Age of Kings is a nice turn based strategy that is very immersive and interesting...but the AI could use some work.
As a turn based strategy, you take your turn and then the enemy takes theirs (hopefully you already knew that). You get a good amount of units to choose from, buildings to build, research upgrades to fund, and resources to seek out. Just seeing all there is to see in the game will take a pleasantly long time.
The progression of your empire is pretty simple; you start off with a villager, the only unit that can build things (very vital!) and two militias, your first military units. The militia are strong enough to hold their own in battle, and while the villagers can fight they won't do much. Using the villagers you must start to build your town center, then branch out looking for gold vaults and fields worthy of farming. Gold and food are the two currencies in the game; they are what you use to build and produce everything in the game. You also will need to build barracks for infantry, stables for cavalry, and various other things that will aid you. And at the same time, there will be a "Research" menu in which you can choose one of many upgrades for your empire, all at the cost of some gold and food.
Then, after you've hit the required amount of research upgrades and have enough gold/food, the game will allow you to move up an era. Once you do so, you will get stronger units to pick from, more buildings to make, and more research upgrades. All in all, there are 4 eras; and units of the next era are much more powerful than units of the last, which will push you to constantly build up so you can progress through all 4.
Also, the game gives you the option of five empires to build--the Mongols, the Saracens, the Britons, the Franks, and the Japanese. They are all unique in their own way and are worth exploration.
Getting into the content of the game, it's actually quite plentiful. There are 5 campaigns, each one averaging about 4-6 missions. They get very challenging, but not to worry--the first campaign is really a tutorial. However, the tutorial should still be counted as a campaign...it does get harder nearing the end.
A great feature of the game is the Single Scenario, in which you can create your own battle. You can choose your own empire, the map you use, the number of enemies, their difficulty and aggression, what era you start on, and much more. You can even create teams...2 on 2, 2 on 1, and 3 on 1. This can very well burn up a lot of your time before you ever set eyes on the campaign.
However, there is one problem. The AI is passable, but not stuff of good quality. If you are serious in playing the game, you will get frustrated at how easy the AI is. There are 3 settings for them...Aggressive, Average, and Defensive. They are roughly set apart and stay for the most part true to their names. However, the problem comes in when considering the difficulty setting: easy, normal, and hard.
The sad truth is that all three of these are no match for any gamer who actually uses tactics in the game. Even in "Hard" mode, the enemy units are quite braindead. They simply mosey around until they see something, then they make a beeline for it and attack. They don't try to aim for any sort of terrain, choke off certain bridges, form a line to lower casualties, or anything but simply walk around.
At the time of writing, I am in a 2-1 match against two "Hard" opponents and I am still winning by a landslide. As it is, I'm using very minimal tactics; only the basics. It's very disheartening.
However, this problem can be solved if you have a friend who has a DS, Age of Kings, and a fully functional brain. While the game won't save your multiplayer match, it is still a great relief that you can fight something that will fight back.
As I said though, the campaign does get very challenging. However, this is mainly because the campaign throws you in specific missions where the goal is more than conquering the enemy, and whenever it is, the developers made sure to make you outnumbered. But this doesn't mean that the AI is tough...it means that the circumstances are tough.
Age of Kings is a good tactics game though, and definitely worthy of buying.
Judgement Time:
Difficulty: Easy -- Yeah, the campaign gets hard, but the AI are braindead otherwise. I think that outweighs circumstancial difficulty.
Learning Curve: 0 to 30 Minutes -- While it'll take longer than this to discover everything in the game, to understand the mechanics and such it doesn't take very long.
Time Spent Playing, to Date: 40 to 100 Hours -- I know it says 'to Date', but I figure that wouldn't do it justice. The truth is that I haven't over 40 hours...but I know that I will end up eventually. Anything less really doesn't say how replayable this game is.
Classification: Solid -- The game ultimately is a good and solid experience, albeit some lacking areas (namely, AI). I recommend it to anyone who likes this genre.
Gameplay: 7 -- The gameplay is solid, but isn't outstanding.
Graphics: 9 -- Very good for the DS. Many have said it gets cluttered if you have a lot of units, but that isn't a big drag, and I think it's exaggerated. The semi-polygon/semi-sprite graphics work really well.
Sound: 7 -- Once again, nothing outstanding here, but still pretty nice. The battle sound effects are good, but there are some points in the game that seem like they could use sound where they don't have any (for instance, the destruction of a unit doesn't give off any sound or animation. What the hell?)
Value: 9 -- This game will keep you busy for a long time.
Reviewer's Tilt: 8 -- Like I said, it's a good game for the genre. Nothing extraordinary, but definitely worth the buy.
My Score: 7.9 -- Buy it. You WILL be glad you did.