Mac|Life - December 2009

Beyond the Sword is the Costco of expansion packs: You’ll get more than you asked for, and for a really top-notch experience, you’ll have to suss out pockets of quality rather than stuffing yourself with sheer quantity. There’s a lot going on in this game—and there’s a lot to like.

This Civilization IV update twists the game’s global-dominance strategy with new nations, buildings, and other alterations. Changes to the franchise’s fundamental gameplay turn this iteration of Civilization into various new games, from space conquests to fantasy adventures.

Without a good index, the add-ons can feel overwhelming, but with persistence you’ll find new favorite ways to play.

Beyond the Sword’s basics are similar to Civilization IV’s, but some clever changes improve an already excellent game. As before, you use a turn-based strategy model to build up a society from meager beginnings. In the end, you can win by defeating others with a military, getting the most votes in a U.N. popularity contest, dominating the world economy, and more.

A single game, made up of tiny turns that last between seconds and minutes, can stretch to 10 or 15 hours. One of the new updates lets you begin in a later stage, moving past some of the dull opening turns. It can be a lot more fun to buy cities, units, and technologies from a fixed allotment, instead of earning your way up from the dawn of civilization.

Beyond the Sword adds additional victory conditions too, although most are moderate updates. For example, instead of just being the first to launch a spaceship to colonize a foreign planet, you now have to add enough engines to be the first ship to reach Alpha Centauri. The upshot is that a faster ship can win even if launched after an opponent’s.

Outside the standard games, a dozen new scenarios provide overwhelming variety. You can play in space with altered rules, swapping the global map for a star chart. Tactical combat scenarios add dozens of new units re-create historical situations (such as WWII) or take fighting into a sci-fi future.

The bottom line. Some of Beyond the Sword’s scenarios essentially add new graphics to the basic Civ IV rules. But others make drastic changes. You’ll flounder a little, digging through everything without a comprehensive guide, but you’ll find new favorites too.—Zack Stern

CIVILIZATION IV: BEYOND THE SWORD
Buying in BuLk

Boldly go beyond a typical Civ game in one of many completely converted modes.

A triumph of game design, Braid mixes 2D platforming gameplay, ingeniously crafted puzzles, time manipulation, and a melanch ly story open to multiple interpretations, beautifully packag d in stunning hand-painted artwork. It’s not an incredibly long game, it doesn’t have a multiplayer mode or online play, but what’s here is more than enough to suck you in, keep you engrossed, and make you really use your brain.

Designed by Jonathan Blow with artwork by David Hellman, Braid took Xbox Live by storm in 2008, winning numerous awards from gaming magazines. It was l ter ported to Windows, and Hothead Games brought it to the Mac. The puzzles and story are the same, and the Mac’s keyboard controls couldn’t be simpler: arrow keys to move, the space bar to jump, and the Shift key to rewind time.

That rewinding-time mechanism is the game’s foundation. Each world starts by introducing a time-manipulation ability that you use in the world’s levels to collect

located puzzle pieces. The puzzle pieces are hard to get to, and figuring out how to access them can keep you confused for hours. Luckily, you don’t have to restart a level if you die or just screw it up somehow—thanks to the time-manipulation tricks, just rewind to a point before disaster and try again. The soothing music and the sense of satisfaction you get when a particularly tricky problem finally presents its solution kept ur blood pressure low enough to keep playing—for the most part, anyway.

You can continue on to the next level without collecting every puzzle piece, and return later on to a level that’s got you stuck. But you do have to find all 60 puzzle pieces in Worlds 2 through 6 to unlock the final level, World 1. Why are they out of order? That has o do with the game’s enigmatic story line, which deals with love and loss, forgive ess and redemption, and possibly the creation of the atom bomb (seriously). We don’t want to give anything away—and the plot can be interpreted a few diff rent ways—but after you’ve finished the game, Google “Braid ending” to read some eyebrow-raising theories. It’s mature for its headiness, but not necessarily inappropriate for kids, who might skip the story entirely and just play the levels. We’d feel comfortable letting a 10-year-old play.

e bottom line. The gorgeous paintings, haunting music, unique story, and even humor (children of the ’80s will appreciate all the Super Mario Bros. references) make Braid more than just a video game. It’s a work of art.—Susie Ochs

Just because you’re progressing in the game doesn’t mean you’ll know what’s really going on.

BRAID
WeavinG tHe PeRfect GaMe

Aspyr

www.aspyr.com

Price: $34.99

Requirements: Mac OS 10. 4. 11 or later; 1.8GHz PowerPC G5 or Intel processor; ATI Radeon 9600, Nvidia GeForce FX 6600, or better graphics card; Civilization IV full game

Thoughtful updates refine Civilization’s core rules. Late game starts can remove the tedium of character development. Astonishing number of add-on modes for extra gameplay. ESRB rating: Everyone 10+.