New Civ Expansion Marches on Stores

The latest installment in Sid Meier's world-dominating Civilization series now has a new expansion pack, the largest in the long-running series' history.

With Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, power-hungry egomaniacs will get 11 new scenarios, created by developer Firaxis Games and by members of the game's fan community. All the new content is focused on the in-game period after the development of gunpowder. The pack also includes ten new civilizations, 16 new leaders, five new wonders, and a variety of new units.

The game expansion is now in stores. Key features include:

&bull Expanded Epic Game: a massive increase in new units, buildings, and technologies to the epic game with additional focus on the late-game time periods.

&bull New Game Scenarios: Eleven new scenarios, many containing themes never before included in the Civilization series

&bull New Civilizations: The expansion pack includes ten new civilizations, such as Portugal, Babylon and Netherlands and their associated unique units and buildings.

&bull More Civilization Leaders: Sixteen new leaders including leaders for the ten new civilizations, as well as additional leaders for existing civilizations. Abraham Lincoln, Boudica, Hammurabi and Sitting Bull are included.

&bull Corporations: A new gameplay feature allows players to create corporations and spread them throughout the world. Each corporation provides benefits in exchange for certain resources.

&bull Espionage: Now available much earlier in the game, this expanded feature offers players many new ways to spy on opponents, stir citizen unrest and defend their government's secrets.

&bull Events: New random events such as natural disasters, pleas for help, or demands from their citizens will challenge players to overcome obstacles in order for their civilizations to prosper.

&bull New Wonders: Five new wonders including the Statue of Zeus, Cristo Redentor, Shwedagon Paya, the Mausoleum of Maussollos, and the Moai Statues.

&bull Expanded Space Victory: Winning the race to Alpha Centauri will now require more strategic planning and tactical decision making.

&bull Apostolic Palace: An ancient version of The United Nations, the Apostolic Palace will become available earlier in the game, providing a way for players to win a diplomatic victory more quickly. New resolutions will also be added which will expand the available diplomatic options.

&bull Advanced Starts: Will enable players to "buy" components of a custom-tailored empire and begin play in the later part of the game, allowing them to experience many of the new features of the expansion pack in a shorter amount of time.

&bull Enhanced AI: AI enhancements make it tougher to beat the game on the higher difficulty levels. The ways in which the AI will attempt to achieve victory have also been expanded. ''

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