Baragin bin material... where it belongs.
Fast-forward 2 years to 2004... almost 2005, PTW is found on the cheap just about everywhere. For $5, no matter how bad it is, this expansion pack is worth it.
Graphics: 6/10
PTW doesn't win any awards in the graphical department. The graphics are virtually unchanged from the earlier incarnations of Civ 3. Other than a few new units and the new faces and expressions of the world leaders the graphics are the same clean and "cartoony" graphics that appeared in Civ 3, too bad that we didn't even get an option for higher resolutions. But, fair is fair, the developers did add some new animations to cannons and artillery along with a few new tilesets.
Sound: 6/10
Just like the graphics, the sound in PTW is identical to the sound in Civ 3... that's really too bad because in 6 months of development they could’ve pulled the plug on the horrible looping drum solo in the earlier eras of the game. That drum solo is pure evil. It oscillates between 2 musical notes, high and low, and it makes baby Jesus weep in terror. Please make sure we don't see that in Civ 4!
Gameplay: 6/10
No one will confuse PTW with Civ 4. The gameplay in the first Civ 3 expansion pack is virtually identical to the gameplay in Civ 3, which is not too good.
For those of you who haven't played Civ 3, here's a quick over view of what you get. Civ 3 is a game where you lead one of 16 nations to gold, glory and fame through all ages of human development. Starting from the early ages of stone and clubmen (and horrible drum solos) you keep evolving, building settlements, researching technology conquering enemies and building friendships until you complete one of the many victory conditions given.
Along the way you have access to different governments, all with their special bonuses, be they better, harder workers or more free units, wonders of the world which are incredible buildings that affect the whole course of the game... mostly for the player who builds them, and generally you get a good feel of how it must be like to rule empires.
That's the short version of a much longer story (read my Civ 3 review if you want the full scoop). PTW adds nearly nothing to that.
PTW adds just 2 units to the international killing pool: a medieval infantry, which is basically a "filler" in-between swordsmen and whatever replaced them, and guerrilla warriors. Guerrilla warriors are totally useless and utterly pathetic to look at. They fire one shot and the fight with their BAYONET... against tanks. Medieval Infantry is a much better addition. They really help speed up medieval warfare which was a CHORE in Civ 3 since you had no artillery, no high-attack units, and you had to defeat cities with populations way above 6 nearly 80% of the time.
Along with the new units also come a bunch of new civilizations, with their own civ-specific unit. It might just be me, but whoever programmed these civs didn't give a rat’s ass about them. Out of the total of 8 civilizations, 3 have mounted units that are just a basic variation of the knight, with the A/D/M values switched around, 2 have units that are totally useless, and, if you REALLY stretch it, the other 3 might have something that keeps your interest. These are really bad civilizations and seem to just be afterthoughts of the developers after they gave up on the multiplayer.
PTW also brings a few new buildings to Civ 3 (City Defense, is the most useful and probably the best addition of the expansion pack) and a new wonder, the Internet. You're also granted the ability to now build outposts, airfields and other such useless junk on the game map.
Really, most of the improvements that Civ: PTW brings are for hardcore civers. Better unit stacking, auto bombard, outposts, radar towers, upgraded swordsmen, etc. These are all features that nearly 80% of the people who play Civ 3 will not “sense” while playing.
The interface too receives a slight update with more automatization (yeah, that’s not a word). Now you can have workers build a road from one place to another with the click of a button and you can automate forest, jungle, or swamp "cutting".
Along with the new additions you also get some maps to play them on. Now, you can play one of a few scenarios which the developers downloaded of fan sites, put on a disk, and shipped them to you for more than you should pay… but at least its convenient to have World Map, Europe, and other fan made maps available in 2 or 3 dimensions right after you install the game.
Finally, there are a few new game modes, but they're really useless. Elimination is made for Gamespy multiplayer ONLY since one lost city = one kill (or death, depending on which side of the lost city you are). Regicide is the same basic thing, except now it's a king instead of a city. They also added an "Accelerated Production" option, which reduces game time considerably but is thought by many to be "unbalanced". It's by far the most fun addition to the game through this expansion pack.
Multiplayer: 6/10
Now, a few years after the atrocious launch, PTW is actually playable online... but the real fun is to be had with hotseat. It's the only way to play this kind of huge game that requires hours upon hours of thinking and management. This kind of game will never succeed online no matter how quick they try to make it.
But, assuming you’re masochistic like that, you can play this using Gamespy and for a game this complex, there are quite a few people playing. You can usually find about 50-60 people playing this online. Usually a nice bunch but they pretty much make mince meat out of any and all n00bs who dare wonder in their realm.
Overall: 6/10
Really, you can find this expansion pack for $5 at most stores that have a "Closeout Software" section. For that kind of price, it's worth your time. Anything more however, is not.