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With so many real time strategy (RTS) games on the market, it's hard not to get bogged down when trying to choose one. It's not always easy to tell the good ones from those that were made simply because RTS is popular right now. And so Age Of Empires II: The Age of Kings (AOE2) is released and we have one more game to choose from. Is this one that you should glance over as you scan the shelves, or should you seek this one out? You'll have to skip to page three to find out the answer to that question.

It's hard not to call AOE2 an RTS version of Civilization. It isn't just because both feature gameplay in which you must take a civilization from the hunter/gatherer stage to a full fledged empire. There are also similarities in the researching and technology tree.

"But all RTS games have a technology tree," you cry. True, but not all have such a broad tree in which you may not even have the opportunity to explore a lot of the branches. AOE2 has this. The strategic aspect is enhanced by the fact that there are so many paths you can take, so many different strategies you can employ. But perhaps I am going too far. On to the review!

On the surface, AOE2 is played like any other RTS. You must use a certain unit, in this case villagers, to collect resources so that they can build buildings that give you access to new units and technologies. To add to the complexity of the game, there are four resources to be collected: wood, food, gold, and stone. Food and wood are the most important because they are the basic building blocks of people and early buildings.

Gold and stone come into play in later games, which is when the game gets very interesting. There aren't nearly enough resources available to research every technology path, so players must choose the direction they prefer to go in. The unit types are numerous and varied, including swordsmen, archers, cavalry, several types of ships, and eventually units toting firearms. Your groups of troops can also attack in a number of different formations to increase lethality. Add to this the fact that each civilization only has access to certain technologies, and you get a deep, involved game.

Depending on the type of game you're playing, there are different ways to win. In a standard game, you win by destroying your enemy's forces, building and controlling a wonder of the world for a period of time, or controlling all of the relics (treasures placed randomly on map) for a certain period of time. There are also options for a timed victory in which the player with the highest score at the end wins, and a regicide game in which you must kill your opponent's king to attain victory.

All of this put together makes AOE2 one of the most intense RTS games to hit the PC. With so many options and units to control, there is always something to do. The game is especially well balanced in this way. If you play it correctly, you will spend very little time waiting for your villagers to collect resources.

The general theme for AOE2 seems to be balance through and through. The rush maneuver from Starcraft which is loathed by some, loved by others is very difficult to perform in AOE2 because of the combat system. In AOE2, buildings can shoot at opponents so in the event that you are rushed early on, you can garrison your villagers inside your buildings and watch your hapless enemy be destroyed.

In single player mode, you can either play against computers on random or chosen maps, or you can play through the campaigns. The first campaign is a tutorial, and is of great use in learning the game. The manual is very detailed, but also very imposing to a new player. After beating the tutorial, players should be ready to tackle the manual and learn the game in greater detail.

In multiplayer mode you can play against friends or find some opponents on Microsoft's gaming zone. Multiplayer is really a blast in AOE2, but it is subject to the same types of snags that other multiplayer games are. That is to say, the reliability of the connections. In one game I played, one of the players dropped for no apparent reason, and a voting screen was brought up to the rest of the players. We all voted to continue the game, but it wouldn't resume. Then, all of a sudden the game ended. This is most likely a rare bug, but it's a fairly serious one as it can cut a game short.

I doubt you would want to play through the campaigns a second time, but the random map and multiplayer modes give this game an essentially unlimited lifetime. You will become bored with it as with all games, but the only factor limiting how long you can keep playing AOE2 is how long your attention span is.

AOE2 falls a little flat in the controls area. Selecting groups and assigning tasks works fine with the mouse, but the hotkeys are horrible. Rather than use logical hotkeys such as `D' for defend, `P' for patrol, or `H' for house, AOE2 employs a special set of hard to remember hotkeys such as `Z' for patrol and `E' for house. What were they thinking? I really haven't got a clue. Yes, you can change the hotkeys, but this is an unnecessary burden on players.

The isometric view also makes some actions very difficult to execute. For example, placing wall segments behind trees can be an exercise in frustration because you can't see anything through the trees. In addition, it is possible for your ally's units to block your access to your own, forcing you to use area selection techniques.

My initial reaction to the graphics in AOE2 was disappointment. Although the landscapes are pretty and the tiles are assembled well, their colors are horribly washed out, making AOE2 look like it's running in 256 colors. The buildings make up for this by being truly beautiful, but there are only four graphics sets for the buildings, divided up amongst thirteen civilizations. In addition, aside from each civilization's special unit, there is only one set of graphics for all of the units in the game.

I'm not one of those people who says that if the graphics aren't 3D, then they suck. I recognize and appreciate the necessity of 2D graphics and voxels, and there are several games on the market that I think should have been made 2D instead of 3D. Unfortunately, even for 2D graphics AOE2 is just about average for a modern game.

Sound is a very mixed bag in Age Of Empires II. Each civilization's villagers speak the language of the civilization (I think they do, anyway. Does anyone out there speak Byzantine or Teuton?). The sound effects are all good, though they aren't anything incredibly special. I'm not sure there is much that can be done to sound effects in a game like this, but whatever it is I know it wasn't done here.

The music is pretty, but like the graphics, it isn't varied enough. I can see that there are at least 50 megs left on the CD, and I'd happily trade the opening movie to free up some more space and get some more music and graphics sets in AOE2! I think the word that best describes the graphics and sounds of AOE2 is: dry. They're good, but like meat that has been cooked for too long, they are missing some essential texture.

Installation went fine, but AOE2 is a Microsoft game, and for some reason Microsoft games try to load something in DOS mode after installation, and occasionally when I launch the game. Accidentally clicking yes to its request to shut down the computer and run in DOS mode results in two restarts and nothing gained. I learned my lesson the first time, so I'm always careful when I launch AOE2.

I hate the way the detractions tend to pile up in the end of reviews like this. AOE2 really is a great game and it's incredibly fun to play. There are some issues in the graphics, sounds, and control areas that detract from its score, though. I would like to give this game an 8.5, but we don't do decimals. The important thing is this: If you want solid gameplay in a real time strategy game, go out and buy AOE2. Its enormous tech tree and wide range of game flavors will keep you happy for a long time to come.