Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Revolutionary"

Gameplay- 10
You could tell that the creators put a lot of effort into this game just by playing it. Starting from a few villagers and a scout, with just one starting building (a town center), the game was still meant for building a huge empire, recruiting a massive army, and conquering the opponent. There is no one way to win. There are lots of hotkeys for organization (The group number action is my favorite, it is very useful), and you can queue farms so you could receive a steady supply of food without bothering to replant when you are busy with something else. There are four simple resources, all of them essential to the growth of the nation. You could also garrison soldiers inside castles to keep them safe, especially archers since they make the castle shoot more arrows. There are lots of cool technologies, including the ones which upgrade your units into a more advanced one (Man-at-arms to Longswordsman), the technology that upgrades your unique unit to Elite status, and Spies (see your opponents line of sight.) The real-world maps are also very interesting, since, as it says in the name, you could play in a real place in the middle-age world. Speaking about realism, there are plenty of historical campaigns to take up your time. Instead of conquering your enemy on each one, you have different objectives which are fun to complete. Age of Empires will immerse you into what the world was back then in war.

Graphics- 8
The graphics are 2d, but they are almost as enjoyable as 3d games. Castles and wonders tower over everything, all the buildings are rich in detail, each unit looks different, and arrows actually fly in an arc. However, the animations are too short, making the battles a bit tedious. The cavalry run at the enemy, and immediately stop to slash a sword over and over again. It is the same with infantry.

Sound- 8
There are several tracks of music to listen to as you play, and the clashing of swords and whistling of arrows are quite realistic, but the sound is not as enjoyable as the game. Once you start a big battle, all the sword clashing and arrow shooting sounds could make you want to press the mute button.

Value- 10
This game will give you a challenge, because there are 18 civilizations in all, and it will take a long time if you want to master them all. Each civilization is unique, so there is lots of variety. Each civilization has special bonuses, one or two unique units, one unique technology, and some can research technologies that another can’t (The Britons cannot research Bombard Tower while the Turks can). Every random map game is customizable, and every random map is different, so you could play in an infinite amount of situations. In addition, there are 8 campaigns in total, each one about the history of a civilization (one is a tutorial campaign), and a number of “Battles of the Conquerors”, smaller scenarios in history. If you are creative, you might want to make scenarios, maps that players can use. Online play is also available, so if your friends own it you could play together.

Tilt- 9
I have a lot of fun playing this game. The tutorial (from the demo) was very useful, and helped me start playing. You could get addicted to this game for a long time, since the campaigns are extensive and challenging and each random map is different. However, one problem is that the AI is mediocre. They are very predictable. Even worse, they barely know how to build transport ships, giving you an absolute advantage in sea maps with them. In conclusion, even along with the less-than perfect sound and graphics, you can enjoy this game immensely.