Age II: The Conquerors - The Mayans Showcase

By Elliott Chin, GameSpotPosted Jun 14, 2000 8:00 pm PT

Our ongoing Age II: Conquerors civilization showcase continues with our second installment, which looks at the new Mayan culture.

The Mayans Showcase

This week, we unveil the second new civilization in the Age II: The Conquerors expansion. Five new civilizations join the 13 from the original game, and each of these new civilizations has a plethora of new skills to compete with the old guard. Among the most intriguing of the new additions are the two Mesoamerican cultures. Today, we showcase one of them: the Mayans.

Mesoamerican cultures have been largely ignored in strategy games, but in Age II: The Conquerors, Ensemble Studios has gone all out to include two of them, even going so far as to create an entirely new set of graphics for the New World cultures. The decision is indeed a welcome one, but of the many ancient civilizations to include, why choose the Mayans? Greg Street, lead designer on the expansion pack, explains the company's decision:

"When we started work on the Age of Kings Expansion, we knew we wanted to add a new art set to complement the Western European, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern buildings in Age of Kings. We thought long and hard about Indians, but in the end decided that Central Americans had architecture that would look really cool in the game. That decision made, Aztecs were an obvious choice, but it seemed wasteful to do an entire set of buildings for one civilization. We thought the Incas were too different from the Aztecs, but the Mayans lived in virtually the same geographic location as the Aztecs and shared architectural styles. We figured we could also include Mayans in the Montezuma campaign to represent some of the lesser-known tribes."

Although not as famous as the Aztecs, the Mayans were every bit the world power that the more famous civilizations in the original game, such as the Saracens and Chinese, were. Street says, "There is this horrible misconception held by some people that the Mayans were a third-rate power...." Such is not the case, considering that the Mayans as a civilization numbered 14 million citizens, maintained a well-organized military, and boasted impressive technological achievements, including a more accurate calendar than the Europeans' contemporary Gregorian one. Although they did not have gunpowder, steel working, or wheeled vehicles, they didn't necessarily need such advancements, especially in the confines of the rain forests they called home. And though the Spaniards did conquer them, the Mayans succumbed not to superior weaponry, but to superstition and diseases brought by the European invaders.

There is much more to the ancient Mayan civilization than meets the eye. First, let's briefly explore their history and a legacy that lives on to today.

prev next

1 Comments

Refresh comments

jakeboudville
Posted Sep 8, 2006 3:59 am PT

kinda impressive
- agree 0
- disagree 0
- = 0
- Sign in to rate this comment

AOE 2: The Conquerors Quick Links

GameSpot Score8.5great
Critic Score8.935 reviews
User Score8.95,815 votes
Your Score N/A
hover & click to rate
- 1
- 1.5
- 2
- 2.5
- 3
- 3.5
- 4
- 4.5
- 5
- 5.5
- 6
- 6.5
- 7
- 7.5
- 8
- 8.5
- 9
- 9.5
- 10