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October 17, 2005 -
You know what I love best about this website? Lying to you. Okay, so...apparently, my hosting package ended and I had to renew. Coupled with a 10 day god-given vacation of rest, I did not post a review for Marvel Nemesis. But I will! Just not today, and certainly not "next" as specified by the previous update. Instead, we're going to bring you the full review of Age of Empires III for the PC, in preparation for its release this week. With us is new addition, Chris, who will, until further notice or choosing of his name, be referred to as Padawan Biscuit. Padawan Biscuit also does not have an avatar yet, so I'm using a halfassed one in spite of him. Enjoy! -Don
Indulge me, if you will, on a little nostalgia trip. The year is 1999, and you are sitting in front of your PC, enjoying the glorious offerings of strategy games from the masters... Blizzard, Sid Meyer, and Microsoft. ...wait a minute. Microsoft!? How the hell did they get put on that list. We all know them for some really conquering first person shooters, and perhaps a little more well known operating system line, but surely their contribution to the strategy game lineage is not quite so auspicious. Then came the sequel to cult classic, Age of Empires. Age of Empires II, and its expansion The Conquerers broke off a substantial piece of the strategy gaming realm with Blizzard quality graphics, expansive game play, mature audio multiplayer insults, (such as "RAIDING PARTY!", "Nice town... I'll take it!", "Ulululu!", and "Wood please!" just a second can I retr--) and a replay factor so high, I'm playing it right now. (45 minutes later) Ah... yes... in any case. Microsoft, in their idea theft haste, stole Capcom's utterly brainless idea to delay releasing the third game in the series for years after the popularity of the game had died down. Luckily, they were smart enough to not release the ill-fated Super Age of Empires II Turbo Alpha Second Edition Perfect, which apparently only replaced the Spanish with Cyber-Spanish, making an already embarrassingly overpowered villian even more cheesier. Also on the chopping block was a bomb which would have pitted Age of Empires II civilizations against the Zerg and Protoss. Luckily, Blizzard was too busy sucking money out of the 15 year old MMORPG demographic at large to help with the project. In another stroke of good luck, Age of Empires III delivers on the promise of a fresh gaming experience. Unlike so many other sequels, the game does not try to do either of the following: 1. Redefine the series in a completely opposite, and often over complex, direction. 2. Revolutionize the genre.... again. Instead, the core of the solid gaming experience from Age of Empires II has been left intact, and the exterior been given the required aesthetic makeover. However, luckily for the more financially burdened gamers, the minimum system requirements are a paltry 1.4 GHz, and 256 MB of RAM, the standard as of about two years ago* (Don is grieving right now because of his system specs, just leave him alone, he'll drink himself to sleep). The gameplay core is easily recognizable by veteran gamers, and has just enough new extras to make the storyline worth playing through a few times. Some new features include: 1. An experience based "card" extra system. Gameplay over time, killing enemies, and setting trading posts to experience gathering will increase your "level" which can be used to buy cards which are essentially resources, units, and buildings. There is a great variety of diferent cards, and you have a limit on how many you can have. This leaves both the single player game and the multiplayer game customizable beyond just picking a distinct civilization. 2. Home town building. This is not only an in-scenerio process, but now also takes place between games. Building up your town to new levels allows you to unlock more powerful cards to use in game. This is unobtrusive and quick enough that you don't spend a lot of time here, just enough to make it interesting. 3. As the entire game is now placed squarely in the Imperial to Post-Industrial Age, guns have become a large part of the game. As such, the entire "Unit Triangle" has been changed to become more complex. Each of the three major groups: calvary, infantry, and artillery, now have subgroups and more resistances and weakneses. However, it seems, at least, in the demo that the effectiveness/usefullness of artillery has declined slightly. One this is for certain, three battalions of special units and four trebuchets are guaranteed to be cut down by the AI in short order. 4. The game AI has been improved upon. Now not only does it have the ability to have seven archers shoot at you and then run in fifteen directions, but it has acquired the tried and true tactics of the early rush, resource hogging, and defensive warfare. Each civilization also now has leaders and personality which can affect strategy. This is just a sample of the new features, all of which are integrated very nicely into the old system. Even familiar players will enjoy the challenge of mastering new strategies. In summary, you now have to beat the game AI, rather than defending until your 199 (still have to have that last peasant, just in case) conquistadors/cataphracts/janisaries come flooding out of the gate like a scene from The Return of the King. The strategy has been upped a notch, and that always makes for a better gameplay experience. This game will do nothing to revolutionize the RTS game area, but quite frankly, it doesn't need to. With the customization options added, the multiplayer mode will explode into the age where a null modem cable is no longer required to actually fight someone else. Quite frankly, it turns me on just thinking about it, and thats not the Requiem For a Dream overture doing the talking. Microsoft may have made us wait for an ungodly, and quite frankly nearly unjustified amount of time, but their peace offering is definitely enough to slake your thirst for world wide destruction. ...and I assure you, after having His Royal Shortness himself Napoleon Bonaparte make cracks about your mother, you will want to unleash all holy hell upon the French bastards that ever allowed their odor to waft on to the New World. The standard edition is coming out October 18th. The collectors edition is slated for the 25th. The Bittorrent file has been out for about four days now. (For an interview with one of the developers and some tasty screen shots, Chris highly recommends: http://www.gamedaily.com/general/aoe3hub/article.asp?section=feature&article_id=722) *In case you were wondering, the game was tested on my 4.2 GHz Athlon XP Dual Core, with 2.5 GB of RAM and a GeForce 6800 GT card, so as far as backing up this statement... I'm not. Buy a better computer or cry. That is all. Update! So, taking advantage of the third purchase option from the previous review, I have acquired an early copy of Age of Empires III. As Don has been a demanding slave driver, I have provided him with an update to the already glimmering review of the demo. (He's still bitter he can't play it on his machine...) Here goes, we'll throw in some numerics now, since we have a full copy... Graphics: I mentioned the aesthetic overhaul. Now, by no means is this a graphical feast. The character animations haven't improve a whole lot since six years ago, and let's be honest, that's a fuckload of time to improve, and they were already ahead of the game. The landscapes however are well detailed, if not a little lacking in landtype variety. Among all of this is the high point of sea battles. Due to the improved physics engine (see interview) these look utterly spectacular. I didn't even *like* the sea warfare part of AOEII, and now I cannot get enough of watching 6 galleons placidly annihilate fishing boats. It's like ducks in a barrel... if the barrel were being shot at by a broadside of a English galleon, and you were watching in bullet time, next to the barrel. The fact of the matter remains... in 2005, we have the technology capability for much more realistic graphics, and I think it was sacrificed for low-end gamers. Understandable, but not helping their score, nor Don's lack of a computer that can run XP. 7/10 Sound: I'll be brief. My on-board 7.1 surround sound is just awesome. If it would work. In short, I haven't heard the sound. RTS games are not known for their OST, and quite frankly, it's probably too much to ask in any case. There is full audio voice taunts and such, and that's all a guy could ask for in a hot battle of wits with seven other players. 8/10 Interface: This hasn't changed much since AOEII, AOM, or Rise of Nations, and so there's no surprises here. There are a few little annoyances as far as ease of navigation or command is concerened, but after a bit of a learning curve, those familiar with the series will cope. As far as new players, unless you've never played a RTS game ever, the GUI is intuitive, and should not pose a problem learning. The designers do a good job of keeping the player in the action, rather than searching for a button. Hot keys pretty much take up the entire keyboard, and an expert player will have them memorized within a week. 9/10 Longetivity: Full scenario editor, online multiplayer, expansion pack already planned. If you get bored with this game in the first year, RTS is just not for you, buddy. (cf: Note about still playing AOEII in previous review) 10/10 Options/Bells and Whistles: While the options are not exactly bulging out of the box, there's more than enough here to keep a gamer customizing his game. The home city/card system is like strategy in a can, and be sure that this will affect online game play styles. Each empire does have little quirks that you can exploit (I've heard that the Dutch are sickeningly easy to play because of their money gathering capabilities) but I expect that most of the main exploits will be nerfed in the first patch. The main customization here comes in the AI you play against if you choose the computer. 8/10 Gameplay: Of course, the most important aspect of an RTS. The gameplay. Buttery smooth, baby. Combat has been changed a bit, but only to increase the strategy behind unit formation and creation. There are already more tactics out on the message boards than there were in AOEII, and this is nine days before the release date. Sea warfare is now more strategical than just picking the Vikings and destroying everyone else's navy. On top of all of this, the more powerful units now have their own tactical abilities, and so do the heroes (did I mention them?). Economy has been streamlined a little, and now includes an experience based system of rewards. A crucial moment could bring much needed relief supplies, providing for even more of an exciting gameplay experience. Villagers are, unfortunately, still blissfully ignorant of their surrounding. They will gather (they don't have to bring it back anywhere anymore, which is a plus) but once it runs out they still stand around and do nothing to inform you. Well, save placing a banner up to where your formation hotkeys are. Which, in the heat of battle, may be more of a hinderance than anything. They also don't respond well to attack, which they tend to ignore while gathering resources. It would be nice if they had a sense of self-preservation. The most annoying thing about the entire combat dynamic is that while walking, units act like villagers. They will blindly continue walking while being attacked until they reach their destination. Would attack/move be so hard? Starcraft had it... in 1998...!? Overall though, I'm pleased that this aspect didn't get a total overhaul. Don't fix what you haven't yet broken. 9/10 Overall: 8.3/10 I think that there will always be the holdouts that are completely unable to cope with change and will cry foul when their favorite RTS system is twiddled with against their will. What *are* those developers thinking anyway. However, this release is solid, and quite long overdue. I'm interested to see what more an expansion will bring. Unfotunately, the Byzantines, historically, had been wiped out by this time, so no expansion are ever bringing back either my Saracens or Byzantines. I highly recommend this game for any fan of the series, or of the genre. First person shooter addicts need not apply. -Chris
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Master Biscuit
Padawan Biscuit