Age of Empires III

"Surprisingly good and delightfully innovative"

Although I originally thought that Age of Empires III would be a poor sequel to my much loved Age of Empires II, I was thoroughly proven wrong. The game has vastly improved on what were previously annoying mechanics and remains historically accurate and addictive.

Graphics: 9/10
Even running with a middle of the road graphics card by today's standards the battle effects were gorgeous and the maps were well rendered and detailed. Building animations were far more rounded out that in previous games and it is possible to even see the framing of the structures. Battle animations had effects such as smoke, fire blooms, and debris clouds. Characters in campaign cut scenes were very well done and engrossing. While not a stunner like some single player RPGs on the market RTS has never been primarily about the graphics.

Sound: 9/10
There is nothing more satisfying than the sound of buildings being razed, as long as they are not your own. The in game music like most looping sound tracks can become repetitive at times, as can the excessive repetition of villager and combat unit voice sets. The cheering after a successful battle does add to the feeling of being part of the action. Other sounds while repetitive were not annoying and signalled important events without being overly distracting from the play experience. The voice narration for campaign mode was rich and lifelike without the stilted ore wood nature sometimes too apparent in script reading in previous games.

Game Play: 10/10
The computer AI is greatly improved over past titles in the series, as is villager pathing. Some of the more tedious activities such as rebuilding farms have been eliminated as well as the need for building camps in order to collect resource. Campaigns may be long but they are throughly satisfying in the end. Rewards given for cumulative play experience, such as improvements to the home city encourage you to play long and hard. The online features an excellent laddered mode that makes it much easier than previous titles to match up by player skill.

Home cities and shipments integrate well into the game without feeling it is disjointed or disconnected from the rest of your empire. Computer players surrender easily enough that you will never find yourself mopping up one last villager, unless you want to, but never so easily that it does not feel like a hard won victory.

Replay: 10/10
The differences between civilizations and different strategies made available by home city cards lends itself very well to replaying. As does randomly generated maps and different computer AI strategies and personalities. The inclusion of a map editor, while an excellent idea, I found was not as well implemented as it could have been mostly due to a not so user friendly interface.

Overall: 10/10
Even if you were dubious about the idea of a home city, or you thought that a colonial game would not be as exciting as the middle ages. You owe it to yourself to pick this one up. Some of the unique systems such as home city level and advancement are so integrally fun that you wonder why no one ever did it before. Overall I was very impressed with this game and pleasantly surprised. It was worth every penny even at full retail price.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/03/07