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There is nothing terribly new or original here, but if you need to feed your RTS hunger, Age of Empires III is a steak dinner with a side of fries.

Age of Empires III is Ensemble Studios' attempt at regaining the RTS crown. I think they have succeeded in a few areas and failed in others. As for taking the crown, let’s just say it’s more of a prince than a king.



Age of Empires III gives the player a great single player game and traditional multiplayer options. The age for this iteration is around the time of the European powers bumping into the New World. Players can play as: Spanish, British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, German, and Ottoman civilizations.



The new “brainstorm” idea for AoE III is the implementation of Home Cities to each civilization. Now this isn’t a new idea for a historical “conquer the world” game. Sid Meier’s Colonization used the home city idea back in the DOS days of gaming. Basically, the more xp you obtain the more gameplay options you receive from your home city. Players gain xp by killing enemies, trade, and discovery.



Cards are bought with xp from the home cities. These cards players buy have certain perk trees that can be accessed. For instance, a player would be able to buy cards that make a civilization a power house in military, economics, or politics. These home city options can be saved and carried over into multiplayer battles.



Single player battles consist of following Morgan Black to the new world. Morgan Black is a member of the dwindling ranks of the Knights of St. John. Morgan embarks on a journey to the new world to prevent an ancient order from finding the fountain of youth.



Players follow Morgan and his descendants until the times of the American Revolution. The single player mission story is pretty entertaining. I’m glad Ensemble Studios made an effort to tell a cohesive story. Most of the missions are your standard “build and destroy” scenarios. I enjoyed the sea battles the most. AoE III sea battles reminded me of the fun I had playing Sid Meier’s Pirates.



The new havoc physics engine really gives the battles a visceral feel to them. No canned destruction animations here people! I got a little teary eyed when I saw the cannons rip through infantry for the first time. Little graphical touches of destruction really add to the gameplay.



Players’ settlers gather without having to return to a resource drop-off point. Hero units have special attacks ala’ Warcraft III. The game feels more like an upgrade than a new game, but I think RTS fans will be pleased.



Multiplay is pretty intense, everyone is trying to ally with players and Native American npcs. I don’t know if it was the group I played with or standard fare, but there was a lot of backstabbing going on. I think it was my shifty friends.



You can play multiplayer games on your LAN or through Ensemble Studios Online. ESO is Ensembles version of battlenet. When a player starts their ESO account, they have a default player level. The more a player wins the higher their skill level becomes, making it easier to find a worthy opponent.



Overall, I think AoE III is a great addition to any RTS library. Yes it has some of the old rehashed game mechanics, but I think straying to far from formula would alienate player base. So if you’re thirsting for a good RTS, pick up Age of Empires III.


Review by Jared Gooch.