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Game will not install

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 26
Date: September 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I recently bought this game expansion, but because of an install error have not been able try it. I have been a fan of the Civilization series since version 1. Until now I've been a happy customer. However, after spending hours trying to get this expansion pak to work I'm frustrated with the current company that develops the game.

Here's a brief overview what I've tried. After a number of attempts to install the game and getting install errors I went to the Firaxis support site. I reported the error and ran the data collection tools suggested on the site and sent that information in as well. I got an automatic repsonse saying I should hear from them in 2 working days. A week later having not heard from them, I again sent a follow on message asking for help. Again they did not respond. Finally I tried a third time two weeks after my initial attempt. I never did hear anything from Firaxis. In short, they have NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

The disrespect and arrogance display by this company is astounding. If I treated customers like that in my business, I would be broke and on the street in a very short time.

I have since explored some of the Civ fan sites and noticed others have had similar problems and they too apparently don't get support from the company. Some of those who have been able to install update patches (to get BtS to install) then report that their base Civ games stops working correctly.

In close, buyer beware seems to be an appropriate warning if you are considering buying "Beyond The Sword."

Makes Civ 4 Purchase-able

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 13
Date: December 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I got Beyond the Sword and Warlords both for Christmas this year (2007). I would never have purchased either (I bought Civ 4 for myself last year and was totally unimpressed with it - I still think that Civ 3 Complete is much better overall). After playing Civ 4 with the new features of each expansion pack, I have some commentary that can help you in your decision to purchase these expansion packs.

Briefly, as aforementioned, Civ 4 by itself is generally worthless in my opinion if you own Civ 3 Complete. The latter is much more manageable and customizable. If you don't like spending $50 for video games, Civ 3 Complete is less than half of that and will rock your video game world - you don't really need much else if you are into strategy, turn-based video gaming.

That said, Warlords was a pretty lame expansion pack only because I think they should have included ALL of its features in the base game. Withholding the Warlord leader units, the Civ-specific buildings, and other civilizations and leaders was just shameless marketing, in my humble opinion. I also believe that the vassalage system was totally do-able for the base game, as well.

And this leads to my review of Beyond the Sword...

This expansion pack makes Civilization 4 worth buying. But check this out - they brought many of the features from Warlords such as the new civilizations, leaders, buildings, units, and even the Warlord unit! What the heck? This reminds me of the Civ 3: Play the World expansion pack - almost totally worthless; we should have just bought Conquests. (However, I still recommend Civ 3 Complete.)

Anyway, Beyond the Sword does add a lot of content to the base game which is appreciated. For example, there are random scripts that take place throughout your games now. There will be little things like "A flood wiped out one of your mines..." and then you are given three choices, such as (1) pay a lot of money to save the mine; (2) pay a little bit of money to lose the mine but keep everybody happy; or (3) pay no money and lose the mine AND people get unhappy. Little things like that really add flesh to the game, in my opinion, and it is a very nice touch.

Another example of a new feature in BTS - besides just more civilizations, units, and leaders - are the scenarios. Firaxis and its amateur community really put together some sweet scenarios for us to play. Each one tickles your imagination as to how you could modify the game and make your own scenario. Which leads to my final point on BTS...

I still recommend that you hold out for a while before buying the Civ 4 enterprise. Right now, it is just not fair for customers to pay about $100 for Civ 4 and its two expansion packs - the game just isn't good enough for that kind of expenditure. I would recommend holding out until the game is finished being expanded and the "complete" package costs about $50, give or take. In the meantime, I highly recommend playing Civ 3 Complete (about $20). Civ 3 is as addictive as Civ 4, and it is far easier to customize. Civ 4, on the other hand, has a great potential, but most of us will never fully understand the Python and XML programming languages. (Such knowledge is required if you want to change things like government types, civ names, units' attributes, etc.) And even though the scenarios provided in BTS kind of fill in this potential in many ways, the overall product that is Civ 4 is still undeserving of the money they want for it, in my opinion.

So if you get anything from my review here, it is that Civ 4 was properly expanded with Beyond the Sword and is worth having in your video game collection. However, the base game (by itself) and Warlords are cheapshots, and for that we should respect ourselves and not support Civ 4 until it becomes reasonable to do so. I recommend waiting for the "Civ 4 Complete" version or for Civ 5 to be less of a cheapshot. Either way, Civ 3 Complete is waiting for you, and it is a fantastic game that all of us would love and enjoy.

Recommended expenditures for the Civ 4 titles:

Base game: $15
Warlords: $10
Beyond the Sword: $25

Excellent Expansion for the Greatest Game Ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 17
Date: July 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this expansion a few days ago and Sid Meier knows how to design a game and keep it going for decades; hopefully the future as well. I would love to see Sid Meier and Will Wright (Sims Franchise, Simcity Franchise), team up and create a game that is like "wooow," I just can't imagine playing this and realize that I never wen't to sleep lol. Imagine a Simcity/Sims/Civilization type of game where you can be the ruler of your civilization, build your civilizations and its cities/states/provinces/capitals/capitals/towns/villages and you can become a sim or all of the sims and act as thow you control a city/state and so forth, create factories, be responsible for activating your countries defenses, or go on multiple media and calm your citizens and even frighten them into loving your rule. Have elections and if you loose you could loose to a pacifist who will lower your budget on defenses, armed forces, and/or raise taxes, and expand influence. Anyway Im getting ahead of myself....

Sid Meirer rarely makes a stinker of a game (one was Railroads). This exapnsion is top of the line out of the 2 created for Civilization 4. Sid Meier is a GOD! While he creates a expansion with the theme of warlords which deals with wars; Beyond the Sword, deals with stuff outside of wars. Spies are greatly exapnded and while its not perfect it's at least a start. To me it was totally useless and weak in Civ4 and Warlords. The introduction of Corporations is a great addition to continue where religion begins to tale off and become non-existent but it just seems weird in which religion never penalized you. When you have a corporation it can. It would be nice to see that as a corporation grows, it might have an influence on your government. Other additions include: more Wonders, expanded and improved traits of Civilization leaders, more units including Cruisers, tactical nukes, guided missles, attack subs, Privateer, and Ship of the line just to name a few. Naval supremacy takes on a new title in the game now. You also have the introduction of canals, river trade routes and creating a forest preserve.

Between the 2 expansions and the core game this makes Civilization 4 a must have for strategy, simulation, and empire building gamers. While the core of the game is untouched from Civilization 3 in which you guide a civilization from the stone age to the future, it is much more polished, less buggy (not that it was very buggy), and the added content blends in masterfully. This is a remarkable game that makes it even worse to say," Just one more turn!" Sid, dont stop now!!!!! Add more please! More realism, more content!

Anyone remember Sovereign which was being developed by Sony Online--take all the concepts in it and blend it into Civ4 and you got a game that you haven't seen since David Lightman got in trouble with NORAD and Mr. McKittrick (Wargames).

Please note that this game tries to utilize the techniques and rendering of todays video cards as well as great sounds and acoustic enviroments on sound cards. Dont give this game 2 stars because your P4 7 years ago with a onboard sound card doesnt let you enjoy this game.

Beyond belief

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: February 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I liken this strategy game as being similar to the way you used to play monopoly in the good old days with some friends/ family. And about half way through the game you discover that all the other playing are 'unofficially' ganging up to force you out. They give each other free passes, advantages, whilst you are constantly trying to fight for your life. With some nasty players whose seemingly only object in the game is as a "griefer". I.e. As long as you lose thats all their interested in. Now when you do win that kind of game its a real accomplishment, but most of the time you just get very frustrated because the same rules don't apply to all. At heart the problem isn't so much that you have to fight in exasperating conditions as you don't really get to play the heart of the game and it degenerates to a grudge match.

For example it's next to impossible on the normal/advanced level to win an early victory like an Alexander the great or a Julius Caesar might. Either the opponents you play just keeps on producing archer after archer (and other equally mono defensive units )or you go bankrupt even with a modest army/ empire trying to finish the last enemy city. Go beyond 4 cities and your penalized. Go beyond 5 units your screwed. Which means you are forced into long boring middle games, I liked the previous civ games concept in that you could occasionally go for broke and risk it all to gain an early victory.

The AI cheats as well, it knows which square will produce a given resource even before it appears. It will trade techs between itself very easily but wont trade/swap yours. If it does trade you are again penalized/ short changed . It loves to randomly attack, even if you don't provoke a war. Hence Tonight as I was playing ALL the five other civs attacked during the middle game, ( it was 2 at a time minimum throughout the beginning )The whole lot aggro'd at once at critical stages. Note I was broke with a small army and 6 cities, but the the other civs had no problem with 20+ towns and producing wave after wave of 10 stack units, every second turn !!

My main problem with the game is that it doesn't so much out think or
out strategize's you, it has a simple plan, but merely penalizes your units/cities so that it can win. Especially at the higher levels, the AI doesn't get smarter, as it just gives itself more and more huge breaks. Not exactly value for money, having one AI fit all.

Graphics are good and has some nice concepts, but no real depth in thinking for things like diplomacy, spying or trade.

I enjoyed the CIV 2 & 3 games , as you didn't have to necessarily manipulate the game parameters in order to win at the highest levels. But in this expansion set I don't see how to get pass the AI except by doing the same cheating tricks it plays on you

A nice update for Civ fans

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For those folks looking to update your Civ playing time - this new update really hits the mark. With new wonders, technologies, features and world leaders - they have given folks enough new content to freshen up the series. Some of the new features, such as the espionage and corporation elements, sort of seem more trouble than its worth, but for some of the more detailed-oriented players, they will enjoy factoring in those new game elements. Even the most casual player, however, will like some of the new wonders and units. For me, the gameplay seems to be big step up from the original Civ IV game - and that makes it a bit more enjoyable than before.

An awesome game to play! ...Except when it crashes

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For as long as I have been playing the Civilization series I have been thinking of how great the games are, and how much greater they could be if they added some things. This expansion pack has added many of the things that I've been dreaming of! Random events, new units, civilizations, leaders, and buildings, corporations, advanced espionage, and the scenarios all combine to make this the one of the greatest computer games I have ever played!
However, the game crashes often. By changing some of the graphic settings I've made it crash less, but it still does at times. Unless your computer has very good graphics, it's good to save often.
Other than that, the game is stupendous and it will be hard for Firaxis to come up with more to add. If you're a fan of Civilizaion games, this is for you!

Recommended

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This expansion pack definitely adds to the game. Note that you don't need to buy the Warlords expansion as this includes the stuff that was in Warlords, except for the scenarios.

If you enjoyed Civ4, you will enjoy it more with this expansion. It adds whole new strategies beyond what's in the plain vanilla Civ4.

There are some downsides. I feel this expansion was never really completed. It feels more like a beta than a final product. There are some play balance issues with spies, and with corporations, that were never addressed in the patches. Even the final released patch, 3.13 is full of bugs. After you install it, you need to visit a Civ4 forum site where some guy has posted a fix to the official patch. You need to download and install that unofficial patch to the patch otherwise the game is unplayably buggy. I think it's pretty pathetic that a fan had to fix the game instead of the actual programmers working for Firaxis.

But you still should buy it and enjoy it (after patching it as described above) despite the bad stuff. It's just a shame that it's merely a really good addition to Civ4 instead of what it might have been, the ultimate greatest strategy game ever.

Lots of New Details and Eye Candy. Little gain in playability. Still Good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

`Beyond the Sword' is the second upgrade to Firaxis' Games' title, `Sid Meier's Civilization IV', easily one of the top two or three most popular games, let alone strategy games, of all time on the PC. My impression is that the popular reaction to this upgrade is far more positive than to the first upgrade, named `Warriors'. And, it is quite true that this upgrade has much more to offer than `Warriors', but true to an upgrade rather than a `Civilization V', everything stays within the basic framework of the original game. But, Since `Civilization IV' was such a great advance over `Civilization III', this upgrade doesn't have to do a lot to sustain our interest. Should you have any doubts up to this point, I must assure you I am an avid `Civilization' fan, and it is virtually the only PC game I play, and I have been playing it since the release of `Civilization II'.
The first change one sees is in the graphics which make up the world, its buildings, and the actors in this world. The art in general and the color and animation in particular are all notably richer. For ancient units, the same unit from different civilizations will be dressed differently, and this is not limited to the civilization specific units. Egyptian workers have the typical ancient Egyptian headgear, apron, and bare chest, while the northern Europeans are appropriately bundled up for the cooler weather. The landscape art is also seems much richer, especially when you zoom in.
The biggest change to game play is the addition of corporations, which are developed and expanded with almost exactly the same mechanics as the game's religions. In fact, I'm sure they used the same code, but changed the names and the art. I have a sense that this addition, especially at lower difficulties, is not a great improvement. Creating a corporation requires the generation of an appropriate great person, and by the time you earn the Corporation advance, great people require so many points they are few and far between, not like the salad days of the ancient era. One `made up' objective I often try to accomplish is to found all the game's religions. And, with a little luck in finding an early settler in a village, this is quite doable at lower difficulties. On the other hand, I have yet to be able to create more than two out of the eight corporations. Another problem of their showing up late in the game is that they contribute only a small amount to money or culture toward winning objectives. I also miss the great graphics associated with building the world's religious centers. Why not add a feature to build corporate headquarters.
Another major change to game play is the enhanced espionage mechanics. Spies arrive much earlier and opportunities for using them are greater. And yet, I don't see them doing what I would have expected to be their greatest virtue, turning cities over to your civilization by revolt. This goes together with the fact that it is far harder to turn a city than it was in `Civ III'. There, one could conquer a good quarter to a third of an enemy's cities with culture alone, even before firing a shot. `Civ IV' may be more realistic, but not as much fun in this area.
The most welcome addition may be one of the least impressive. This is the addition of mobile artillery and blimps. One of the most dreadfully dull parts of combat between the catapult and aviation was the slow speed of siege weapons. Didn't the developers ever hear of the 19th century mobile artillery, dating back at least to Napoleon. The other side of the coin is the more realistic limitation on siege weapons. They can no longer capture cities or destroy units without assistance from infantry or cavalry.
On addition I find to be great fun are the incidents which pop up randomly now and then. They rarely add a lot to gameplay, but they certainly make the experience more enjoyable. This is a feature which could stand much enhancement to good effect.
My very favorite feature of this upgrade is the improved World Builder feature. On the one hand, this feature is literally an open opportunity to cheat until the cows come home. But, I am generally quite realistic in understanding that by custom terraforming the map and giving myself lots of free units in the beginning, I am simply not playing the game as Sid Meier intended. I am constructing my own starting and endpoints, and I simply do not always win according to my own conditions.
Most of the other additions are `more of the same'. More civilizations and more leaders in familiar civilizations, and yet, none of the new additions have made me give up my trusty Indians under Ghandi, with their souped up workers.
If you are any kind of fan of `Civilization XXX', get this upgrade and skip the `Warriors' upgrade. This has everything available in `Warriors'. If you are not a `Civilization' fan, this upgrade will not change your mind.

Adds a lot to the late game, but systemic weaknesses remain

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: November 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Even more than the last Mod, in Beyond the Sword seeks to create a sort of Civ IV.V. In several ways they succeed: the new espionage feature adds an interesting element to the game, which judiciously used can give a player a serious edge. Likewise, Corporations, though criticized by many, add a level of excitement to the late game, which often comes down to just a race, and can further individualize a players strategy. Wanting to win a cultural victory? The Jewelry Company is gives you a considerable boost in culture. Going for a conquest or space race win? The production boost from certain corporations can make all the difference.

Likewise, several of the new Civilizations and leaders added offer players interesting variety. The Holy Roman Empire and Ethiopia being particularly fun. Graphics have likewise been improved, particularly with regard to greater unit individualization for particular cultures (no more medieval looking Aztec knights!, though everything still looks the same in the 19th century and later part of the game).

That said, many of the games weaknesses remain unaddressed. Certain Civilizations still have considerable advantages while others remain near useless. Likewise, as has always been true in the Civ series, geography remains as destiny, meaning that perhaps the biggest determinant of whether or not you are going to win depends on where you begin relative to other "players" and the locations of key resources (iron, stone, marble). If anything can address this problem, the Civ developers have yet to find it.

On balance, those who enjoy Civ, especially those looking to squeeze a bit more fun out of the game will enjoy this module. One can only wonder what they will come up with for Civilization V.

Civ4 is my favorite game ever-and now its even better!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: August 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Warning: installing this game can be a nightmare! Make sure your current Civ4 install is up-to-date and fully patched-I had problems on Vista and my friend on XP.

This expansion rocks! It adds to the gameplay-new civ's, techs, and game play ideas.

Totally worth it-I'm addicted again.

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