Metareview - Civilization IV: Warlords

Just in case Civilization IV hasn't consumed enough hours of your life, Sid Meier and his team at Firaxis are giving you one more reason to spend the rest of the summer indoors. Warlords is the first expansion pack to 2005's near-unanimous PC game of the year, and was built with the aggressive Civ gamer in mind. There are six new playable civilizations, including the Barbarians, and a new warlord unit to help pump up your military production. Get to war!

Yahoo! Games (90/100) likes the diverse settings: "There are scenarios for all tastes, from combat-oriented conquests like Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan, to diplomacy heavy episodes like Chinese Unification or The Rise of Rome. These scenarios provide new and distinctive experiences no matter how many times you've played Civilization IV."


GameSpot (86/100) notes the bias toward ancient warfare: "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. There are also a number of new wonders of the world."


GameSpy (70/100) questions the value of this expansion with so many free mods available: "The biggest problem with Warlords is simply one of value. For all the fun the scenarios, new units, and new civilizations add to the game, they simply don't push the game far enough. The only really new gameplay element added in Warlords is the vassal state. This is a gameplay dynamic that allows a player to offer political subservience to another empire."