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> Results: Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
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The ESRB Says
Violence: GamerDad watched bloodless battles between different units occur. Imagine an expansion pack that is so large that you can pick and choose based on what you like best and just leave some portions untouched and feel like you *still* got a bargain! Let's run through the 'laundry list' of new stuff - 11 new scenarios, 10 new civilizations, 16 new leaders, 5 new wonders, and a whole bunch of new elements added to the core game. These elements include the additions of espionage and corporations as significant parts of the game as well as a greater role for diplomacy through the early church in the 'Apostolic Palace' and random events that can wreak havoc within your civilization. But it all boils down to one thing - this expansion makes a game that was already a 'must have' even *more* of a 'must have'. You will start a new standard campaign and it will feel entirely different because the challenge is tougher due to the improved AI, then you will find that enemy spies have sabotaged progress on a major construction project in one of your cities. Your decisions around how to structure your civilization have become increasingly complex and more intertwined with everything else going in the world. Some quick thoughts on a couple of the added scenarios - Afterworld and Final Frontier are perhaps the most radical departures from the original game. Afterworld is much like a small X-COM inspired game that is fun as a different take on the much-copied genre but definitely not the best part of the set. It is worth firing up to see if it scratches that particular itch for you, though. Final Frontier doesn't even look like Civ IV anymore - it takes place in space far into the future. Yet it still maintains the absolutely gorgeous and elegant interface, and is amazing in its scope and depth. It is far more than just a scenario, it feels like an entirely new game to explore and map out and love and replay. There are many others that are worth trying - some I liked and others didn't capture my imagination and still others felt like rehashes form the original game or first expansion, but I was completely amazed at just how much content was packed into this. I reiterate that this is amazingly beyond what you would expect in a simple expansion - we have become used to getting three maps and a new shotgun, and here we get dozens of hours of new material as well as dozens of changes that completely refresh the gameplay of the core product. And while not every new detail is perfect, the combined impact is overwhelmingly positive as well as just plain overwhelming. If you liked Civilization IV, you will like it much more with this expansion.  
In the reviews of the original Civilization IV and the expansion Civ IV: Warlords, the game is described as being nearly educational. This was true with the original, more so with the expansion - and the latest expansion adds more depth to the overall experience. Everything in the game is based on actual historical items or events as before, but the greater role of corporations and religions and the addition of new historically focused scenarios and mods just adds more reasons why this game is great for kids old enough to grasp the concepts all the way through adults as an exercise in the joy of thinking. I remember working with my brother on a Napoleon game when he was in high school and I was in junior high - this was the late 70's and we were writing our own rules and making our own pieces ... if that were now we would have built the game as a mod in Civ IV while battling each other in all sorts of other scenarios. Sort of like the developers did with the fan-made Rhye's and Fall of Civilization that brings history to life more realistically and accurately than ever.
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