After almost six years since the last chapter in the series, Microsoft and Ensemble will revisit their blockbuster real-time strategy franchise, Age of Empires, later this year. Needless to say, a lot has changed since Age of Empires II, not just in terms of technology, but also in gameplay. There are no doubts that Age of Empires III looks fantastic, thanks to its new, cutting-edge graphics engine, but the big question is: Has the gameplay evolved as well? Thankfully, we've gotten our hands on a preview of the game, and we've been testing it out to see how Age of Empires III is shaping up. What we can report thus far is that Age of Empires III blends the familiar gameplay that the franchise is known for with a ton of new and interesting concepts that ratchet up the strategy to whole new levels.

It's the colonial age in Age of Empires III, so go forth and conquer.

As you probably already know, Age of Empires III shifts the series' focus to the colonial era, when European powers carved out their stakes in the New World. As such, you can play as the Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Prussians, Russians, and even the Ottomans, in the race to conquer the Americas by establishing colonies, monopolizing trade, and crushing the opposition by warfare. (Native American tribes, such as the Cherokee and the Aztecs, can be enlisted as allies during a game, and you can raise Native American armies, but they aren't really a playable faction like the European ones.) The game features five "ages" of history, and they are, in order: discovery, colonial, fortress, industrial, and imperial. This covers a good 200-300 years of world history, and at the beginning of the discovery age, you'll still see remnants of the medieval ages that have yet to die, such as crossbows and pikemen. On the other end of the spectrum, "iron horses" (trains) begin to make their appearance by the imperial age.

We've been playing through the skirmish mode quite a bit, mainly due to the fact that the other modes aren't fully included in the version we played with. Like the first two games in the series, Age of Empires III will also feature a single-player campaign, as well as multiplayer modes. However, the skirmish mode (in terms of both single-player and multiplayer) is the most popular mode for Age of Empires fans.

The major new feature in Age of Empires III hits you when you start the game, because it dominates the main menu screen. It's the home city, and you'll create a home city of your own when you create your profile. In a way, the home city represents you, and it will grow and evolve the more you play Age of Empires III, because you can gain experience points to "level up" your city and customize it in different ways. It's certainly a beautiful sight, as you'll see a richly detailed European city, bustling with activity. How the home city works is a bit complex, but it plays a huge role in Age of Empires III, and it actually required us to go through the in-game tutorial to figure out how to use it. But once we did, we found it invaluable.

Basically, the home city is the capital of your European empire, and from there you essentially "launch" colonization missions to the New World. However, the home city is much more than that. When you begin a game, you'll find yourself in the familiar position of starting with a handful of settlers and a town center. From there, you have to start gathering resources (wood, food, and gold), begin to explore the map, and construct the many new buildings that you'll need to expand your colony. As you do these things, you'll gain experience points, which accumulate in a circular meter at the bottom of the screen. The more "heroic" the act that you perform, such as having your hero unit defeat a treasure guardian and claim the treasure, the more experience you're awarded. (Oh, yeah, more on the hero a bit later.) When you get enough experience to gain a level, you can click on the meter and it switches you back to the home city. From there, you can select a reward that the home city sends to you for doing such a great job in the New World. These rewards can range from supplies to more settlers, technology, or military units. Then just click on the circular meter again, and you'll switch back to your colony; a little bit later, your reward will arrive on screen, straight from the home city.

The home city plays a major role in the game, as it can send you a steady stream of reinforcements.

Yes, it seems a bit complicated at first, but in no time we figured out the home city feature and were using it in different ways. Early on, it's invaluable to use the home city to send extra resources or settlers that can get your economy going, quickly. But by the middle and late stages of a game, we stockpiled our home city points for when we needed them. So, if we got into a struggle with a rival European power's colony, we simply ordered up a slew of musketeers and hussars (cavalry) to reinforce our forces in a hurry. You can even requisition outposts (which serve like the towers in Age of Empires II), as well as a fort that can be built anywhere you want.