Age of Empires II: Age of Kings (PC Game)

Age of Empires II: Age of Kings (PC Game)

Reviewed by Brian Schell

The original Age of Empires (AOE) is one of the highest-ranking games in nearly every real-time strategy gamer's collection. With its random map creation, wealth of civilizations and races, long technology trees and excellent graphics, it's still very good three years after its original release. It's also one of the few games I still regularly played up to the very day the sequel was released. Does the sequel meet expectations and add to the experience of the original?

Yup. The new units and civilizations add enough new twists to keep things interesting while still keeping the "feel" of the original. There are now 13 unique civilizations, each complete with different building and character graphics, unique "hero" characters like Joan of Arc and William Wallace, and civilization-specific "super units." Also added are production queues for unit creation, waypoints so that your men can be created and walk to a staging area, and the new town alarm that brings your units running if the center of town is attacked.

My own favorite feature from the original AOE, random map creation, has been improved with new map types and even larger map sizes. The campaigns are great, but eventually you beat them. This single feature is what kept me interested in the game for longer than most. With random maps, AOE is great even long after the main campaigns have been defeated.

The standout unit in AOE2 is the Trebuchet. This weapon is essentially an advanced evolution of the catapult, able to hurl huge payloads greater distances and causing more damage than any other unit in the game. In most other games, this type of unit is designed to be defensively weak and easily destroyed, but the AOE2 Trebuchet is surprisingly tough. True, a few upgraded swordsmen can still destroy one in a short time, but its tough enough to take a few hits while defensive units arrive on the scene. A favorite tactic of mine is to build three trebuchets and move them with a small defensive force near the enemy. With three of them targeting the same building one shot apiece will smash a house. Two or three shots will take out nearly any other building. The enemy will quickly turn all his nearby defensive units against your assault group, but it takes very little time for the trebuchets to clear large areas of the map. By the time they have defeated your defensive units and the three trebuchets, you've hopefully done serious damage to his production facilities. If you can manage it, create two teams like these and attack from two fronts.

One of the best new defensive moves is to ring the town bell. All villagers working nearby, usually farmers, will run to the town square and hide inside. While hiding, they can pelt the invading army with arrows. This feature virtually prevents the classic "grunt rush" too early in the game.

Stupid trick: In multiplayer mode, early in the game, take a lone villager and build a wall around the other player's town center. It won't work on an opponent twice, but you'll be sure to get a laugh!

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings By Microsoft

Requires: Pentium 166 w/32Mb Ram, 2MB Local Bus Video w/800x600 Res.

For More Info: http://www.microsoft.com/games/products.asp?filter=age2