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Awesome Strategy Game of the Year!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 34
Date: November 14, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is the coolest game I have ever played. With all the resources and the rush to get a wonder the game goes very fast, but with all the technology it becomes and awesome game. I recomend that you do not try to find cheats though, because it ruins the game. The only way to not be cheated out of the real fun is to not cheat. But don't take my word for it, buy it!

The most addictive game you will ever play

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 26
Date: March 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is absolutely wonderful. I can't think of how anyone could make another game of the same genre that would rival it. You begin way back at the dawn of man. You have just villagers & clubmen. From there, you size up & use your assets to your best advantage; villagers can chop wood for houses & buildings, mine gold for $$$$, mine stone for lookout towers, fish, hunt, build stuff and...oh my.

The strategy of this game is what makes it so intoxicatingly good. This is not a game where you can just go out, play it a couple times & have it completely mastered. You must learn how to use your assets to your best advantage & how to defend your village(s) against invasion. Otherwise, you will be destroyed.

With every mission comes new technology. You can build heavy infranty units, calvary, naval armadas, war elephants, catapults, priests....and the list goes on and on. The Gold edition also has the Roman Empire scenarios which offer a few more neat tidbits such as camel riders and Fire galleys. The only slight precaution I would have for anyone is to stay away from making stone throwers on the Rome version. They are next to useless.

Even when you have gone thru all the scenarios for this game you're STILL not done. You can have random scenarios constructed for you by the computer and then there are the death matches (impossible if you pick 7 armies against you). You can also play the game on-line against friends at the website (although you need a fast modem for this). The fun goes on & on!

So, if you like strategy games, this is one of the very best, hands down. Build cities, make them into empires and conquer all the known world. I can't recommend this game highly enough.

Major time sink...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 19
Date: March 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I purchased the original Age of Empires years ago when it first came out, and the Roman expansion when it became available, so I have the equivalent of the so-called "Gold Edition".

Out of all the games I own, this is the most addictive. Time just flies by when I'm playing this game, which isn't always a good thing. This IS a good thing when my flight has been delayed however. With my laptop, extra lithium-ion batteries, and Age of Empires, airport delays are not nearly as painful as they used to be.

To create a game that remains addictive and interesting over the years is quite an achievement. Most video games become boring after a while, either because they are too frustrating and difficult, or they are too easy or repetitive. Finding a balance that is both entertaining and challenging is tough, and these guys have done it. I personally love the random games. The environment really dictates the strategy you should use, as it does in real life, and the possibilities are nearly endless. You can also design your own scenarios, which kills a lot of time and allows you to experiment with environmental conditions that the random map generator would never come up with.

The Roman expansion didn't add much, but it also didn't cost much. The most important feature I was looking for was the ability to put gates in my walls. In Age of Empires, if you build a wall around your civilization, you can not get out without destroying part of the wall. As I understand it, this has been corrected in Age of Kings, which I have not gotten yet.

If you enjoy real time strategy, you're gonna love Age of Empires!

A smash hit!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: November 30, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I am not an rts expert but after playing the demo I knew I wanted it. This game is so immersive that when you begin, you have no clue where to start. There is so much to see and do. If you are new to the series, you should try out the campaigns which are carefully designed according to skill level. This game can be compared to a mixture of sim city and warcraft. Not only do you build massive empires that look incredibly realistic, you also have to maintain and nurture a small nomadic tribe that will eventually grow into a world power. The game combines war stategy and food gathering techniques plus terrain strategy and economic simulation. There are several modes of play. There are the campaigns of course. You start with easy campaigns and proceed on to tougher scenarios. The cool thing about this mode is that the objectives are so varied. Not always do you have to destroy your enemy. Somtimes you have to rescue a trapped unit or find a lost relic. This keeps the game going. The next mode is the death match. You start with stock piles of wood and gold and food. Using your rich store, you have to advance through the ages and develop an army to defeat and destroy your growing enemy. This is an exiting mode! You don't have to worry about food shortages. All you have do is build fortifications and create a large army. The third mode is a customized scenario. This is the real deal in the game. You have complete control over how your world looks. Do you want a island power like Greece? Or maybe a huge mainland. The choice is yours. You can even use cliffs to stategicly fortify your city from attack. In addition, this game has over 100 technologies and units that make the game varried and interesting. You choose from 16 civilizations to start with, each with distinctive strengths and weaknesses. Maybe by now you can see how complex this game really is. If you are thinking about buying it, I assure you, this is a game that will not let you down. Microsoft and ensamble studios have created the best rts game hands down.

AOE will tune your brain-waves to crave more and more of it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: July 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you you spend little time with your family, or need to "get things done"...stay away from Age of Empires because this is the most amazing, entertaining, and of course the most addictive game in existence. I'll tell you how AOE changed my gaming experience. I used to be a video game fan, and disdayned pc games as boring, slow passed and silly. As with most console games, skill is directly proportionall to the speed of your fingers as you press the bottoms in the control pad, nothing more. Well, in AOE skill is measured in terms of intelligence. I yet have to find a review that makes justice to this game. I will try to achieve that here. Some people say that AOE becomes boring in the long run because it is impossible to win: "the computer is to hard to beat." Well, they could not bee any more right, and wrong at the same time! I spent my first month playing AOE 24/7 just to learn all the technologies, unit attributes, and civilizations by playing campaigns and random maps. Two months after I became frustrated being still unable to beat the computer on a regular basis. So I lost interest and went back to play Tekken 3. But one day a friend came over and beated 6 computers by himself in front of me, and set to hardest difficulty! Wow I was amazed, he used hot keys, he knew some great strategies to move trough ages and technologies rapidly, he managed his economy amazingly and organize his army for an efficient kill! The computers were no match. "I must know your secrets my friend!!!"...well, he just told me to play in the zone: www.zone.com/aoe And let me tell you that was when my aoe experience begun. AOE is a multiplayer game, far superior to star craft, Age of Empires 2 (which I also own to my regret), Age of Conquerors and any other strategy game, or just any other game. period. It is impossible to summarize all the strategies involved. And this is because AOE is a game that evolves, people come out with new strategies, there is no fix set of rules. Sounds weird I know, all you can do is get the game, get on the zone and play. Don't worry about being a newbie, people will show you how to play. Then all you gotta do is improve and invent ;) Well, today I have been playing almost everyday for over a year and guess what? I am still thrilled by it, just like that hundreds of people I play with/against in the zone every day. And also, I can beat the computers so easily now that it is not even funny.

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: May 06, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This was really my introduction into the strategy genre, and I loved it. Regardless to say, I really don't think the expansion pack (Rise of Rome) is all that spectacular. The expansion pack, I felt, featured some useless units (Camel, Scythe Chariots, Armored Elephant) nothing that could really, significantly boost gameplay. The new techs didn't help either, and their wasn't a fix to computers or anything like that; but don't let this discourage you. Age of Empires really was what not only got me into strategy games but into Ancient History as a whole. The guys at ES (Ensemble Studios) did a great job with the history throughout gameplay. Age of Empires has some great features including, (1) Chariot Archers, which are probably the most overused unit (although that's not a bad thing). (2) It also has the internet gameplay feature which is really what sold this game for me. (3) Lastly, not only does it have good graphics (for the picky, I can say at least for 1997) but it has the excellent ability to play the DMs (deatmatches) and to make your own scenarios.

An entertaining game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: May 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is one addictive game as has been brought out, I can play this game for hours and lose total track of the time (which can be a problem sometimes ). The game has the benefit of having the ability to be diffrent the next time you play. The ability to set up random scenerios adds to the gameplay and to the value of the game in general. The age of empires expansion does add to the game and is worth the extra money. This is because it allows for even more gameplay for a little more money which makes it worth the cost. This is a great game and a great job by its creators!

Excellent entertainment

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: January 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I loved this game. It's the first computer game I have tried and it is a rare occasion I ever watch television in the evening anymore. Rameses II is one of my great grandfathers so I thought it would be a kick to try this one. I am a 42 year old woman and I have to say that this game is a challenge. You have to have quite a bit of patience because you have to do each scenario several times until you actually are victorious, but it is worth the time you spend. My husband rarely gets time on his games anymore because I just have to conquer again. Ha-ha.

COOL GAME!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: January 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I absoloutely love this game!It's really good,'cos you get to collect resources,make buildings,villagers and military units.And of course,fight off your nasty old enemies at the same time!You can also try and win the game,either by sending a load of troops out,destroying their civilisation,or by building a Wonder.A Wonder is like a sort of monument to your civilisation,depending on what race you are.For example,Egypians have pyramids and Romans have Colosseums.I really want to get Age II soon,so I can play that as well.

Age of Empires

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: December 24, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is probably my favorite PC game of all time. After about a month of enjoying the game in single player, I got board. I then discovered you could play this game online against other people on the Microsoft Gaming Zone, where you can join clans, make friends, and just have fun. The multiplayer part of this game allowed me to have a year's more of great gameplay. A great game! I definetely would recommend it!

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