MaximumPC 2006 01

$50, http://www.ageofempires.com, ESRB: T

reviewsTESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

 MA XIMUMPC JANUARY 2006

I

f you are relatively new to strategy gaming

and you’re a history buff, Age of Empires

III is a no-brainer: It’s just about the most

gorgeous period RTS you’re going to find,

and its rock-solid gameplay will haunt your

waking hours. If you’ve been around the

RTS block a few times, however—specifi-

cally Ensemble Studios’ block, with AOE I

and II—you’re likely to be a bit disappointed

with this latest installment.

The game tracks the exploits of the Black

family as it explores the New World over a

period of 200 years. It begins with Maltese

knight Morgan Black in the 17th century,

picks up 100 years later with Black’s explorer

grandson, and wraps up with the spotlight

on Black’s great-great granddaughter in the

Industrial Age. Essentially, you trade in the

swords and pageantry of Age of Kings for

muskets, cannons, and mortars.

The story, told Warcraft III-style, features

in-game cinematics before and after mis-

sions. Hero characters lead troops in battle

and gain experience points that can be spent

on valuable resources down the road. The

gameplay is of the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix

it” variety: little has changed since AOE II.

Heck, even the AI feels the same. It’s chal-

lenging at times, but a bit anemic overall: The

AI tends to churn out a few units at a time to

harass you, rather than mustering its forces

for concentrated, tactical strikes.

There are some surface-level tweaks, such

as caches of loot that are scattered about

maps that you can “liberate” from their guard-

ians for the good of the home team. And stone

has been eliminated as a resource, leaving just

wood, gold, and food to gather. (The need to

construct resource drop-off points has also

been axed, thankfully.)

By far the most prominent addition is

the somewhat over-hyped Home City, which

acts as a support network throughout the

entire campaign. Your success in a given

mission translates into power for your Home

City, which in turn translates into upgrades

and resources you can call in during the next

mission. These boons come in the form of

playing cards you can use for a quick boost

to a vital resource, such as wood, a squad

of musketeers, or a cannon. And you can

upgrade the looks of your Home City, chang-

ing the appearance of buildings and the types

of people who inhabit it.

While the introduction of Magic the

Gathering-style mechanics into an RTS is

novel, it doesn’t feel like the Home City

element has a major impact on the core

single-player game. Typically, you still need

to build up your army and bases between

missions, and you can’t carry your units

over from one map to the next. The Home

City does have an impact on multiplayer,

however, as it introduces a major wild card

into the mix.

Graphically, there are no nits to pick:

AOE III is easily the most resplendent and

detailed RTS we’ve seen yet. Zoom in on

the action and you’ll continually see new

animations and unit interactions that amaze.

AOE III is also the first RTS to implement the

Havoc physics engine, which translates into

eye-popping building explosions and units

getting tossed about like rag dolls by can-

nonball explosions. Glorious—particularly if

you’ve got a widescreen monitor and the PC

muscle to push the pixels.

Backed by one of the best pedigrees

in the genre, AOE III features ultra-refined

gameplay, balanced units, impressive use of

rag-doll physics, and an interesting narrative.

Unfortunately, other than the extraordinary

graphical makeover, AOE III plays like a

rewarmed AOE II, or any other top RTS these

days. We would have liked to see as much

attention focused on implementing new, inno-

vative gameplay features as was obviously

focused on technical bells and whistles.

—STEVE KLETT

Age of

Empires III

Aka “AOE II with Better Graphics”

The settings and units might have changed, but the razing is the same.... This scene

should conjure up some déjà vu for AOE vets.

The Home City gives consistent sup-

port through each Act, and much needed

resources in missions, but it really doesn’t

alter the core gameplay much.

AGE OF EMPIRES III

BOSTON TEA PARTY

Awesome visuals, strong

story, deep single-player

campaign.

ENGLISH TEA PARTY^8

Core gameplay is very similar

to AOE II, repetitive missions,

and ho-hum AI.

Sea battles are overly simplistic, but they

really showcase the game’s new graphics

capabilities.