Based on the RTS franchise, Age of Kings is now turn-based for the DS - and provides hours of enjoyment and gameplay.
The balance of the game comes from the player’s choices about how to spread their resources into all the different disciplines. Do you spend your money building up extra infantry units, so you can defend your territory? Or would it be better to hunker down, and focus on trade and resource improvements so you can earn more money each round? These decisions are further complicated by the criteria of each mission, which varies greatly. Some campaigns have you striking out to defeat an opponent as quickly as possible, while others purposely start the player in a weakened position against superior troops.
Each of the five campaigns focuses on a different Empire of the Middle Ages, each with their own Hero character to command. Joan of Arc’s Frank Empire is the easiest and acts as a tutorial for players. Increasing in difficulty from there are Minamoto of the Japanese, Genghis Kahn leading the Mongols, Saladin of the Saracen Empire, and King Richard the Lionhearted of the English. Players may start any campaign they like, though each chapter within must be played in order to unlock the next.
Controlling Age of Kings is both simple and elegant. You can use either the standard button interface or the stylus to equal effect. You can tap units or grid spaces to gain more information on them, and tapping buildings will bring up a list of their functions, such as building new units, or managing resources. The lower screen serves to show the isometric grid map on which your units and buildings are placed. The upper screen will show the detailed information of the currently selected tile. You’ll see information like terrain’s inherent bonuses or penalties, a unit’s health, offensive and defensive capability, a units potential movement, and so forth. You are given a lot of information on which to base your tactical decisions, so you’ll find yourself moving all over the map frequently. This can easily be done by sliding the stylus near the edge of the map screen, or by the shoulder buttons, which rotate through the roster of available units on the field. Selecting a unit will also indicate where it can move and what spaces it would be able to attack after moving, which allows you to plot out both the potential movement of your own units, and those of your enemies.
Engaging enemy units will bring up a side-by-side comparison giving even more information, as well as comments from an advisor as to the wisdom of your proposed attack. Often times, the outcome is easy enough to predict, but with all the special bonuses for technologies, terrain, and unit powers, it can be overwhelming, and it’s nice to have this feature to help make the right decisions. Once you’ve committed to an attack, you’ll be presented with a colorful animation on the top screen that acts out the two forces coming together in a violent clash – complete with painful groans and arrow thwips!
The historically based campaigns will take even veteran gamers upwards of 12 hours to complete. Gameplay is further extended by the many optional goals in each mission. These goals add additional criteria to the completion of each mission like: complete the mission by a certain time, destroy or protect a certain unit, require that a player purposefully handicap themselves with sparse resources and technology. They provide an additional challenge for those players looking to really test their skill.
As if that weren’t enough, there is another mode called Empire Maps, in which you can select a map on which to play, choose opponents and their Empires as well as their alliances, and can customize the battle to your specifications. You can also choose to play against enemy AI, or against other human players via WiFi. There are enough variants and maps available that you can easily spend as much time on these randomly generated missions as you do with the main campaign.
The colorful visuals bring a lot to the game’s presentation. The map is bright, and terrain and units are easy to distinguish from one another, with lots of tiny ambient animations to add to the flavor of the landscape. Windmills turn, rivers shimmer, and hidden artifacts glow. The menu system is simple but effective, allowing you to drill down into levels of depth whenever you feel it is necessary. Each campaign mission is accompanied by some particularly pretty artwork stylized in a medieval fashion.
There are lots of little touches in terms of the sound as well. Each Empire has its own musical theme, which will play during that Empire’s turn. They are each well mastered and indicative of the Empire they represent. There are also countless sound effects throughout play for everything from horses galloping, to a blacksmith’s hammer. Units also have their own sound effects as they react to your orders. All told it’s a great audio-visual presentation that strikes the perfect balance of accenting the Gameplay with visuals and sound, but not overwhelming things or bogging down the play.
The only real problem with Age of Kings lies in the form of several all too prominent technical glitches. Animations will lock up from time to time, or sound effects will inexplicably begin to loop and will continue to do so until the DS is reset. The game has a nasty habit of locking up when there are a lot of units on the board as well. The most notable of these is the “three letter” glitch, which will corrupt the cartridge completely if you choose a file name of only three characters. Most of the time, these glitches are an inconvenience that can be overcome simply by saving frequently. One wonders, though, how an entry to such a prominent franchise could be released with so many bugs.
Age of Empires stays true enough to its roots with this new iteration and makes a surprisingly easy transition to a hand-held arena. The great presentation and lengthy campaigns provide more than enough content to satisfy. The move to turn-based play may throw some fans of the series off for a while, but as a hand-held strategy game, it’s hard to top.