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Not recommended for AOE2 fans, but still a decent game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: June 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When I first played this game a few months ago, I immediately wrote it off as a complete and total failure. Compared to its illustrious predecessor, AOE3 is extremely limited in scope. Where's the awe and wonder in seeing your cavemen being transformed into pikeman when transitioning from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age? I was hoping for a sequel closer in majesty and scope to Rise of Nations or Empire Earth 2. The developers certainly have the expertise and the ambition to do that.

Instead, Ensemble Studios, sensing that Stainless Steel and others had already trodden that path, decided to explore a more contained and eventful era - the exploration of the new world. The result is a game lacking in the scope and grandeur of AOE2, but surprisingly fun to play - providing you can get over or dismiss the lack of realism.

The most important issue to overlook is the more self-contained and utilitarian building choices in AOE3. For instance, Instead of 3 separate buildings for refinding your gold, metal and wood, you have a single market building in which you can research resource gathering refinements in all 3 areas. Or having your villagers gather resources without having to travel to a resource gathering point. This makes it easier to coordinate gameplay, but isn't as realistic. In fact, there are quite a few areas where the developers have sacrificed any sense of reality for gameplay convenience.

Another minor nitpick I have with AOE3 is the way the "City Cards" concept was presented. Instead of having a limited view of the City Harbor, I wish they had implemented a majestic view of the entire city instead.

In conclusion, it's obvious that Ensemble Studios have turned AOE3 into a much faster paced game, in order to compete with Dawn of War or Warcraft 3. Instead, the result is a game lacking in that sense of reality that made AOE2 such an in-depth and lengthy experience to play. I wouldn't call AOE3 a classic, but it has enough merits that it can stand on its own.

An Excellent Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 19
Date: October 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let me start off by saying this: DON'T BE SWAYED BY THE AWFUL REVIEWS HERE. Most of the problems people had that they are complaining about in reviews here only apply to a small percentage of people who got the game. In other words, most people didn't have problems because of Windows 2000 because most people didn't get this game with Windows 2000 computers. And people with choppy gameplay and such, well their computers are just awful apparently. I played for hours so far on a 2 GHZ comp with 512 MB ram and a 256 graphics card with NO choppiness whatsoever, at all, on almost max settings. Either people have problems changing settings or their computer is terrible. But anyway, on to the game...

The game is awesome. Although most of what I have done is skirmish mode so far, I have played almost all of the sides for at least one full game, in addition to everything in the demo before it came out. The graphics are incredible, and the thrill one gets from seeing your cannons blast away the enemy is awesome. The sides all have a unique feel to them, and have many different unit selections and economic advantages. The game is a thrill to play, and is extremely entertaining with plenty to do in each map. The home cities are spiffy and exciting, with plenty to send, and, I would imagine, plenty to customize eventually. The physics are incredible, with cannon balls rolling and bouncing in a manner reminiscent of The Patriot, buildings falling apart as they are hit, and trees falling over. Men throw torches at buildings instead of shooting them until they blow up like in Age of Empires 2, and it is very exciting to watch infantry and cavalry duke it out. The game truly feels like Age of Empires 2 and 1 to me, both of which I played since they were released to the present. The game works very similarly, but has a refreshing setting and excellent graphics. Age of Empires 3 is an awesome game!

Jameson L Thottam: Review of Age of Empires release

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 23
Date: November 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Jameson L Thottam: Summary Review of Age of Empires

Microsoft's Age of Empires has long been considered to be the pinnacle of the RTS gaming world alongside other equally deserving titles as Blizzard's Starcraft. Like many other hugely successful titles before it, the emergence of clones should come as no surprise. It is a huge improvement over its now ancient-looking predecessor, featuring superior graphics & sound. In spite of all these upgrades though, there are still several flaws which tend to limit the game's overall playability. Among them include a somewhat low-set population limit. Further details on the issue will be discussed in the gameplay section below. Graphics is always the first on the agenda.

Graphics: Jameson Luke Thottam
Veterans of the original Age of Empires will find the graphics in to be more than just simple eye candy; some of them might even start drooling over their keyboards after seeing how detailed the buildings & units are compared to the ones in its prequel. The structures you get in are comparatively larger & more refined. The detail in the landscape is rich & nicely laid out. Each of its civilizations sports a unique style of architecture; you get to see nice old English castles while playing the Britons & ornate looking Oriental palaces when playing the Chinese or Japanese. The ships, though nicely drawn tend to look a little off at times. I often compare them to the more richly detailed ones found in Cossacks European Wars, from which those in look as if they could use a little brushing up. Overall grade: B+

Sound: Jameson Thottam
Perhaps the biggest complaint with AOK lies with its rather lowly sound department. Although AOK has a huge vocab derived from the speech of each one of its civilizations, the effects you get during an actual game is somewhat sparse. The music replays itself over & over again, giving the player a bit of a monotonous feel. Additionally, the in-game tunes aren't as catchy as the ones you get in Cossacks. Almost all the tunes have somewhat of a mellow medieval flavor, which some might consider a nice touch while others like me would opt for something a little more upbeat. Overall grade: C-

Gameplay: Jameson L. Thottam
As mentioned in the first paragraph, a list of nifty improvements does not make AOK a perfect game. There are still several issues that require some attention. While most may feel comfortable with the newly set 200 unit population limit, others might still complain that it's a little too low to mount a decent offensive. The lowly set population limit prevents players from building large armies & engaging in massive invasions as seen in titles like Cossacks. A squad of 150 isn't going to do much compared to say an army of 2000 or more. This is why most campaigns in AOK tend to drag on for days without an end in sight.

Itdoes require a moderate level of micro management. Farms do not rejuvenate so you'd have to rebuild them every now and then after they get exhausted. This can be a bit of a pain, especially when you're engaged in a seige against an enemy. Being told you're out of food halfway during a heated battle is not something you'd want to experience. The player is then faced with a dilemma on whether to leave the scene of battle ( thus risking his troops ) to go plant some crops, or continue on. The AI can be surprisingly strong at times making you wonder if the CPU is actually cheating behind your back. Then again you could always cheat back by typing in special keywords in the chat-box. One such cheat even allows you to build yourself a souped up Shelby Cobra complete with twin machine guns to mow down those annoying little invaders.

CPU Tactics: Jameson Thottam
The tactics employed by the CPU controlled opponents can be a little tricky at times. A favorite method of deception would be to falsely petition for an alliance in an attempt to buy some time then stabbing you in the back after building itself a fairly large army. There is an option at the start of the game where you are able to pick your teams & enemies. If you're playing a 6 player game, you may adjust sides according to your preferences; it can be 2 against 4, 3 against 3 or maybe 5 against 1.

Camapign Editor: Jameson Luke Thottam
The campaign editor is a cool feature that allows you to create your own scenarios & campaigns. Creating a custom campaign may take up sometime but it's well worth the effort once you've beaten every one of the pre-set in game scenarios. Overall grade: B

Summary: Jameson Thottam

It is one title no RTS fan should be without. It's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the original AOE or others like Starcraft. The game works fine on higher end processors so you might want to make sure to have at least something over 600 Mhz for it to run smoothly. Believe me, you don't want to be running this based on its minimum system requirements. Final Grade: B

Jameson Luke Thottam

Just a big let down

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: December 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've loved AOE since the first installment and had been looking forward to AOE 3 for years. Unfortunately it turns out to be a huge dissapointment. Everyone else has mentioned the bugs and ridiculous system requirements to get the game working properly but these aside, the gameplay is just truly awful. I AOE 2, you could build a large, realistic looking and balanced army, in AOE 3 its just a rabble of very similar units that are impossible to organise. The maps are too small, the explorer unit is just plain pointless, resource gathering is not what it used to be and the trading posts are annoying to say the least. The main strength of AOE 2 was that it was open to multiple different types of play, from rushers, to stay at home economy builders, but in AOE 3 you have one set way to play and if you don't do it you lose.

Overall, although not quite as much of a let down as Championship Manager 5, I'd strongly advise you steer well clear of this.

Age of Empires 3

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game has very good graphics. A couple new features are alright. Makes things a little bit more involved and gives you a reason to keep playing the game to earn things. I beat the game pretty quickly. The music is different. There's much more variety with that which is nice. Because the old game, the music got old very fast! The game playing style is basically the same with the commands and things. One thing that I dont like about the game, is that it gets kinda boring and old after awhile. It seems like you could only play it for so long, then you get sick of it and put it away for months. Overall I reccommend the game if you are a fan of the previous versions. Kinda pricey though since it just came out. I dont think its anything to get your hopes up for.

Don't bother unless you prefer single player

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: October 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you enjoy single player only, then it's a great game.
However if you intended to play multiplayer, don't bother.
The server has been down repeatedly. The game gives you "xp" , or experience points, which decides which level Home City you have.
At this point in time, if you're one of the lucky ones, you will receive the xp you have earned, most of us however, haven't received our xp.
Under the chat browser, there are chat rooms listed that promise ways to fix the xp problem, however the ES people then say there is no way to fix them, yet they leave the chat rooms so people remain confused.
There are only a few hundred people average on the server, the most it's hit is probably 1,110, while early morning US hours, there are usually around 30-40 people...
If ES can't handle so few people, what are they going to do when more people try to join?

Didn't Work!!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 17
Date: January 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought AOE III from my local Future Shop with so much anticipation. When I brought it home, my Compaq couldn't load it. I finally figured out that there was an error on the CD. I exchanged it for another copy and guess what? Another error. I've since played it on other computers and although I like the interface, it always runs very slowly. Overall, it's not worth the trouble. I'd rather waste my time playing something else (*Kingdom Hearts for PS2*)

Fun, worth the money!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: January 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I think the game is great, with all the races with special units of their own, hidden treasures with guardians, I like muskets alot. Also, the trading post thing is cool. I'm just a bit ADD so it's kind of drawn out. I managed to beat the campaign and it was great how the acts are set up. The graphics are beautiful for an RTS too. But, there are places it could improve. The campaign story gets kind of repetative through the acts, and the few ages are fun but also get repetative. If you liked the other AoE games, you will love this one! Well worth the money I shelled out for it!

Age of Empires III, Best Real Time Strategy Game Ever...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: June 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have greatly enjoyed Age of Empires III, Sequel to the award-winning Age of Empires II.
First of all, I have liked the fact that the game is the next game in The Age of Empires Series, starting off were Age of Empires II left off.
Going more to the topic of gameplay, I have found very cool the new Home City feature, which allows ypu to have a city of your own which reflects yor progress in the game.
Your Home City will start at level 1 and,with the matches you play and the games you win, goes up levels, allowing you to upgrade it by adding it more buldings and passing units. You can customize your own Home City; tis is what I find cool.
Also, I like the fact that you can ship resources or soldiers from your Home City to your Town Center by the use of a deck of cards which you can customize in the way you think is most effective. You can choose a new card fore your deck every time youlevel up.
Also, I enjoyed the improved graphics and the better gameplay offered. Also, the new aimations and special effects are awesome, since buildings will always be destroyed in a different way and units will go flying when shot by cannons. Also, if a unit is near a cliff and is shot by a cannon, it auctually falls from the cliff. Another new thing I have noted are the improved computer rivals. Now, they will not use cheats and they will talk to you more often. Also, when they talk to you, instead of recieving typed words they will auctually talk to you and you will hear their voice and see their face.
I highly recomend you this game, it is so good and exciting...
If you have enjoyed earlier Age of Empires Games, than this is the game for you. And if you are new with Real Time Strategy Games, then you can get a good start in the world of gaming by playing this game.

Overall a great game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 14
Date: November 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well I am really satisfied with the game because this age of empires game now involves the player to use more stagety than an any other AOE games before. I have been a huge fan of the AOE sage ever since the first AOE game came out. AOE3 is a very fun and challenging game for everyone. The only complaint I have about this game is the lag. If you dont run on cable/dsl internet then i recommend u not getting this game because you will lag and probably cause others to lag online. But I run on cable so the game runs smoothly for me. The garphics are beautiful and surpases any other RTS game out there. I am enjoying the game to the fullest, I just ordered the AOE3 stagety guide on here too.

There are many new things here that make this game so much more challenging and fun. Like the addition of levels. The more games u play the higher ur lever will be. Although this doent determine your skill as a player. There is also this thing called "cards" and your "deck". The cards are like research improvments. The only difference is that you get more of these cards/improvments as u increase your level. The type of cards that u want is up to u.

Overall the game is very satisfying and involves much more stragety.I recommend u buying the game if u like a good RTS game that u will never get boared of. And you shouldn't really pay attention to all these negative reviews becuase the majority of the negative reviews come from people who own trashy computers or dont really know how to adjust there game settings. The only thing is wrong with the game are the water maps. I experience a lot of lag when im fighting in the water. The comp will actually frezze. So I hope that ESO makes a patch to fix this soon. This game is the shizzles, about 4 thousand people play day and night online and it will only increase. The game has sold more than all the other AOE games did all togther in 2 weeks. Its crazy.......The price may be a little high but u wont regret it. PEACE>

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