Civ 4: Beyond the sword (anyone playing this?)

[lugaru]

I'll be doing an official review for my website latter on but for now let's call this first impressions or notes or something.

Honestly right out of the box I was very impressed, since I was playing as india and my units seemed to reflect that. This is pretty huge and Im suprised that the previews never really talked about the inclusion of ethnic versions of various units. While it's merely cosmetic you wouldent believe how far it goes to make you feel like your playing as the country you have selected. Particularly cool are the new mesoamerican units such as the swordsmen and spearmen.

As far as new civilizations go Im very fond of their choices except for "the native americans". Historically they have gotten plenty shafted and lumping all the tribes of north america (a huge space of land) seems like a major disservice, especially since they where never unified. Portugese and Summerians are cool so far and seing Abe Lincoln back in the game rocks.

The new buildings and units improve the late game a little bit by giving you more options and better balancing the progress of your armies. The new espionage system rocks and Im very fond of the new wonders. Im cutting this short because a mini van just wrecked into a street light in front of my apartment and I need to go check it out.

[AfghanAnt]

I'm not but I am dealing with a lot of the gamers on a daily basis.

[Mr. Hamrick]

i have to wait till the game ports to the Mac which I hope will be around Thanksgiving or Christmas

[psychopanda]

I'm waiting on it. Civ always sucks a huge amount of time away from me. :P

I've heard this expansion is really cool though, from two of my friends.