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Game Information
- Platform: Windows XP
- PEGI Rating:
Suitable for 12 years and over. Not for sale to persons under age 12. By placing an order for this product, you declare that you are 12 years of age or over. - Media: Video Game
- Item Quantity: 1
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Civilization has been the PC’s premier turn-based strategy series now for over a decade, offering you near infinite freedom to create and nurture your own society and conquer the world through either military might or cultural influence. For many though it’s always been overly tempting to rely on warfare not words, so this expansion pack has been created specifically to encourage more peaceful means of domination. It also focuses on expanding the options for playing the game in the time period after the invention of gunpowder. This means it is now possible to achieve a diplomatic victory much earlier in the game, while at the same time making space victories more difficult because of the more complex requirements.
In keeping with the modern theme the concept of global corporations is also introduced into the gameplay, which works similarly to Civilization IV’s use of religion, except this time your people spreads economic benefits in exchange for specific resources. Other tweaks include expanded espionage options to stir up an enemy’s population, and SimCity style random disasters. That’s all on top of the expected addition of new civilisations (ten new ones, from the Dutch and Portuguese to the Babylonians and Mayans), six new leaders (including Abraham Lincoln, Boudica and Charles de Gaulle) and eleven new historical scenarios. In this sense the expansion has the best of both worlds, with all the expected new content and gameplay options but also a fundamental change to the way you play, and win, the game. Harrison Dent
Manufacturer's Description
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is the second expansion pack for the definitive strategy title Civilization IV - the 2005 PC Game of the Year and world-wide hit. Focusing on the late-game time periods after the invention of gunpowder, the expansion will deliver more epic game and scenario content than any Civ expansion pack in the history of the series. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword will contain 12 amazingly unique and challenging scenarios created by the development team at Firaxis, as well as some esteemed members of the Civ Community. In addition, ten new civilizations, sixteen new leaders, five new wonders, a variety of new units and several new gameplay innovations will offer players even more strategic options for expanding their civilisation's power as they strive for world domination.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is an excellent expansion pack, bringing many new and updated features to an already great game. It includes 10 new civilizations (Dutch, Portuguese, Holy Roman Empire, Byzantines, Khmer, Sumerians, Ethiopians, Native Americans, Mayas and Babylonians), and several new leaders for existing civilizations. Furthermore, there are many new buildings, wonders, scenarios and technologies.
There are several new features, including corporations, random events, an improved espionage system and advanced starts, as well as innumerable updates and improvements to existing features and the game interface.
Espionage is now an important part of gameplay, and spies are available from near the start of the game. Espionage points are accumulated against rival civilizations, and spies can perform missions when present in enemy cities and tiles, at the cost of a certain amount of espionage points. City improvements can be built to improve your civilization's espionage output, and the new Great Person - the Great Spy - can accumulate a vast amount of points against a rival immediately.
Random events are a great addition to the game, adding variety and more decision-making to games. Each game usually includes a couple of quests, which involve the production of a certain amount of units/buildings to gain a reward for your empire.
Forts have now been revamped. They allow city defence promotions to be used when units are defending them, they can house aircraft and can be used to form canals. Air units now can gain promotions to improve their interception or evasion ability and more. Siege weapons now have a limit to the damage they can cause when attacking a unit, which generally increases as siege weapons become more advanced.... Read more ›
There are several new features, including corporations, random events, an improved espionage system and advanced starts, as well as innumerable updates and improvements to existing features and the game interface.
Espionage is now an important part of gameplay, and spies are available from near the start of the game. Espionage points are accumulated against rival civilizations, and spies can perform missions when present in enemy cities and tiles, at the cost of a certain amount of espionage points. City improvements can be built to improve your civilization's espionage output, and the new Great Person - the Great Spy - can accumulate a vast amount of points against a rival immediately.
Random events are a great addition to the game, adding variety and more decision-making to games. Each game usually includes a couple of quests, which involve the production of a certain amount of units/buildings to gain a reward for your empire.
Forts have now been revamped. They allow city defence promotions to be used when units are defending them, they can house aircraft and can be used to form canals. Air units now can gain promotions to improve their interception or evasion ability and more. Siege weapons now have a limit to the damage they can cause when attacking a unit, which generally increases as siege weapons become more advanced.... Read more ›
75 of 80 people found the following review helpful
By R. R. Turner
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Right, so you are looking at this and wondering if this is for you - that's why you are reading customer reviews right? OK, so I'll try to explain the changes made first so that you can get a handle on if this IS for you. Firstly, certain game models have been changed: You can spin off colonies, which will be a new civ vassalized to your own. Seige weapons and air units (and interception) operate differently, with a more realistic/complex approach. Espionage is available with Writing (far earlier) and no longer costs cash but instead uses Espionage points which are generated by certain building, events, a Great Spy, and/or as part of fiscal planning as it's own slider like research or culture. There are corporations which can provide benefits (depending on which corporation) and can generate cash. There are random events both positive and negative, both minor and major. Of course there are new units, buildings, civilizations and techs as well. And then there are the scenarios, which are varied and some so different from the base game as to be almost unrecognizable. So, do expanded game mechanics, new units and civs and a variety of scenarios draw you? Then this is for you. If it's just the scenarios, some of them are available online for absolutely free as they are the best of fan creations to begin with. I for one greatly enjoy the changed mechanics and the new random events and quests.
For those not in the know (say you are buying this as a gift) it does require the base Civilization IV game but not the later Warlords expansion.
Note: there is a patch available, just go to advance options and tell it to check for an update while connected to the internet.
For those not in the know (say you are buying this as a gift) it does require the base Civilization IV game but not the later Warlords expansion.
Note: there is a patch available, just go to advance options and tell it to check for an update while connected to the internet.
35 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Civilization add-on packs have for the most part, always been good. Beyond the Sword is by far the best yet. It provides some excellent scenarios, and makes some fundamental changes to the to the main game as well.
I am usually not a great fan of scenarios, and as such don't play them that much. There are however, 11 new scenarios included with BTS, and some are fantastic. They include fictional scenarios, as well as historical ones. I play mostly the latter, and have spent many hours on the WW2 scenario.
It's the main game though, that I really feel has been improved though. As well as 'cosmetic' changes such as new units and new buildings, some fundamental game mechanics have been altered. These introduction of espionage from nearly the beginning of the game. This can actually be invested in in the same way as research and culture, and the counter sits beneath the two. Another example of this is the space-race victory. The game has gone back to its roots with this- like civ 1, you can pick and choose how to build your ship. If your beaten in launching your ship, you have the option of making yours faster and you may still have a chance.
On top of this, there are other smaller changes which none-the-less add to the game. One example is random events (like earthquakes, plane crashes, weddings between civilization), which can have either a negative or positive effect on things.
If you have Civ4, Beyond the Sword is an absolute must-have expansion.
I am usually not a great fan of scenarios, and as such don't play them that much. There are however, 11 new scenarios included with BTS, and some are fantastic. They include fictional scenarios, as well as historical ones. I play mostly the latter, and have spent many hours on the WW2 scenario.
It's the main game though, that I really feel has been improved though. As well as 'cosmetic' changes such as new units and new buildings, some fundamental game mechanics have been altered. These introduction of espionage from nearly the beginning of the game. This can actually be invested in in the same way as research and culture, and the counter sits beneath the two. Another example of this is the space-race victory. The game has gone back to its roots with this- like civ 1, you can pick and choose how to build your ship. If your beaten in launching your ship, you have the option of making yours faster and you may still have a chance.
On top of this, there are other smaller changes which none-the-less add to the game. One example is random events (like earthquakes, plane crashes, weddings between civilization), which can have either a negative or positive effect on things.
If you have Civ4, Beyond the Sword is an absolute must-have expansion.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By C. Fletcher
Fun:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I bought Civ IV: Beyond the Sword thinking it would be one of the best expansion packs ever. Unfortunately it does fall short of those expectations, but not because of the new features and mod content. Instead, this expansion is let down by, firstly, a number of bugs and glitches - and secondly, because the core game seems to have been tampered with unnecessarily.
The game seems much, much harder even on the easier settings. My first game finished with me unable to do much more than wipe out my one rival on the same small continent - and it seemed to take forever just to capture the nearest city. In my second game I kept the same difficulty (I think it was the 2nd or 3rd down in the list) and set about trying properly now that I had understood the new additions. I started off well with about 6 cities established as quickly as possible and everything was going ok. Then my nearest rival swept over my land and took 3 of my cities in about 5 turns. My fight back went on for absolutely ages, with about 100 turns spent just building a massive force to capture one city. In the end my entire force was wiped out by constant waves and I only managed to re-capture 2 cities (one of these was lost again almost immediately). Then the Russians declared war on me despite being a friendly nation and me buttering them up to help fight the Zulus...for no reason at all! All in all it seems that Civ IV has turned into one of those games where you just keep churning out attacking units constantly, which is a shame because I wanted to see the new improved space ship victory, but I couldn't spend much time building anything other than military units just to hold off the enemy waves.... Read more ›
The game seems much, much harder even on the easier settings. My first game finished with me unable to do much more than wipe out my one rival on the same small continent - and it seemed to take forever just to capture the nearest city. In my second game I kept the same difficulty (I think it was the 2nd or 3rd down in the list) and set about trying properly now that I had understood the new additions. I started off well with about 6 cities established as quickly as possible and everything was going ok. Then my nearest rival swept over my land and took 3 of my cities in about 5 turns. My fight back went on for absolutely ages, with about 100 turns spent just building a massive force to capture one city. In the end my entire force was wiped out by constant waves and I only managed to re-capture 2 cities (one of these was lost again almost immediately). Then the Russians declared war on me despite being a friendly nation and me buttering them up to help fight the Zulus...for no reason at all! All in all it seems that Civ IV has turned into one of those games where you just keep churning out attacking units constantly, which is a shame because I wanted to see the new improved space ship victory, but I couldn't spend much time building anything other than military units just to hold off the enemy waves.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic strategy game without DRM insfestation
Long friend of the CIV series this was the last one I ever bought, and I am still playing.
----- NO DRM INSFESTATION - MEANS I CAN STILL PLAY THE GAME SINCE 2009... Read more
----- NO DRM INSFESTATION - MEANS I CAN STILL PLAY THE GAME SINCE 2009... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Buy original
3.0 out of 5 stars
OK
Bought this as I needed it as a base for an add on. Civilisation IV is a great game and this add-on is OK but does not add that much. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Ian Roberts
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
Awesome expansion pack to an awesome game. Much better than Civ 5. Some compatibility issues with Windows 7, but these can be resolved without too much sweat.
Published 20 months ago by GS1
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent form of an excellent game
A great game, and BtS is easily my favourite format of the Civ franchise. It's like, a more in-depth version of vanilla Civ IV.
Published 21 months ago by K. Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Civ IV = Epic Game!
What an Epic Game!
Lots of civilizations and thousands of combinations for success.
Civ IV encourages other strategies than war, as in Civ5. Read more
Lots of civilizations and thousands of combinations for success.
Civ IV encourages other strategies than war, as in Civ5. Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2010 by M. Nattestad
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent version, highly addictive!
Phenomenal version of the Civilization game. I can't seem to stop playing! Highly customisable, it's easy to play games without certain features - you can turn on/off vassal states... Read more
Published on 17 Oct 2009 by Mike Somekh
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
The game is a truly awesome expansion pack, with lots of new features, characters and scenarios. If you own Civ IV then this is a must have.
Published on 13 Sep 2009 by John Smith BSc Drinking MSc Alcohol phD Brewery
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Fun and a Stiff Challenge
This expansion pack adds to the already brilliant Civ 4, the most addictive game ever. They seem to have fine tuned aspect of the game to make it more like real life especially... Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2008 by Ewan Gibson
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some Features are great but now the game is too hard :(
I have played every single Civ game and have found that i can only play them at warlord difficulty (maybe noble if im up for it). Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2007 by Patrick King
3.0 out of 5 stars
Predictable
when i installed this game i was expecting in the later eras of the game units such as the ones you see in empire earth etc ie futuristic ones, but it seems to be much more of the... Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2007 by Jack Moore
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