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Long have I been a fan of RTS (Real Time Strategy) games. From the first time I laid eyes on Command and Conquer I could never have gone back. There’s just something about getting into the thick of battle while you still have to worry about your resource collectors getting in the way that gets my mind racing for new strategies. Age of Empires titles are no exception. Since Age of Empires first came out until their last title, Age of Mythology, I have been playing the computer and online opponents fairly regularly. When I heard about Age of Empires III coming out I jumped at the chance to review the newest title in one of my favorite series.

Let us start by saying that Age of Empires III is NOT your regular everyday RTS game. Quite a few basic ideas have been radically changed. Enough to make Age of Empires III play unlike any other RTS I have ever played. Whether this is for good or evil, I shall let you ultimately decide. One of the most dramatic changes is the addition of a “Home City” from which player receive cards giving them units, abilities, or technological advances. Players gain experience by surviving, harvesting resources, or destroying enemy units and buildings. This experience is sent to slowly upgrade your home city as well as allow you to send cards to your new colony. This can lead to complete disarray when playing a multiplayer game. You can slash through the opponent’s defenses leaving most of your troops laying dead on the field of battle only to find that half way through destroying his town center your opponent receives a shipment of archers, horsemen, or cannon which quickly surround and overwhelm your measly remaining forces. Such coups do not happen in other RTS games without opponents taking precautions by building a Barracks farther away from the town center.

The home city is retained throughout play, both single player and multiplayer. After each game, your home city is given the experience attained through play and is leveled up accordingly. Each level up allows the player to choose a new card to add to his deck. While each playable deck can only contain 20 cards, there are generally around 45 cards to choose from in each nationality. This leads to very interesting strategic choices; do you choose to bolster your weaknesses or run with your strengths?

Unlike the other titles in the series, Age of Empires III is set purely in the New World (meaning North and South America) and the single player campaign takes full advantage of this without resorting to the normal focus; the American Revolution. The campaign follows the story of a Knight and his descendants while they keep a powerful conspiratory group from attaining a resource of extreme power hidden somewhere in the New World. I won’t go into the meat of the story, but during the campaign you fight Knights, Indians, and Russians in Colorado as well as defending Knights and Indians. Overall the Campaign mode is acceptable, but nowhere nearly as challenging as playing multiplayer.

One modification which I noticed right away that made things both easier to begin, but more difficult to win is making the resource gatherers not need to return to a localized point to drop off their loads. This makes it easier because resource gathers is that much faster, but unfortunately it means players cannot cut off supply routes the way they could in previous titles. The AI is also quite a bit more intelligent. Instead of sending small groups to probe your defenses every time, the AI has learned to use a single scout to learn the layout of an area, then to send a mass of enemies usually enough to overwhelm the first layer of defenses in the beginning of a game. Unfortunately the AI still has quite a bit of trouble with naval battles. Getting stuck on prominences and spreading the firepower out usually costs the AI every battle where naval power is an issue.

Naval battles are also where I experienced the one serious problem I found with Age of Empires III; frame rate loss. Despite running on a modern and upgraded computer, I found some battles, especially naval battles to cause an extreme bog down of the graphics. This is most likely due to the outstanding graphics used throughout the game. Each unit has multiple independent actions with a lot of detail, buildings and units are destroyed quite well graphically, and the environment is given excellent detail especially the water and coastline.

Audio improvement is a little less than the visual. The sounds themselves are good but the pool of different responses from each of the units is still disparagingly thin. A wonderful touch, the units actually use their original languages when chosen. The warning system in Age of Empires III is also a little disappointing. Unfortunately it takes a little while for a warning beep to happen when your troops are attacked. This normally means that if your peasants get attacked they are too far gone by the time you get your warning to do anything about getting them massacred.

Overall I appreciated Age of Empires III for its innovation and improvements. The few low points in the game were easily overshadowed by the joys of exploration and destruction. Anyone who is a fan of RTS games should definitely give Age of Empires III a chance. The home city innovation makes the game both a little easier for newbies and a lot more strategically challenging for veterans. For those people who have only dabbled in RTS games before, I would recommend Age of Empires III as your break into hardcore RTS gaming. The system is easy and fun allowing a handicap for new members of the community.