Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword [PC]

The seven new corporations in the game are Wonders that function in many ways like religions. They're founded by great people units and, for an often-hefty maintenance fee from each city where they have a "branch office," will kick back some great benefits to the civilization that controls them. Since corporations are dependent on resources, they'll often cause a lot of negotiation, horse-trading and diplomatic realignment (not to mention a few brush wars over particular resources). This adds a lot of spice to the end game.

The major problem with these corporations is that getting one is a bit of a crapshoot. Each requires a different type of Great Person and a different set of resources and since each provides a different benefit, that makes them really hard to plan for. If a player can found Civilized Jewelers (which provides a huge boost to culture), that's great, but it doesn't help much in the middle of a protracted modern-day war. Standard Ethanol can be a life-saver for players without oil, but otherwise is just a resource drain.

These three elements alone would be enough to justify the purchase price, but they're far from the only things on offer in Beyond the Sword. While the full laundry list of additions is too long to go into, all of them radically re-shape the game's strategic landscape, usually for the better. The AI seems to have been enhanced, meaning computer-controlled civilizations respond better to tactical situations even at lower difficulty levels. Multiplayer is as much fun as ever and the net code seem much stronger. I found it remarkably easy to get in and out of multiplayer games and the game seems to update much faster, which can cut down on the colossal amount of time larger multiplayer games require.

On the gameplay level, new abilities for forts now actually make these seldom-used elements a viable part of strategic operations. New random events and quests offer a fascinating (and occasionally frustrating) random element to the game that can turn things around on a dime. The game sports a bunch of new civilizations that fill in every combination of leadership characteristics. There are also new units like the anti-tank infantry that can finally blunt that flood of tanks that always seems to crop up the second anyone discovers Industrialism in a multiplayer game. The new Wonders are fun to use and slip so easily into the game it almost feels like they've been there the whole time. For example, I have no idea how I survived earlier games without the Statue of Zeus.