Age of Empires III Review
19 October 2005 | By Kresimir
Age of Empires III is a good and entertaining game packed with truly amazing looking Age of Discovery World
When I got Age of Empires III I found myself extremly excited. As with most other games, this one was scheduled as another breakthrough in gaming. Age of Empires III would shift RTS borders yet again, but does it? We shall see.
In one instance it most certainly does, and that is as you can guess, the graphical part. It's unlike any I have seen so far in any RTS game. The world, the landscape, the people, the whole AOE III Age of Discovery worlds takes your breath away. It truly deserves the high score of 10 for graphics it recieved. Having said that, you of course cannot expect to run it on full graphical settings unless you have top of the line components in your current PC, as to fully experiece the game's capabilities you need a top processor and advanced video card. Luckily, you can lower the settings down, which is what most PC owners will do. What is the point then of all its glorious graphics? We should ask those lucky few that have top of the line PCs. So expect to enjoy the Age of Discovery era life recreated directly on to your PC, in all its richness, unlike ever seen before, either in little lower or little higher settings…
So what about the rest of AOE III? Well it is good. Campaign are devided into scenarios that are interesting and fun to beat. You will mostly have various missions and sub missions within each scenario. As an added touch you will have all sorts of treasures spread across the map, which you can recover if needed. They will be guarded always with pirates, soldiers or wild animals. I should mention here that I found it a real shame that wild animals are just for show, because they never killed any of my men. If they did, it would feel a lot more realistic and engaging.
And what about the general engagement in AOE III? Well AOE III A.I. is just overly easy to beat. It shows very little signs of tactics and any sort of planning. It is not disastrous but some issues must be fixed. To give you an example, when enemy peasants deplete all natural resources that they have close by, they will just move on to next ones, even if in middle of your base. The result is a senseless slaughter that just eats game experience away. Furthermore they will just keep on coming. But the A.I. will at least try to attack you, sometimes, from different sides. Just don’t expect any serious challenge from him. I would sacrifice all its fancy graphics just for a better and challenging A.I.. I am starting to wonder if ever we’ll see any good A.I..
In AOE III you will be building your bases, collecting resources either on land or on the sea, and increasing your forces to complete the task assigned in the scenario. Like in previous installments of Age of Empires games, here we also have 3 resources to collect and fight over: Coins, Wood and Food. Your entire campaign will have to be carried by having enough of each. You will be able to advance through ages and then improve various technologies that will speed up your resource collecting and all sorts of other things, from plain agricultural to raw militaristic upgrades. With each age you advance to you will gain new further technological upgrades.
There is one extra aspect in AOE III that previous AOE’s didn’t have, the home City. Home City acts as the base of your colony and it will supply you with shipments of any needed materials or men when you request of it. It will be taking care of you as a reward for successful progress through scenarios. It works through experience points. As many enemies you kill, as many trading routs you establish, you will receive experience points which you can then turn into vital supplies. Home City has been implemented just right. It isn’t complicated to use at all and makes the whole thing little extra fun.
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| The game is just beautiful |
Home town |
In one instance it most certainly does, and that is as you can guess, the graphical part. It's unlike any I have seen so far in any RTS game. The world, the landscape, the people, the whole AOE III Age of Discovery worlds takes your breath away. It truly deserves the high score of 10 for graphics it recieved. Having said that, you of course cannot expect to run it on full graphical settings unless you have top of the line components in your current PC, as to fully experiece the game's capabilities you need a top processor and advanced video card. Luckily, you can lower the settings down, which is what most PC owners will do. What is the point then of all its glorious graphics? We should ask those lucky few that have top of the line PCs. So expect to enjoy the Age of Discovery era life recreated directly on to your PC, in all its richness, unlike ever seen before, either in little lower or little higher settings…
So what about the rest of AOE III? Well it is good. Campaign are devided into scenarios that are interesting and fun to beat. You will mostly have various missions and sub missions within each scenario. As an added touch you will have all sorts of treasures spread across the map, which you can recover if needed. They will be guarded always with pirates, soldiers or wild animals. I should mention here that I found it a real shame that wild animals are just for show, because they never killed any of my men. If they did, it would feel a lot more realistic and engaging.
 |
 |
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| A lot of food! |
Trading posts in advanced age will have trains taking care of their transport |
And what about the general engagement in AOE III? Well AOE III A.I. is just overly easy to beat. It shows very little signs of tactics and any sort of planning. It is not disastrous but some issues must be fixed. To give you an example, when enemy peasants deplete all natural resources that they have close by, they will just move on to next ones, even if in middle of your base. The result is a senseless slaughter that just eats game experience away. Furthermore they will just keep on coming. But the A.I. will at least try to attack you, sometimes, from different sides. Just don’t expect any serious challenge from him. I would sacrifice all its fancy graphics just for a better and challenging A.I.. I am starting to wonder if ever we’ll see any good A.I..
In AOE III you will be building your bases, collecting resources either on land or on the sea, and increasing your forces to complete the task assigned in the scenario. Like in previous installments of Age of Empires games, here we also have 3 resources to collect and fight over: Coins, Wood and Food. Your entire campaign will have to be carried by having enough of each. You will be able to advance through ages and then improve various technologies that will speed up your resource collecting and all sorts of other things, from plain agricultural to raw militaristic upgrades. With each age you advance to you will gain new further technological upgrades.
 |
 |
|
| Swamp | And the battle |
There is one extra aspect in AOE III that previous AOE’s didn’t have, the home City. Home City acts as the base of your colony and it will supply you with shipments of any needed materials or men when you request of it. It will be taking care of you as a reward for successful progress through scenarios. It works through experience points. As many enemies you kill, as many trading routs you establish, you will receive experience points which you can then turn into vital supplies. Home City has been implemented just right. It isn’t complicated to use at all and makes the whole thing little extra fun.
AGE OF EMPIRES III VERDICT
Age of Empires III is a good and entertaining game packed with truly amazing looking Age of Discovery world. If you have a thing for this great age and RTS games, you should pick Age of Empires III for sure. It will give you many hours of joy. If only A.I. was better…
TOP GAME MOMENT
Naval combat for sure as ships blow up in a spectacular fashion.
