Age of Empires III

"Am i the only one that thinks the demo was better?"

(updated)
Overview: 9/10
Don't get me wrong, Age of Empires III is still by far the one of the best games I've ever played (I'm including console games too). But the demo had the exploding buildings when you destroyed them (I'm a bit of a pyromaniac so that meant a lot to me). But other than that the game is awesome, the campaign mode was a little lacking previous Age of Empires titles had many different mostly unrelated campaigns but this one only had 1 very long and very complex campaign. ES online too is very well done except for one thing, every CD code could only make one profile. What happens if you take the game to EB games or another used games store, and sell it? The next person has no ES Online unless you put your login information in the game! (Not that I'd ever sell this game but it's a flaw).

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics in AOE III were done very well I especially like how you can turn the detail up (or down for older computers) so the appearance ranges almost from a helicopter view all the way down to a time before AOE I.

Game play: 9/10
The Age of Empires III game play engine as they said on the site is completely revolutionary, you have more control, in my opinion, than in any other game (again console games included) training units in 5's was a good touch, because really training 1 guy at a time, common how unrealistic is that? You have intelligent AI's (I've been killed more than once in a 6-2 game on hardest and that's hard to do) a really good feature.

Sound: 10/10
This game has the most realistic sound engine I've ever seen (or rather heard) on a PC game. The cheering when you win a battle the sound of battle muskets, artillery, cannons unbelievable. Ambient noises were also very, very well done. The music, I don't know where to start! It's all done amazingly well and the fact that they still have the classic theme, awesome!

Map editor: 6
The map editor I didn't like that much.... the old map editors were made so that the dumbest person in the world could still make a decent map. Now with this one its like they just took the mapping tool they used for all the random and campaign levels put an attractive skin on it and through it in the game at the last minute! It takes a while to get used to it and you really need to spend a while just messing around with it before you understand all of the ins and outs.

Replay ability: 10/10
What can I say like all of its predecessors it has the quality of infinite replay-ability.

Online: 9/10 (no effect on total score)
Great! The only problem I found was that every CD code only supports 1 profile, seems like a good idea, but what if you sell the game. The next person has no online!

Final verdict: Keeper, on for the ages so to speak. (Well until they come out with the next one which will be even better....hopefully)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/06, Updated 02/22/06