Age of empires delivers an in-depth strategy experience although it could have been achieved on most any other platform.
Age of empires: Age of kings plays like most other strategy games. There are certain specifics and objectives unique to each mission and you have to advance across a grid-like board and attack enemies. While doing so, you can build money-earning establishments (which is usually done on certain plots of land that have some type of resource indicated), hire fighters, and advance through the "ages". Everyday (if you have enough money) you can research a new topic that will help you during the mission. Once you reach a certain level of revenue, food, and research you can choose to age up, which lets you build more efficient armies and more advanced buildings. Once you have built all you can or want and moved your armies closer or farther away, then you can choose to end day. The mission objectives usually require you to defeat a certain army or reach a certain goal in a certain number of days, which suggests that you must build quickly in order to succeed. The actual combat is handled with turn based attacks where the attackers revieves less damage than they would if they were defending. You usually position yourself right next to enemy and attack, and certain militia types are stronger than others, so you must plan out who will attack whom. Ranged attackers can also attack from farther away (you can use specific terrain elements to your advantage such as mountains or swamps.) Each type of troop can move a certain distance so you also have to plan who will move where to move efficiently across the battlefield. The only gripe I had was that the touch screen sometimes had trouble reading which option I tapped with my stylus, so the attacking is better handled with button use only.
Graphics: 6/10
If you're playing Age of empires on a handheld for its graphics, then you don't know what you're doing. The graphics work, but that's the best that can be said. Sometimes, some buildings can overshadow others which make them tricky to locate, sometimes leading to many taps before you find the one you are trying to get at.
Sound: 6/10
Although the background music has a presence, it can sometimes get to be annoying or tiresome, and you may want to listen to something else as you play. The sound isn't terrific, but it somewhat fits the battle, which is a bit of a plus I guess.
Value: 9/10
Just the tutorial mode alone could serve as a small, but functional game. Each of the missions are long, and sometimes difficult, which is good for the games level of challenge. There are abou 5/6 defferent stories each with 5/6 different missions, which means you will be playing this one for awhile.
Reviewing tilt: 8/10
Although fairly weak from a technical standpoint, AOE: AOK delivers a long, challenging, and incredibly deep experience that should satisfy any strategy lover in need of a new challenge.
/ Seth