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Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
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There are certain series where the question “Which one’s the best?” is difficult to answer. Ask someone what their favorite Civilization is for instance and you’re bound to start an argument. (It’s Civilization IV, by the way.) The same goes for Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Fallout, Smash Bros., Mortal Kombat, Tony Hawk, Assassin’s Creed, Street Fighter, Elder Scrolls, and so on and so forth.
Age of Empires? Not so much. People by and large consider Age of Empires II to be the pinnacle of the series. Oh you might find a few holdouts for the original, or for Age of Empires III, but the second game is the runaway fan favorite—as evidenced by the fact Microsoft remastered it back in 2013, before the original.
Which makes the prospect of remastering the original after the fact a bit odd. Not unthinkable, but odd. That’s what Microsoft and developer Forgotten Empires have done though, giving the original Age of Empires a face-lift for its twentieth anniversary. The question: Is there any reason to go back to this earliest of Ages?
Wololo
It depends how much you care about the classical era, I guess. That is the one advantage Age of Empires: Definitive Edition has. Unlike Civilization or Empire Earth or what-have-you, Age of Empires never tried to encapsulate the entirety of human history into a single game.
Thus the original Age of Empires focused on ancient history—the Hellenic Greeks, Egyptian Old and New Kingdom, the Phoenicians, Persians, and as of the Rise of Rome expansion, the Roman Empire. By contrast, Age of Empires II focused on the Medieval Era and early Renaissance, while Age of Empires III focused on the Colonial Era.
That separation might not matter if you’re concerned only with mechanics. You could certainly argue names like “Phalanx” and “Legion” are just fancy set-dressing, the units indistinguishable from their Age of Empires II counterparts.
History has always been so intrinsic to Age of Empires though. That’s part of what I loved about the series. Every faction, every campaign, is informed by historical context.
Take the “Ascent of Egypt” campaign, for instance. It’s basically the Age of Empires tutorial campaign, teaching prospective players how to use their villagers to build structures, chop wood, farm crops, construct military camps, use those camps to train troops, attack neighboring factions, and so on. Basic real-time strategy ideas, and the tutorial seems incredibly long and drawn out by today’s standards.
But every step of the way, Age of Empires tries to contextualize your actions in the larger scheme of history. You’re not just learning to farm, for instance. Instead, “The great Pharaoh Narmer seeks to unite the Upper and Lower Kingdoms into a unified Egypt. Using the wealth brought from farming along the Nile’s banks, he will finally be able to defeat his rivals.” A mission where you destroy a few watch towers and take over an island isn’t just a tutorial about naval units, it’s a pitched battle where Pharaoh Senusret III plans “to subdue lower Nubia by building forts along the Nile River all the way to the Fourth Cataract.”
It grounds Age of Empires, lends importance to even the smallest actions. And establishing that tone early makes your later conquests feel all the more important as you lead Octavian against Marc Antony, or pit Hammurabi’s Babylonians against the Akkadians.
There’s a draw, in other words. Trying to delineate between Civilization IV and Civilization V would devolve into a nuanced discussion of specific mechanics—square versus hex grids, one-unit-per-tile, and so on. It has to, because thematically Civilization IV and V are identical. They’re both historical-fantasy, both trying to capture the progression of humanity from the development of tools and writing and the wheel to nuclear weapons and rockets and tanks.
But Age of Empires, despite obvious surface-level similarities, is still relatively different from its much-loved sequel. Maybe it’s not a huge reason to go back, but there is a reason.
Remembering history
That said, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is more interesting to me as an archival document than a game proper. Fact is, Age of Empires II HD does exist, and I’ve been playing it for almost five years now—and it’s a better game.
I find myself missing a lot from Age of Empires II. Gates are a big one. Age of Empires lets you build walls, but has no equivalent gate structure—meaning you can either wall yourself in and never leave, or simply use walls as a chokepoint instead of an actually meaningful barricade.
Age of Empires II also does slightly more with its factions. Each civilization in Age of Empires II had unique units, which could really change the balance of matches. That aspect has gotten even more prevalent with the release of multiple Age of Empires II HD expansions--The Forgotten, Rise of the Rajas, and The African Kingdoms, each of which added unique architecture, even more unique units, and so on.
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition feels a bit barebones by comparison. Fighting against Egyptians fielding Roman Phalanxes never ceases to be a bit weird, and is directly at odds with the history-first tone the game tries to establish. Every faction plays pretty much the same, with minor differences to movement speed or villager yield, and while that undoubtedly is easier from a balancing standpoint it also can make the game feel a bit stale. Once you’ve played one match, you’ve seen almost everything Age of Empires has to offer.
All of this makes perfect sense in the context of “This is a real-time strategy game from 1997,” but as a hook for 2018, and with a fully-fleshed remaster of the sequel plus new expansions already available? A bit harder to swallow, maybe.
Which is not to take anything away from the quality of the actual Age of Empires: Definitive Edition remaster. As I wrote in our hands-on with the multiplayer beta last month, “I like to think the sign of a good remaster is whether it looks the way you remember a game looking in your memories.” Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is definitely that, and more. It looks phenomenal, with Forgotten Empires bringing the visual fidelity up to the level of Age of Empires II HD. No small feat.
There are also some neat quality-of-life changes. Population limits have been increased, which makes for larger and more impressive battles. The game also seems to default to “Fast” speed—everything moves maybe 1.5x as fast as it did originally. You can speed the game up further, or drop it down to normal speed, but for 2018 the “Fast” speed does seem like a good compromise, maintaining the spirit of the original but making the pace more palatable for modern players.
Oh, and all the old cheat codes work—even the silly ones, like “Pow!” to spawn a tricycle-riding baby with a shotgun. That’s fun.
Are there things I’d like to see changed? Sure. Even with the Definitive Edition’s “Enhanced Pathfinding,” unit movement is still aggravating at times, with units often taking stupid detours or getting stuck on trees unless you hold their hand to the destination. I also hate that you can’t queue up research or different types of units—that’s an Age of Empires quirk I could do without in 2018.
More? Well, you can use Right Click to drag the map around—but only if you don’t have units selected. If you have units selected, you’ll order them to move to a location. It’s not the best camera. Oh, and the system for getting a multiplayer match together can feel a bit convoluted. I haven’t played the release, but in the beta we spent at least a couple minutes in the menu trying to explain to someone how to simply change teams.
But none of these are specifically the fault of the Definitive Edition. They’re issues carried over from the original game, part-and-parcel with creating a faithful remaster instead of simply remaking Age of Empires from scratch.
Bottom line
The title doesn’t lie, in other words. If you’re dead set on playing the original Age of Empires, this is the best way to do so. It is the Definitive Edition. The question is whether that’s appealing to you or not.
For me? I’ve enjoyed it well enough. As a fan of history, it’s been great playing the Greeks, the Romans, and some of the early-Japanese history. That’s enough of a hook for me—especially the Ancient Greeks, which are criminally underrepresented in video games.
But Age of Empires II HD is still probably the game I’ll go back to most. It’s more interesting, more expansive, better balanced—all the things you’d want from a sequel, basically. And that wouldn’t normally be an issue, except for the fact that Age of Empires: Definitive Edition arrived after its sequel this time around.
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
Learn moreAge of Empires: Definitive Edition might always live in the shadow of its younger sibling, but Forgotten Empires has crafted a gorgeous update for diehard fans of the original or simply fans of ancient history. Wololo.Pros
- Looks phenomenal, while still retaining the feel of the original
- Higher population limit, balance changes, faster speed, and more small tweaks
- Campaign covers ancient history, giving players a reason to go back
Cons
- Age of Empires II is still a better game—and already remastered
- Still has annoying pathfinding issues
- Setting up a multiplayer match is convoluted by today's standards
Age of Empires Overview
Age of Empires Free Download for PC is a series of personal computer games developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. The first title of the series was Age of Empires, released in 1997. Since then, seven titles and three spin-offs have been released. The titles are historical real-time strategy games, and their gameplay revolves around two main game modes: Single player and campaign. They competed with another popular strategy series, Civilization, and are set amidst historical events.
Age of Empires focused on events in Europe, Africa and Asia, spanning from the Stone Age to the Iron Age; the expansion game explored the formation and expansion of the Roman Empire. The sequel, Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, was set in the Middle Ages, while its expansion focused partially on the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The subsequent three games of Age of Empires 3 explored the early modern period, when Europe was colonizing the Americas and several Asian nations were on the decline. The newest installment, Age of Empires Online, takes a different approach as a free-to-play online game utilizing Games for Windows Live. A spin-off game, Age of Mythology, was set in the same period as the original Age of Empires, but focused on mythological elements of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology.
Age of Empires Screenshots
Age of Empires | |
---|---|
Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
Developer(s) |
|
Publisher(s) | Xbox Game Studios |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows Classic Mac OS Windows Mobile PlayStation 2 OS X N-Gage Nintendo DS Windows Phone iOS Android |
First release | Age of Empires October 15, 1997 |
Latest release | Age of Empires: Definitive Edition February 20, 2018 |
Spin-offs | Age of Mythology |
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first title of the series was Age of Empires, released in 1997. Seven titles and three spin-offs have been released.
Age of Empires focused on events in Europe, Africa and Asia, spanning from the Stone Age to the Iron Age; the expansion game explored the formation and expansion of the Roman Empire. The sequel, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, was set in the Middle Ages, while its expansion focused partially on the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The subsequent three games of Age of Empires III explored the early modern period, when Europe was colonizing the Americas and several Asian nations were on the decline. The newest installment, Age of Empires Online, takes a different approach as a free-to-play online game utilizing Games for Windows Live. A spin-off game, Age of Mythology, was set in the same period as the original Age of Empires, but focused on mythological elements of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. A fourth main installment in the series, Age of Empires IV, is under development.
The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success, selling over 20 million copies. Critics have credited part of the success of the series to its historical theme and fair play; the artificial intelligence (AI) players have fewer advantages than in many of the series' competitors.
- 1Games
- 1.1Main series
- 2Development
Games[edit]
1997 | Age of Empires |
1998 | Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome |
1999 | Age of Empires II |
2000 | Age of Empires II: The Conquerors |
2001 | |
2002 | Age of Mythology |
2003 | Age of Mythology: The Titans |
2004 | |
2005 | Age of Empires III |
2006 | Age of Empires: The Age of Kings |
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs | |
2007 | Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties |
2008 | Age of Empires: Mythologies |
2009 | |
2010 | |
2011 | Age of Empires Online |
2012 | |
2013 | Age of Empires II: HD Edition |
Age of Empires II: The Forgotten | |
2014 | Age of Mythology: Extended Edition |
Age of Empires: Castle Siege | |
2015 | Age of Empires II: The African Kingdoms |
Age of Empires: World Domination | |
2016 | Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon |
Age of Empires II: Rise of the Rajas | |
2017 | |
2018 | Age of Empires: Definitive Edition |
2019 | Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition |
2020 | Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition |
TBA | Age of Empires IV |
The games in the series focus on historical events throughout time. Age of Empires covers the events between the Stone Age and the Classical period, in Europe and Asia. Its expansion, The Rise of Rome, follows the formation and rise of the Roman Empire. The Age of Kings and its Nintendo DS spin-off follow Europe and Asia through the Middle Ages. The Age of Kings' expansion pack, The Conquerors, is set during the same period, but also includes scenarios about the Spanish conquest of Mexico, El Cid, and Attila the Hun. Age of Empires III and its first expansion, The WarChiefs, take place during the European colonization of the Americas. Its second expansion, The Asian Dynasties, follows the rise of Asia in the same period. Age of Empires Online focuses on the Greek and Egyptian civilizations. The series' spin-off, Age of Mythology, and its expansion pack, The Titans, are set during the Bronze Age, but focus on mythology as their themes, rather than history.
Main series[edit]
Age of Empires[edit]
Age of Empires, released on October 26, 1997,[1] was the first game in the series, as well as the first major release from Ensemble Studios.[2] It was one of the first history-based real-time strategy games made,[3] utilizing the Geniegame engine. GameSpot described it as a mix of Civilization and Warcraft.[4] The game gives players a choice of 12 civilizations to develop from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. The expansion pack, The Rise of Rome, published by Microsoft on October 31, 1998, introduced new features and four new civilizations, including the Romans. Although the two games had contained many software bugs, patches resolved many of the problems.[5][6]
Age of Empires was generally well received, despite some highly negative reviews. GameSpot criticized a confused design, while Computer and Video Games praised the game as strong in single and multiplayer.[7] The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named Age of Empires the 1998 'Computer Strategy Game of the Year.'[8] For several years, the game remained high on the sales charts, with over three million units sold by 2000.[9]The Rise of Rome sold one million units in 2000[9] and attained 80% as an aggregate score from GameRankings.[10]
In June 2017, Adam Isgreen, creative director of Microsoft Studios announced Age of Empires: Definitive Edition at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017. It will feature overhauled graphics with support for 4K resolution, a remastered soundtrack, and other gameplay improvements, and was planned to be released on October 19, 2017, but was delayed until February 20, 2018, when it was released on the Microsoft Store.[11][12][13] On May 30, 2019, Microsoft announced that the Definitive Edition would be coming to Steam in the future, along with the Definitive Editions of both Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III.[14][15]
Age of Empires II[edit]
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, released on September 30, 1999, used the Genie game engine, and had gameplay similar to its predecessor.[16]Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages, from the Dark Ages to the Imperial Age. It allows players to choose one of 13 civilizations, from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.[17]
On August 24, 2000, Microsoft published the expansion, The Conquerors. It added new units and five new civilizations, including two Mesoamerican civilizations: the Maya and the Aztec.[18]The Age of Kings was a bigger critical success than the first two games, with Game Rankings and Metacritic scores of 92%.[19][20] Microsoft shipped out more than two million copies to retailers, and the game received numerous awards and accolades.[21] Critics agreed that The Conquerors expanded well on The Age of Kings, though issues of unbalanced gameplay were raised.[22]The Age of Kings and The Conquerors won the 2000 and 2001 'Computer Strategy Game of the Year' awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, respectively.[23][24]
In April 2013, Age of Empires II: HD Edition was released on the Steamdigital distribution platform for Windows operating systems. The HD Edition includes both the original game and the expansion The Conquerors, as well as updated graphics for high-resolution displays.[25] In November 2013, a second expansion entitled The Forgotten was released by Microsoft exclusively for the HD Edition.[26] A third expansion named The African Kingdoms was released by Microsoft in November 2015, also exclusively for the HD Edition.[27] A fourth expansion entitled Rise of the Rajas was released on 19 December 2016.[28] On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.[29]
In June 2019, Adam Isgreen, now the Franchise Creative Director for Age of Empires, shared more information regarding the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2019. He confirmed that the Definitive Edition was being developed by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, and Wicked Witch Software. He announced that the game would feature new 4K graphics, Xbox Live support for multiplayer, exclusive achievements, four new civilisations, three new campaigns, a new spectator mode and tournament features, and additional quality of life improvements. It is currently slated for release during the autumn of 2019.[30][31][32] Bert Beeckman, co-founder of Forgotten Empires, confirmed on June 12 that Age of Empires II: HD Edition would not be removed from sale after the release of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.[33]
Age of Empires III[edit]
Age of Empires III, released on October 18, 2005, was built on an improved version of the Age of Mythology game engine with the most significant changes being the updated graphics engine and the inclusion of the Havok physicsmiddleware engine.[34][35] The game is set in the period between 1421 and 1850, and players can choose one of eight European nations. The game introduced a large number of features, such as home cities. Described by Ensemble Studios as 'an important support system to your efforts in the New World,' home cities help provide the player with resources, equipment, troops, and upgrades. They can be used across multiple games, and upgraded after each battle; the feature was compared to a role-playing game character by Ensemble Studios.[36] The first expansion to Age of Empires III, The WarChiefs, was released October 17, 2006. Most gameplay changes in the expansion pack were small, but it introduced three new civilizations, with a focus on Native Americans.[37] Most notable was the introduction of the WarChief unit.[38] The second expansion, The Asian Dynasties, went on sale October 23, 2007. It was a jointly developed product; Big Huge Games helped Ensemble Studios develop the game, with Brian Reynolds joining Bruce Shelley as lead designer.[39] The game expanded the Age of Empires III universe into Asia, and introduced three new civilizations.[40] Reception towards Age of Empires III was mixed; Game Revolution described it as 'about as much fun' as a history textbook, while GameZone argued it was 'one of the best looking games, much less an RTS game, that is out on the market currently'.[41] It sold more than two million copies, and won the GameSpy 'real-time strategy game of the year' award.[42][43]The WarChiefs failed to equal the success of its predecessor, with a lower score on both Game Rankings and Metacritic, and The Asian Dynasties' score was lower still with 80%.[44][45][46][47]
Several collectors' editions of Age of Empires III included a hardcover artbook. The last page of the artbook has a pictorial depiction of the series; the Roman numerals below each panel range from I to V, indicating the series would include an Age of Empires IV and Age of Empires V. Ensemble Studios employee Sandy Petersen said that the image 'was total speculation on [their] part.'[48]
In 2008, Microsoft announced they were closing down Ensemble Studios following the completion of Halo Wars. Some of its employees would form a new team as part of Microsoft Studios.[49] Kevin Unangst, director of Games for Windows, denied it was the end of the Age of Empires series, telling The San Francisco Chronicle 'we're very excited about the future potential for Age of Empires'.[50]Edge confirmed, in an interview with Microsoft's corporate vice president of interactive entertainment, Shane Kim, that Microsoft continued to own Age of Empires and that they had plans to continue the series.[51] However, Bruce Shelley wrote in his blog that he would not be part of any new studios formed.[52][53]
On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition.[29]
Age of Empires IV[edit]
On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced Age of Empires IV, developed by Relic Entertainment.[54]
As of February 8, 2019, 'There's no announced release date for Age of Empires 4.'[55] Microsoft's Executive Vice-President of Gaming, Phil Spencer, confirmed on June 11, 2019, that Age of Empires 4 is still in development, with more information coming later in 2019.[56]
Spin-off games[edit]
Age of Mythology shared many elements of gameplay with the main series,[57] and was considered a part of the series, despite its different focus.[58][59] The campaign in Age of Mythology tells the story of an Atlantean, Arkantos, and his quest to find why his people are out of favor with Poseidon.[60] Microsoft published the game on October 30, 2002,[61] and its expansion, The Titans, on October 21, 2003.[62]The Titans featured the Atlanteans as a new civilization.[63] Its campaign is shorter than previous expansions, and centers on Kastor, son of Arkantos, who falls for the lies of the titans and frees them from Tartarus.[64]Age of Mythology sold more than one million units in four months.[65] It scored 89% on Game Rankings and Metacritic.[66][67]The Titans failed to equal the sales success of Age of Mythology, although critics rated it highly.[68][69]
Backbone Entertainment developed Age of Empires: The Age of Kings as a turn-based game for the Nintendo DS. Majesco Entertainment published the game on February 14, 2006. It is similar to other turn-based games, such as Advance Wars, but with a gameplay based on its PCcounterpart.[70]Age of Empires: The Age of Kings scored 80% on Game Rankings and Metacritic.[71][72]Konami brought a game of the same title to the PlayStation 2 around five years earlier than the DS version, but the game had little promotion, and sold poorly.[73]
On August 16, 2010, Microsoft announced Age of Empires Online, which was a free-to-play Games for Windows Live online game, it developed in collaboration with Robot Entertainment. It featured Free-to-play experiences via Games for Windows LIVE as well as: A persistent online capital city that lives and grows even when you're offline, Cooperative multiplayer quests, trading and a level-based system that lets you progress at your own pace.[74] Premium content could be earned or purchased, such as access to blueprints and special items, as well as more quests and features. In September 2013, it was announced that the game would remain functional until July 1, 2014, after which it would be shut down due to the content being too expensive to maintain.[75]
On April 13, 2014, Age of Empires: World Domination was announced. It was developed by KLab Games for the iOS, Android and Windows Phone.[76] It was released on December 7, 2015,[77] with the service terminated on 30 November 2016.[78]
On August 25, 2014, Age of Empires: Castle Siege was announced. It is a touch-based game developed by Smoking Gun Interactive. It was released on September 17, 2014 for the Windows PC and Windows Phone 8.[79][80]
Development[edit]
Historical elements[edit]
The development phases of the Age of Empires games were similar in several ways. Due to the games being based on historical events, the team often had to do large amounts of research.[81] However, the research was not in depth, which, according to Age of Empires designer Bruce Shelley, is 'a good idea for most entertainment products.'[81] Shelley also said that Ensemble Studios took most of the reference material from children's sections at libraries. He pointed out the goal was for the players of the game to have fun, 'not [its] designers or researchers.'[81] At the Games Convention Developers Conference in 2007, Shelley continued with this thought and explained that the success of the series laid in 'making a game which appealed to both the casual and hardcore gamer.'[82] Shelley also remarked the Age of Empires games were not about history in itself, but rather 'about the human experience;'[82] they focused not simply on what humans had done but on what they could do in the future such as 'going into space.'[82] Ensemble Studios developed Age of Mythology in a different way than the previous two games. The team had worried they 'couldn't get away' with a third historical-based game, and chose mythology as the setting after they had discussed several options.[83]
Artificial intelligence[edit]
The artificial intelligence (AI) used in the Age of Empires series has been developed and improved regularly by designers. AI specialist Dave Pottinger noted the development team gave the AI in the original game a very high priority, and spent over a year working on it. He said that the AI in the game relies on tactics and strategies to win, instead of 'cheating' by giving bonus resources to itself, or tweaking its units to be stronger than normal.[84] Pottinger later noted that the Age of Empires series team took great pride in their AI playing a 'fair game'[85] and didn't know what the player was doing and had to play by the same rules as its human opponents.[86]
Age of Empires allows players to choose to play either along specialized, story-backed conditions or as individual battles against the AI (and other players). Choosing to battle against the AI – rather than following the storyline – allows the AI to adapt to players' strategies and even remember which games it won and lost. The AI eventually overcomes players' strategies and easily destroys their villages after several games. For instance, in Age of Empires III, this is referred to as playing a 'Skirmish.' However Age of Empires III allows players to refine their strategies further against the AI by 'Building a Deck,' which allows players to replace 'Home City' shipments with improved alternatives.
In Age of Empires II: The Conquerors the AI was given a high priority, the result being the 'smart villager' feature, which was included in subsequent games of the series. After building a structure that stores or produces resources, smart villagers would proceed to collect resources related to the structure, such as crops from farms or ore from exposed deposits.[87]
Age of Mythology: The Titans lets players use an AI debugger when creating custom scenarios; players can change the settings of computer players and make them act according to certain patterns.[88] More basic changes to the AI had previously been available in the series' first two games.[89]
Graphics and visuals[edit]
The graphics and visuals of Age of Empires improved with each successive release. From the original release to the second, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, noteworthy improvements gained praise from several critics.[90][91][92] With the release of Age of Mythology the praise continued,[90][93][94][95] and the fourth release, Age of Empires III, garnered even more.[96][97][98]
GameSpot praised the improved graphics[90] in the second release, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.Eurogamer welcomed its introduction of female villagers[99] as compared with the original male only version. Allgame praised the advanced grouping and path-finding systems in the second release.[91] Despite the improved graphics, Allgame complained that units in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings were at times difficult to distinguish from one another,[91] a point numerous reviewers agreed on.[90][100] Nevertheless, Game Revolution wrote that the second release was 'the best looking of the 2D RTS games out there right now.'[92]
The graphics continued to improve in Age of Mythology and was praised by a majority of reviewers. IGN ranked the graphics in this third release, 'a joy to watch ... awesome.'[93] GameSpot assented, also rating the graphics a 9 out of 10.[90] Game Revolution agreed,[94] and PC Gamer stated that the graphics in the third release 'are packed with detail.'[95]
The trend in improved graphics continued well into the next release, Age of Empires III, much to the delight of reviewers. IGN stated, 'After seeing the screenshots, our jaws hit the floor at the amount of detail.'[96]1UP.com described Age of Empires III as 'one of the most beautiful games you will put on your computer for the foreseeable future.'[97] GameSpy agreed, stating, 'Age III's graphics are unmatched in the strategy genre.'[98]Age of Empires III builds on and introduces new features to the prior release, Age of Mythology, such as the inclusion of the award-winning[101] Havok physics simulation middleware[102] game engine for the Windows version and PhysX for the Mac OS X. The innovative result is that pre-created animations are avoided; instead events are calculated according to the physics engine. Consequently, views of events like building destruction and tree felling are not pre-recorded. GameSpot also admired the graphics in the fourth release but complained about 'the awkward unit behavior.'[103] Other graphical features of the game include bloom lighting and support for pixel shader 3.0.[104]
GameSpy awarded Age of Empires III the 'Best Graphics' award at GameSpy's 'Game of the Year 2005.'[105]
Music[edit]
Stephen Rippy has been the series' music director since the first game. He has had occasional help from his brother, David Rippy, as well as Kevin McMullan.[106] He created the original music in Age of Empires with sounds of instruments from the periods in the game.[107] These sounds came from actual instruments, and their digital samples.[107] The tunes were the result of extensive research on the cultures, styles, and instruments used.[107] Rippy said that sound development on The Age of Kings was easy, since there was knowledge of the instruments used in the Middle Ages. Therefore, they were able to reproduce the tunes for the soundtrack of the game.[108] In Age of Mythology, an orchestral instrumentation was used, instead. According to McMullan, the team also collected large numbers of audio recordings from zoos, and created 'a massive sound library of [their] own material.'[109] The music of Age of Empires III was similar to The Age of Kings, in which the team used more historical instruments; Rippy noted the team used instruments such as 'bagpipes and field drums' to give it a realistic feel.[106]
Collaboration[edit]
Ensemble Studios worked together with Big Huge Games to develop The Asian Dynasties, Age of Empires III's second expansion. This was the first joint venture for both teams. The reason for them doing so was compatible schedules: Ensemble Studios was busy with other projects—particularly Halo Wars—while Big Huge Games' real-time strategy team had few projects at that time. Big Huge Games did most of the work, but Ensemble Studios designers Greg Street and Sandy Petersen joined in the brainstorming, and had control over the final product.[110] Both studios had roles in testing the game before its release.[111]
Reception and legacy[edit]
Game | GameRankings | Metacritic |
---|---|---|
Age of Empires (1997) | 87%[112] | 83[7] |
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome (1998) | 80%[10] | – |
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999) | 92%[19] | 92[20] |
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors (2000) | 88%[113] | 88[22] |
Age of Empires III (2005) | 82%[114] | 81[41] |
Age of Empires: The Age of Kings (2006)(Nintendo DS) | 80%[71] | 80[72] |
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs (2006) | 89%[44] | 87[45] |
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties (2007) | 80%[46] | 80[47] |
Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery (2007)(Board Game) | - | - |
Age of Empires: Mythologies (2008)(Nintendo DS) | 79%[115] | 78[116] |
Age of Empires Online (2011) | 71%[117] | 70[118] |
Age of Empires II: HD Edition (2013) | 71%[119] | 68[120] |
Age of Empires II: The Forgotten (2013) | – | – |
Age of Empires: Castle Siege (2014) | 40%[121] | – |
Age of Mythology (2002) | 89%[66] | 89[67] |
Age of Mythology: The Titans (2003) | 84%[68] | 84[69] |
Age of Mythology: The Boardgame (2003) | - | - |
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition (2014) | 68%[122] | 69[123] |
Age of Empires II: The African Kingdoms (2015) | - | - |
Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon (2016) | - | - |
Age of Empires II: Rise of the Rajas (2016) | - | - |
The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success. As of 2008, five of its games have each sold more than one million copies. According to Gamasutra, Age of Empires had sold more than three million copies, and The Rise of Rome sold one million copies as of 2000.[9] Around the same time, Microsoft announced that they shipped over two million copies of The Age of Kings.[21] In 2003, Microsoft announced the sales of one million copies for Age of Mythology.[65] By 2004—prior to the release of Age of Empires III—the Age of Empires franchise had sold over 15 million copies.[124] On May 18, 2007, Ensemble Studios announced that two million copies of Age of Empires III had been sold.[42]Games in the series have consistently scored highly on video game review aggregator websites GameRankings and Metacritic, which collect data from numerous review websites. As noted in the adjacent table, the highest rating game is Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, receiving a 92% score from both sites.[19][20]
Critics have credited Age of Empires for influencing real-time strategy (RTS) games such as Rise of Nations, Empire Earth, and Cossacks.[125][126]Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds was also influenced by the series: it utilized the Geniegame engine, as Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings had, and was considered by critics to be a very close replica to the games; IGN began their review with the statement 'I love Age of Star Wars, I mean Star Empires. Whatever it's called, I dig it.'[127] and GameSpot wrote that 'fundamentals of the Age of Empires II engine are so intact in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds that veterans of that game can jump right in.'[128] In October 2005, Shelley commented on the impact of the series. In a GameSpy interview, he explained that parents would 'tell Ensemble Studios that their kid is reading books about ancient Greece because they enjoy playing with the triremes so much, or that they want to check out books about medieval history because [the] game taught them what a trebuchet was.'[129]
Shelley has said that the key to the success of the games was its innovation, rather than imitation of its peers. He also claimed the unique elements in the games 'helped establish the reputation of Ensemble Studios as masters of the real-time strategy genre.'[130] Mark Bozon of IGN wrote in his review of The Age of Kings, 'The Age of Empires series has been one of the most innovative real-time strategy games for PC in the last decade or so.'[131] Gamenikki called Ensemble Studios 'the developer that started it all' when they talked about how much Age of Empires III had done to advance the real-time strategy genre.[132] Shelley has acknowledged the success and innovation of Age of Empires helped to ensure Ensemble survive its early periods since startup.[133] In 2005, Shelley complained of critics holding an 'innovation bias' against the series; citing the 60% score from Computer Gaming World, he said that despite Age of Empires III being 'perhaps the best selling PC game in the world', reviewers expected 'something really new', and rated it harshly.[134]
Bungie chose Ensemble Studios to develop Halo Wars, an RTS game based on their Halo series. They said that one of the reasons they chose to work with Ensemble was because of the Age of Empires series.[135] They also noted that Ensemble was the perfect choice 'to realize the original vision of Halo', which started life as an RTS.[135]
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External links[edit]
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Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Age_of_Empires&oldid=903741805'
Platforms: | PC, Mac, PlayStation 2 |
Publisher: | Microsoft |
Developer: | Ensemble Entertainment |
Genres: | Strategy / Real-Time Strategy |
Release Date: | September 30, 1999 |
Game Modes: | Singleplayer / Multiplayer |
‘Tis good to be the king.
Capitalizing on the resounding success that was Age of Empires, Ensemble Studios scrambled to create a sequel that was worthy of its predecessor. Three years in the making and one year late of its scheduled release, Age of Empires 2 is every bit of a great sequel as it is a terrific game in its own right.
Just about every facet of Age of Kings has been improved from its predecessor, starting with the graphics and ending with the AI and interface. Yet in the greater scheme of things, it’s still the same game. You’re still tasked with finding a proper balance between gathering resources, advancing your technology and reigning bloody terror upon your enemies.
A New Age Dawns
The graphics are noticeably improved.
Age of Kings is a chronological continuation of Age of Empires and its expansion, The Rise of Rome. The thing that sets the original as well as Age of Kings apart from other RTS games is the large number of technologies available to research combined with the fact that your empire moves through four distinct historical ages: the Dark Ages, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age, and the Imperial Age. Advancing to a new age opens up new buildings and technologies for your empire. Basically, it’s about as close to real-time Civilization as anyone has gotten, and the game’s full of options as a result.
Age of Empires II has on offer an impressive collection of fourteen playable civilizations from around the world. These civilizations aren’t drastically different, but they do offer subtle strategic variations for the shrewd player to exploit. The vikings, for instance, gain a tremendous bonus out of sea combat, and hence will be more efficient on coastal rather than desert maps. The French are famous for their cavalry charges while the barbaric Goths, known for their reliance on mass numbers to overwhelm, can fork out units faster and cheaper than most. Besides benefiting from special bonuses, cultures also posses their own special unit. The Britons have their famous Longbowmen, the Japanese command Samurai while the Persians have powerful War Elephants, to name a few.
Age Of Empires 2 Romans 3
Just as there is no real dominant civilization, there are no dominant units. The Teutonic Knights are very strong, but slow, which makes them easy prey for cavalry archers. The Mongol Mangudai (unique cavalry archers) are deadly to all infantry, but cannot hold up against foot archers or light cavalry. The Persian War Elephants are hard to kill and receive a bonus when attacking buildings, but they are very expensive and weak against cheap spearmen. Every unit, even the most expensive ones, have at least one critical weakness that you can exploit.
Rushes are also not as efficient in Age of Kings, or at least not in the buildings phase of earlier ages. You can only train basic militia in the Dark Ages, and they are not very strong, nor are resources easily accessible for players to pour everything into a large, disposable raiding party. Also, you can garrison your almost-defenseless villagers in the town center where they can usually make short work of a Dark Age raid. In the Feudal and Castle Ages, the civilizations have access to towers, walls, and castles that make it possible to set up strong defenses.
In the Imperial Age, your attack options open up and you get access to powerful siege engines, including the trebuchet, which can reduce a building to rubble very quickly but is virtually worthless against anything that isn’t stationary. In the long run, players who dig into their home town and stay there will find themselves running dry on resources by the Imperial Age. This is a good a time as any to go on the offensive.
Although the game really shines in multiplayer, there are also four campaigns (plus a tutorial) set around historical figures that loosely follow the major campaigns of those figures. Joan of Arc starts out a peasant girl who must raise an army and drive the British from France. Ghengis Khan must unite the various Mongol tribes into a single army before setting out on his conquests. The Saracen king, Saladin, has to bring the other Middle Eastern kingdoms into line before driving the Crusaders from the Holy Land. Finally, Frederick Barbarosa sets out to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire in the image of Charlemagne.
- You play both past and new missions from the campaign screen.
- A small Mongol village.
- The French and their extravagent Gothic cathedral.
The Ordeal of Command
One complaint you could throw at the original Age of Empires had nothing to do with the game itself, but with the advertising that showed armies arrayed in formation preparing to do battle. Unfortunately, Age of Empires, like many other RTS games, didn’t have the benefit of formations.
Age of Kings answers that complaint somewhat at least. When you grab a bunch of infantry and move them, they fall into a line for short moves or a column for long ones. If you grab different types of units like infantry, archers, and siege engines, they will fall into a logical formation with the most heavily armored units towards the front, ranged units next, and siege engines nestled in the rear.
It looks all very nice and organized during long marches, but the formation option has limited tactical value when swords and shields start clashing. Huge orderly armies quickly disband and work as individual units, and battles (especially large ones) once again degenerate into confusing click fests. Soldiers have short attention spans, so you must always shuffle control groups and constantly assign new targets just to keep your troops focused. The unit AI is overall improved from the first game, but is still a hassle to lead organized raids with.
Rally points are a positive addition over Age of Empires. Any structures that can build or garrison units can have a gather point set for them. Any unit created by that building will automatically head for the gather point, and if it is inside a building that the unit can enter, it will automatically garrison. The town center can set gather points on resources and newly created villagers will automatically start collecting that resource when created. This has since become one of the “must-have” features for all real-time strategy games.
While the interface allows for far better control of your armies, the AI is still the only major problem with the game. Never mind the behavior of your computer-controlled enemies, which are otherwise tolerable if a bit weird (eg: suicidal lone knights attacking Castles). The real issue here is when you command your own men who have a single-minded focus to kill whatever they see first. Leading large-scale raids into enemy towns is extremely frustrating because your army tends to split up and attack nearby buildings with complete abandon, ignoring more urgent threats. This entails that you babysit your army so they attack enemy soldiers first and buildings second, continually applying corrections as you go. Let them loose and it’s absolute mayhem with no hope of victory. Throw in a few catapults (which inexplicably inflict friendly splash damage) and you’re guaranteed to have a bad day.
The chaotic AI is only partly addressed by changing the unit behavior of the selected unit from ‘aggressive’ (default) to ‘defensive’, which makes them a little more manageable. Other options will turn your units completely inert, which in itself can have specific uses. For one thing, your catapults won’t launch boulders everywhere haphazardly, always killing your own men in the process. But there’s still no way of making soldiers ignore buildings and focus on just attacking other troops, and, when necessary, hostile Towers and Castles.
The less-than-ideal AI and extremely drawn out campaign missions are the only things keeping AoE 2 from a five-star rating, but it stands tall regardless. It looks great, is very well balanced, and is easy to get absorbed in. The game has more strategy and fewer mouse gymnastics than the average RTS game from the same period, and while it’s probably not the best RTS game ever made, it does offer some undeniable fun.
System Requirements: Pentium 166 Mhz, 32 MB RAM, Win 95/98/NT4/2000
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Tags: Free Download Age of Empires 2 The Age of Kings Full PC Game Review
Current Trainers:
Age of Empires II HD The Forgotten trainer +6 V3.0.1521.0
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V3.7.2608 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V3.8.2662 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V3.9.2684 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V4.2.681794 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V4.3.761340 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V4.4.846412 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V4.4.853101 Trainer +6//Removed crashing bug
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V4.4.856194 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V4.6.919850 Trainer +7
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V4.7.1289507 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V5.0.1527460 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V5.5.2046259 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V5.7.2449366 Trainer +6
Age Of Empires 2 HD Edition V5.8.3062235 Trainer +6
Options :
- Inf.Food
- Inf.Gold
- Inf.Stones
- Inf.Wood
- Pop Set To 0
- Unlimited Pop Limit
- God Mode
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