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Having never played Age of Empires or Age of Empires II I have nothing to compare the game with. This did, however, mean that I had to get used to how the game is played before I installed The Conquers Expansion. Age of Empires II is an excellent strategy game and if you don’t have at least an hour to spare, don’t even sit down and play the game. It is one of the games that once you start playing, you won’t want to stop.

As you might expect, the expansion pack adds a lot to the many features of Age of Empires II. Some of these enhancements are very noticeable while others may never be noticed. Along with the already 13 civilizations of AOE II, the expansion pack offers 5 more civilizations that you can play as. All with their own strength and unique weapons. If you prefer the campaigns to the standard games, then you will also have 4 more historic campaigns including Attila the Hun, and Montezuma. To make the campaigns easier (or harder) they have offered more difficulty settings along with the many new game features.

The biggest part of this expansion is probably the 26 new technologies (such as theocracy or caravans) not including the technologies that are unique to the individual civilizations. Some of the best enhancements are in how your characters play in the game. The villagers are smarter and thus work and build more efficiently (a definite plus). For those who like to build farms, they will defiantly like the ability to have your farms be replanted automatically without having to manually assign a farmer to them. After getting used to the game, the Advanced tab comes in very handy. Another one of the enhancements to the game is that you can now place your ships in formations rather than having them go wherever they feel is best.

I did not find the game difficult to play and the new technologies did not leave me stumped. Most of the features are new items that are automatically in place, and others are items that you research. The game is a strategy and is a very good one. There are many items on your screen that you need to watch and you must remember that you can only be in one place, thus making the game that much more fun and challenging. The expansion pack is worth purchasing as the new features and enhancements allow you to not concentrate on some of the minor items but focus more on your strategy. The farms are the biggest example of this, as you no longer have to replant them manually.

With the many different game types, random maps, different terrains, many civilizations, and all of the campaigns, I have to admit that the game will keep you playing for a long time. If you just want to fight you can play the standard games including the new “King of the Hill” where you have to keep control of the monument for the specified period of time, and “Defend the Wonder” where you must defend or try to destroy a Wonder that one of the players will start with. These standard games allow you to play in various locations and even new real life locations such as Texas or Italy. They even took the liberty of using different animals in these locations than in the normal locations. As far as the campaigns go, you have to follow and complete the objectives of the mission in order to continue. This helps you stay focused and strategize on how you are supposed to do some of this. After completing one mission you can move on to the next until you are able to conquer the campaign. This game ensures many hours of play ahead.

As I mentioned earlier, I did not have a problem getting used to the game as a new user. There are many different commands and if you know the keyboard shortcuts you will probably be much better at it. I, personally, used the mouse and that was sufficient for me despite the many options available. The main difficulty would be that you can only be in one place at a time, but I guess that is how life goes.

The graphics were quite good and the game was able to play quite well on my computer. I was using a Pentium 266MMX, Win 98, 64MB of RAM, and a low-end video card. The higher the resolution you use and the more activity you have at once in the main activity window, the more memory it is needing to use. As I mentioned though, I did not have any problems playing the game.

If you have a few hours to spare and enjoy strategy games, you will enjoy Age of Empires II with the Expansion Pack. This product is well worth the purchase and is an excellent addition to the already excellent game. Put on your thinking cap (helmet) and have some fun. Just don’t forget to strategize before you go to war, as the many enhancements that the expansion offers will help you destroy the enemy quicker if they are used properly.