Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Disastrous"

If I can say so myself, which I will, I am a hardcore Real Time Strategy fan. I played AOEII for about 9 years because you can keep coming back to it for more random fun!
That changed when I got Age of Empires III.. Sure, some of the graphics are better, ship battles look more realistic, but Microsoft honestly f*cked the gameplay up. Especially the campaign. Magic water? Secret society of fanatical warriors? Christ, this is worse than the Da Vinci Code!

Not to mention that reasource gathering is sucky, speech is redundant and annoying (how many times can they say condoment in a row?!?!) Also, the limited range of maps and units, and nations to play as is a major blow to the game..

In conclusion, Age of Empires III is a pretty bad game that will offer you about 20 hours of gameplay before you take the disk and throw it at your neighbor.

If you have money to buy a game with, check ebay or Amazon for a copy of Age Of Empires II. It's a classic, and worth far more than it costs nowadays (like $5)