Those who are looking for a strategy game complex and interesting real-time with fantastic good looks and some historical flavor will find exactly what they want in Age of Empires III.Six years have flown by since Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings became one of the games final RTS market. Age of Kings featuring this style of game in many respects, but it innovated and improved the style in many others, establishing the template for countless historical strategy games in real time in the future. After the successful spin-off that was Age of Mythology, Ensemble Studios is back with a new installment of the series that put the name of the developers on the map. Age of Empires III advances the series hundreds of years into the future, trading swordsmen and catapults for musketeers and cannons, while maintaining the formula of the series' signature basically intact. In addition, the game features some beautiful pictures and an interesting twist, witty in its persistent "home city" system. So it's unfortunate that the real meat and potatoes combat of Age of Empires III was not better, as it should be the most fun and exciting this game is actually the part that feels like it has been the least number of improvements.
You'll need more than Three Musketeers to win a typical skirmish in the new world of Age of Empires III. Make no mistake, Age of Empires III is still an awesome game in general. But fans with fond memories of the previous game will be felt nostalgia for that game. Part of the reason may be purely subjective. The colonial setting of Age of Empires III, which focuses on hypothetical conflicts between European powers vying for control of the New World (ie, an unfettered North and South America), presents a subtler culture clash, say, samurai fighting Persian war elephants. And the transition through five different ages that occur in the game, culminating in the industrial age (when locomotives and mass production became a reality), are radically different in terms of gameplay, as the magic of gunpowder is available from the start. However, a look at either Age III majestic galleons firing all broadsides or horse-drawn cannons preparing a deadly cargo should be all the convincing you need that this is a welcomed direction the series to take.
Age of Empires III is every bit the game with all the features that are expected to be, with a long single player campaign in three interconnected acts, each a generation away. There is a fully customizable skirmish mode with five difficulty levels the computer opponent, there is the possibility of network play, and, of course, is the player ESOnline matching service, where you can compete in ranked matches online, chat with other players, and more. There is also a scenario editor, if you want to create your own maps or campaigns, plus some encyclopedic information about all units in the game, structures, cultures, circumstances, etc.. A tutorial is there to teach the basics, and you can also play a practice match in which a narrator gently reminds useful things you're basically forgetting to do. The game looks dramatically different on the surface, but much of the Age of Empires formula remains completely intact.
At the end, Age of Empires III plays a lot like Age II. Is simplified in a number of ways from the past game that fans will notice and appreciate especially quickly, but the overall flow of the game is still very similar. You are in charge of a young colony in the New World, and workers must implement its city center, which can build new structures and harvest game three resources: food, wood and coin. Stone, who was a fourth resource in Age II, is no longer a factor, and you do not have to worry about creating resource drop sites this time (settlers sent to chop wood, for example, or just cut without even returning to a center or lumberyard). A market structure centralizes economic upgrades, and mills and plantations can be built to produce an endless supply of food and coins, respectively. So after a game, you can safely stop worrying about your micromanaging resource gathering - at least until your enemies attack and damage its economic base.Meanwhile, additional homes should be built to support a growing population, and the walls and defensive structures can be used to repel guerrilla tactics. Military forces are mainly composed of infantry, cavalry and artillery, and are trained in other structures. Most military units can be queued up to five at a time, so rather than produce musketeers one by one, you can build a group - provided you have the resources. Presumably this is what allows you to gather some defenses if caught by surprise, but it is strange that the same amount of time it takes to train a soldier needed to train five. You can effectively get an interest-free loan by training your first troop, and then wait until it is almost ready before quickly queuing up four more. So in a normal game, you will spend considerable time building its base and its economy, eventually marshaling a mixed group of forces that try to crush your enemy. Dancing between its economy and army, as micromanagement of every one of them, is the key to victory. While the game's interface makes it very easy to keep track of what is happening on these fronts, manual dexterity is still the key to success, both in preparing for combat and are made in it. A lot of buildup can end very quickly if opponents are not evenly matched, while equally skilled opponents may be in the other's throat for over an hour in the Age of Empires III typical game.
The battles between large forces are chaotic, and the frame rate can jam too. Micromanage your way to victory! The game offers a lot of features of the interface allowing you to watch everything, but when you get to the fight, things are more chaotic and less true to life than you probably expected. Groups of units automatically form columns, as might be expected (in the front infantry, artillery in the back), and move at the speed of the slowest unit. Unfortunately, when the order to attack, they still move more slowly than the same. So to establish its cavalry charge into battle, you must order it separately from his crossbow, and so on.
The game offers a lot of features of the interface allowing you to watch everything, but when you get to the fight, things are more chaotic and less true to life than you probably expected. Groups of units automatically form columns, as might be expected (in the front infantry, artillery in the back), and move at the speed of the slowest unit. Unfortunately, when the order to attack, they still move more slowly than the same. So to establish its cavalry charge into battle, you must order it separately from his crossbow, and so on.
The game offers a lot of features of the interface allowing you to watch everything, but when you get to the fight, things are more chaotic and less true to life than you probably expected. Groups of units automatically form columns, as might be expected (in the front infantry, artillery in the back), and move at the speed of the slowest unit. Unfortunately, when the order to attack, they still move more slowly than the same. So to establish its cavalry charge into battle, you must order it separately from his crossbow, and so on.The premise imperialist Age of Empires III sets most unique feature of the game: the concept that having a city home to care for his fledgling colony. At any time during the game, you can immediately cut to his hometown, which occasionally will send aid in the form of excess resources, economic and military improvements and reinforcements. You can access these posts to gain experience points, which happens automatically as you build your base and - better yet - kill enemies and blow up their buildings. Different shipments at different times (beginning, you can get only modest economic increases while later you can get guns and cavalry), and most can only be used once. So you always have to consider policy options, as if it is best to call in reinforcements to mount an offensive or maintain best mounting option on whether his enemy ambush. The delivery system is both user-friendly and interesting, and also thankfully promotes somewhat of a more aggressive, more forgiving gameplay of Age of Empires II.
The concept of city of residence is a new addition to Age of Empires, and helps instill a sense of permanence to every victory - and every defeat, and the losers still gain experience. What's more, his hometown, is standing on the experience you get from one party to another all adds gradually give access to more and more shipping options. You unlock these as "card" whenever his hometown acquires a level of experience. More powerful cards are available only when the city reaches level 10 (which can be reached after that number of matches), and the strongest are available at level 25. Some cards have prerequisites, too, so that the system is similar to a skill tree in an RPG.Age of Empires III has big shoes to fill, and on top of that, the market of RTS has grown tremendously competitive, largely due to past achievements Ensemble Studios. This new game offers much of what made Age II so great, and has plenty of depth and lasting appeal, despite how most parties tend to start and eventually succeed similarly. Age III looks surprisingly rough around the edges in some respects, and they expect the game to revolutionize and upgrade even this style of play can come away disappointed that their expectations were not met. But those looking for a strategy game complex and interesting real-time with fantastic good looks and some historical flavor will find exactly what they want in Age of Empires III.
SYSTEM REQUIRMENTS
Processor= 1.4GHzRAM= 256MB
Graphics= 64MB
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