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| Sid Meiers Civilization IV Beyond the Sword | 
 enlarge | From: 2K Games
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $17.07
You Save: $2.92 (15%)
New (13) Used (8) from $13.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  72 reviews
Sales Rank: 708
Platform: Windows Xp
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 710425311734
UPC: 710425311734
EAN: 0710425311734
ASIN: B000PCLBE2
Release Date: July 23, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: *NO CALIFORNIA SALES* Included 54 pages printed manual. Brand New Factory Sealed Retail DVD Box by Take 2(England). *FREE* UPGRADE TO EXPEDITED SHIPPING EXCEPT CALIFORNIA/APO address. Ship daily via USPS w/FREE delivery confirmation & shipment notification Platform: Win Vista, XP(Home or Prof., plus SP 1 or higher) Win2000 plus SP1 or higher. Minimum system req.: 1.2GHz Intel P4 or AMD Athlon Processor or equivalent, 512MB RAM,DVD-ROM Drive, 64MB Video Card w/hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better) DirectX7 compatible sound card, 1.8 GB of free hard drive space, DirectX9.0c (included). Expedited shipping is required for APO/California address.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Beyond belief February 11, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
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
 CivIV Byond the Sword - It rocks February 9, 2008
I thought this is a great addition to the original Civ IV. makes it even more challenging.
 It's only OK... January 14, 2008
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
Folks,
This game is simply blah. It is a boring, slow-moving game. BTS looks and plays about the same as Warlords, which played about the same as vanilla Civ4. Nothing earth-shattering here.
The game STILL goes out of sync when you play multiplayer. Get a life Sid. Fix the darn MP please. I mean, really, go play Company of Heroes, BF2, even old Risk II, or Monopoly online, and you will not go out of sync...EVER.
The Random Events feature are always (at least for our family) a BAD thing.
The Quests feature has never worked for any family member. It always says we fail a quest, even though we meet the requirements of the quest.
There are only three things which BTS is an improvement on:
1. Spy system is pretty cool, though most things are way too expensive for the spy to do, so you end up doing petty crap like steal the town's treasury, which is usually a pittance.
2. Random Personalities: You can mix and match a leader to the country of your choice.
3. Corporations have their own suite of options, like Civics.
All in all, a rather bland, boring game, no matter how many ways you play it.
Regards,
JohnYoga
Great add-on for Civ IV January 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This expansion pack is definitely a great option to spice up Civ IV. The updated options (added civs, warlords, random historical events) and improved graphics heighten the game-play experience. The scenarios are also very good - although the 3 or 4 Road-to-War scenarios are a little complicated, at least logistically.
 Frankly ... I expected More :( January 2, 2008
3 out of 52 found this review helpful
The game is great but i never try any civ game before so from what i heard about civ 4 i expected something better than command and conquer something more action not only order all of your unit to do something and then press the red turn button . It's like CHESS game with some addition .
The Idea of choosing a famous leader at the begining is great but they actually do nothing to the result of the game . They just ask for techonlogy , help and War .
The fames stopped working with me many times allthough my laptop is new and very good one .
you can start this game and finish it without killing any unit which is furstrating because there is 6 winning scenarios . One of them is Time winning (if you reach 2050 with the highest score you are winner).
When you attack a city with a large army only one unit can fight at a time . Imagine that i lose about 6 cavalries to one maceman ...
Near the end of the game you can creare air craft . Some of the are useless .
The bottom line : I don't recommend this game to any one who like action strategies game like command and conquer but if you have heart deases or health problem you can buy this game because you adrenaline will never rush :)
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