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What CIV4 should have been from the start

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I do not believe there is much to say about this game as either you are a CIV player and you already have it or you never heard about CIV series and that means you are not into turn based strategy games. If you are among the last you really should see what the fuss is all about. The nasty thing is that this is an expansion and you must have CIV4 in order to play Beyond the Sword. Even though I am not fond of "expansions" I have to agree that it is a must have.

Umpteenth generation of a game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am not good with the computer world, but I have played "Civilization" since it first appeared. Each version is an improvement, but this is the best. I enjoy the new civilizations, e.g., Holy Romsn Empire, Holland, but I really like the new gossipy reports about what is going on with both my enemies and myself. It is lots of fun, even for a non-geek such as myself. I suspect computer literati would really find it difficult to leave the game and speend hours in the world they were creating.

Excellent Expansion to Civ IV

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you have Civ IV, you simply must get this massive expansion pack! For experienced Civvers this game adds a great deal of new content, in the form of mods and levels, quite a few and very ingenious. The game concepts have slightly changed as well, moving from a militaristic focus to focusing on more peaceful mods of victory, such as diplomacy and culture. One complaint that I do have is that it is now much harder to achieve a spaceship victory, as the requisite technologies are buried even further in the tech tree than before.

As an experienced Civver (played since Civ 3), I can definitely recommend this game, altho it is for the more serious strategy gamer. It's a game loaded with details and very complex, so don't expect to master this game quickly. That said, Sid Meier has put out another worthy entry in the Civ franchise, well worth your time, and your money.

LOVE Civ IV...HATE long, protracted battle

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

In terms of $$$ per hour of play, this has got to be the best deal in an expansion pack since Ultima VII!

Did you ever load up Civ IV, then cringe when you up against a violence-prone leader like Salidin or Boudica? Groan, not more fighting to get in the way of my culture-based Civilization!

"Beyond The Sword" can help make Civ IV fun again.

This expansion pack adds lots of new AI personalities (example: Pericles the Greek, Sitting Bull the Native American (about time, too) and William of Orange of the Netherlands. You also get the "Great General" great person from Warlords, and lots of layered ways to win the game.

"Diplomacy" can be a tricky way to win the game, but with BtS you can create Vassal states out of almost-vanquished opponents...leave a remnant of your enemy standing, and they become a puppet state that will vote your will.

"Space Race" is much, much more complex

"Corporations" are founded and spread in the same fashion as religions, if you don't care to form a Civilization based on Fundamentalist Taoism.

Lots, and LOTS of special buildings and units. And I didn't even bother with the scenarios (the "Holy Roman Empire" one is a fav of mine.)

Really fun, and strongly recommended!

If you have a Dell, beware of this expansion pack

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: July 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was a Civ IV fan through Warlords, but when I tried installing "Beyond the Sword" on my Dell Inspiron it wrecked the whole game. When I inserted the second installation disk, the computer locked up instead of finishing the installation. When I rebooted, I discovered that I couldn't remove the incomplete "Sword" expansion -- it didn't show up in the programs to uninstall -- and I couldn't reinstall it either (whenever I put the disk in it, it tries to start playing the game and then crashes). And now I can't play the earlier Civ games either because it just crashes. Since I've lost the original Civ IV installation disk, this means that I've spent $20 for the privilege of wrecking a game on my computer. If I could give it a minus star, I would.

Civ4-Beyond the Sword

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Great add-on to the classic Civ Series. A must for Civ Fans.
Only problem I had is game crashed due to memory problems with video settings on 'high' (1280 X 1024). Lowering it to 1280 X 960 and shutting off the 'movies' solved the problem.
Another 'just one more turn' type of game !

Best Expansion Ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: September 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've got to say that this one of the best expansions I've ever seen in a video game! It's certainly a great value. It is almost like playing an entirely new game. The additions of the new wonders and corporations truly make a difference in the game. You'll love it!

More of what was already a good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: November 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

BTS is a good addition to a already good game.More civilizations,more tech to follow by expanding the tech tree,more units and it

even has all the content from WarLords minus scenarios.All in all more reason to spend hours on the PC trying to conquer the world.

Don't waste your money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: August 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The company sent out faulty disks that don't load. I've tried three different cds and all of them were useless. I'm tired of exchanging bad disks for more bad disks, this game is going in the trash.

Some good, some bad

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: August 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Well they added Espionage and Coorperations, to wich seems to drive you away from the actual game itself at times, it is still fun and interesting, though some of it seems to be a little bit too much to grasp, being that the original game was so stream lined.

Mod's and sceanarios are hit and mis, The space mod is very detailed and feels and play's like and entirely different game, they probably coulda sold this as a stand alone game and it woulda done well.

Some of the new civilizations are pathetic, the Dutch come to mind... besides some involvement during piracy, there is realy not much to make them a worthy Civilization for a game. if you wanna include making windmill's.

Overall a great add-on to the original, though some elements take away from the original gameplay, this is probably the most ground breaking expansive part of the Civ series to date.

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