall, Beyond the Sword adds a lot of great new content and is definitely for those who want to add more flavor to their Civilization games. Until Civilization Revolution arrives in 2008, Sid Meier/Civ fans should definitely pick this game up and enjoy an excellent, well-developed, and loaded expansion pack.

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Civ 4: BtS (PC)

Strengths: lots of new content and scenarios

Weakness: None

I have been a Civilization fan since Civ 1... I love the series, so when Civ 4 came out, I bought it... When the first Civ 4 expansion pack (Warlords) came out, I bought it. When the second Civ 4 expansion pack came out (Beyond the Sword), I bought it too.

With Warlords, the expansion was mostly about the creative new scenarios... with Beyond the Sword, there is a nice balance between lots of new content and new scenarios.

They have added a very robust espionage system... you can direct a portion of your income to spying (espionage points). You can choose to direct your espionage against a single civilization or against multiple civilizations in differing weights. Then you can perform espionage missions against other civs... the cost being determined by your amount of points against that civ versus the amount they have directed against you.

The other major change is Corporations. This is said to be the late game equivalent of Religion. There are 7 Corporation that you can found and then spread. But where I found Religion necessary to make money, build multiple temples and convert opponent cities to my religion so I could keep an eye on them with very little down side, I find corporations to have a huge downside. I lose a ton of money when I spread corporations. I haven't gotten the knack of corporations yet... I'm pretty sure I'm just using them wrong, like the first time I played Civ 4 and ignored religion.

There are new units (the paratrooper is back!), new technologies, new buildings, new 10 Civilizations, new Civ leaders, new Civ leader traits and new wonders.

Back from the early version of CIV are random events... good or bad events can occur that can impact any civilization including your own.

I you own Civ 4, then you have to get Civ 4 Beyond the Sword!

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Makes a great title even better

Strengths: Adds a whole new dimension to the Civ world with espionage and corporations. Has some new technologies and scenarios that are quite interesting.

Weakness: Corporation implementation seems awkward and forced at times. And it doesnt make much sense in the context of the real world.

First of all, if youre reading this review, you are obviously interested in Civ 4. If you are, just stop reading this and buy the expansion pack. For less than $30, you get something that is more like an additional game than an expansion pack. It adds so much new content that you wonder how you even played the game without it before. Highly recommended.

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Great game

Strengths: graphics and storyline.

Weakness: None so far.

I am new to this paticular game, but have enjoyed other strategy games. I of course had to purchase the Civ IV Gold Edition to be able to play the expansion in the first place. I really enjoy the graphics and the in-depth storylines. I am satisfied with this game so far and reading other reviews of this expansion, everyone seems to agree. I would recommend this expansion pack to anyone who wants to play a great strategy game!

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If you have Civ 4, you need this.

Strengths: A near perfect expansion.

Weakness: Complicated

beyond the Sword is as near perfect an expansion can get. it's not just that it adds new units and civ's. It has fantastic new scenarios. New concepts to gameplay. It's abosultely fnatastic and adds soemthign on every level.

The one complaint I have is that now Civ is getting so complex it needs a better wy to explain and teach the systems than the civiopedia whatever the ingame hwlp is called. There's Not just basics like gold, research, culture, religion, etc. Now you have added espionage, corporations, and trade became more complex.... The complexity is good in that it adds to gameplay. It is just that now, with so much stuff, it'll take longer to learn the nuances of the game.

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Civilization 4 Beyond the Sword

Strengths: Easily the best Civ expansion ever made, packed to the gills with new content

Weakness: A few parts that clash with the vanilla Civ 4 content (Sid Meier voiceovers, poor unit art), some of the scenarios are clunkers

Civ 4 Beyond the Sword is a fantastic expansion to a fantastic game. Not only does it add all the epic game additions of the previous expansion Warlords (Great generals, unique buildings) it adds many more new things, such as improved espionage, corporations, and new units. On top of all that epic game goodness, it also shovels a bunch of new and interesting scenarios in to the mix, some better than others. For example, you can play a game of Civilization 4 entirely in space in the Final Frontier scenario, colonizing worlds and building up fleets. The Final Frontier scenario ends up being pretty interesting, and is a nice change of pace from the standard Civ 4. On the other end of the spectrum, the Afterworld scenario isn't particularly good. It's an attempt to make an X-Com-like turn based tactical strategy game using the Civ 4 engine, but ends up just being a bit dull. On top of that, some of the new epic game additions don't mesh perfectly. For instance, the new technologies you can research have their quotes voiced by the series creator Sid Meier, who unfortunately isn't nearly as good at it as Civ 4's Leonard Nimoy. Also, some of the icons for the new units are fairly obviously new additions as instead of being a drawn picture of the unit, it's just a screenshot. These don't hurt the gameplay at all, but they are a bit annoying.
If you have Civilization 4, this is an easy purchase. It adds so much to the standard game and gives you plenty of odd new scenarios to mess with that it's the best you could hope for from an expansion. Highly recommended.

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great game play

Strengths: dept of the story

Weakness: too much heavy on graphics

As I understood it, the "Beyond the Sword" in the title referred to making the game more interesting in the period after most of the world's territory has already been staked out and all religions founded;

Beyond that, the game runs a bit better than it did previously, and the addition of neat little cause-effect events add a lot more than you'd think.

Meanwhile - as is always the case with expansions like this, there's hardly any way to react to any of the new tangible content other than to be glad of the fact that it's there, though that's no reason for complaint. Beyond the Sword makes Civilization IV a better game.

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Sid Meiers Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword

Testseek.com has collected 18 expert reviews for Sid Meiers Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword and the average expert rating is 86 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS rating of 3.52 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #481 game of all time and #108 PC game of all time. The rating and ranking is based on an average of 24 critic scores, awards and other criteria. To see a breakdown of the game ranking, read individual critic reviews, or see how other games ranked, click on the link below.

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Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

As if I didn’t have enough to do this summer, Firaxis and 2K released Civilization IV Beyond the Sword a few weeks ago. I’m just thankful that my college classes don’t begin until next week. Yep, I had managed to put Civilization IV at the back of my mind and also at the back of the game shelf, but now the demon has been reawakened. Beyond the Sword is an expansion pack, but it has so much...

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