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- Reviewed on: 07/25/2006
- Released on: 07/24/2006
- Originally published on GameSpot: Civilization IV: Warlords (PC) Review
If you own Civilization IV, then you've probably conquered the world a fair amount of times by now. (You've probably been crushed an equal number of times, as well.) If the usual conquer-the-world-style gameplay that takes you from the Stone Age to the Space Age is beginning to look a bit familiar, then you're in luck. Nearly nine months after Civ IV shipped, we have Civilization IV: Warlords, an expansion pack that adds a lot of excellent content to an already great game.
Warlords introduces new civilizations, new scenarios, and new units, such as, well, warlords in the form of great generals.
Civilization has a long history of expansions. The second and third games in the series each had two expansion packs released for them. Warlords continues the tradition by introducing both improvements and additions to the regular campaign game, as well as introducing a slew of new scenarios that offer a completely different style of play from the epic game. The expansion adds six new civilizations, and while they're introduced to flesh out the individual scenarios, they're all available in the regular campaign game, as well. You can now play as the Carthaginians, the Celts, the Koreans, the Ottomans, the Vikings, and the Zulus. Just like the civilizations in the core game, each of these civilizations has its own unique units, famous leaders from history, and snazzy musical theme.
Warlords takes its name from the new warlord unit in the game, which is sort of like the old great-general unit from previous Civ games. Indeed, in the regular campaign game, warlords appear as great generals, sort of like how the great artists, great engineers, and other great-people units would pop up from time to time in Civ IV. Armed with a variety of powers, great generals can lead your armies in war, and they can bestow experience points on regular units under their command. Or, great generals can speed up your military-unit production in a certain city or make it so that new units start out with extra experience.
While the additions to the core game are nice, they're not exactly ground breaking. The regular campaign feels pretty much the same as before, only there are new leaders and civs to contend with. There are also a number of new wonders of the world, but for the most part they blend into the existing wonder set pretty seamlessly, save for the Great Wall, which has the cool effect of erecting a huge wall around the borders of whichever civilization completes it first. Still, the real meat in this expansion is in the scenarios, which are basically brand-new games in many regards.
These new scenarios are engaging, though they do skew a bit toward ancient-world settings and conflicts. Still, the campaigns here are interesting, and each features a unique challenge. These scenarios are essentially modifications of the core game, and they feature rewritten tech trees and unique units that are appropriate for their settings. So instead of getting a full-fledged tech tree that covers everything from the wheel to fusion power, you might get a more focused tech tree that lets you create upgraded versions of existing units or that unlocks certain upgrades. Many feature a limited number of turns in which to accomplish your objective, something that might not sit well with conservative Civ players that like to sit back and build up their cities. Risk taking is rewarded instead, which will probably sit well with aggressive Civ players, and it may also teach conservative players how to become more opportunistic.
The new scenarios are challenging and can make you rethink how you play Civ. For instance, as the Mongols, your job is to destroy, not to build.
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