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The final Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword preview article by IGN's Steve Butts has been posted on the site. It profiles the non-historical scenarios found in the expansion. Excerpts from the two-page article follow.
On 'Afterworld':
On 'Broken Star':
On 'Final Frontier':
On 'Next War':
While included in this write-up as well, 'Fall from Heaven: Age of Heaven' was specifically profiled in an earlier IGN feature [see story] as were the historical BtS scenarios [see story].
On 'Afterworld':
Those looking for diplomacy, research, cities, or any of the other Civ-related concepts aren't going to find them here. Afterworld is a purely tactical game where the player leads a small squad of incredibly odd units known as Gravebringers against a whole planet of baddies. [..] Since you only have five units, you'll need to be very careful how you progress through the game. [..] [I]t looks like an interesting tactical experience and it really shows just how far from the basic Civ experience you can get just by using the editor.
In the year 2010 the Russian state shatters into eight playable factions and a vast number of rebel states. [..] Though you can win by killing all of your rivals or having the highest score when times runs out, there's another, much more interesting path to victory. [..] If you can take out the defenders you can gain control of [eight] unarmed nukes. Once you've held on to one for 25 turns, your scientists will be able to unlock the arming codes and activate the nuke. You're then free to use it to destroy (yes, destroy) any city on the map.
[S]eems like a very accessible mod for most Civ players. It makes use of most of the [basic] game's main concepts and once you get used to the new graphics and new names... then you should have little trouble getting oriented to this star-faring Civ experience. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be easy; [it] definitely has some unique challenges that will take even veteran Civ players by surprise.
By adding some compelling futuristic content to the final phases of the game... [this] is something fans have wanted to see for a long time. [..] [It] basically takes the abstract concept of "future tech" and breaks it down into specific technologies... While the content of this mod isn't as extensive as some of the others, having these options at the end of the tech tree definitely enlarges the basic Civ experience by keeping the technology rolling even after the game has passed beyond the present day.
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