Age of Empires III (also called AoE III) is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Ensemble Studios, and published by Microsoft. It was released on October 18, 2005 in North America, and on November 4 the same year in Europe. It is the third title of the Age of Empires series, and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. The game covers the European colonization of the Americas, in a time frame approximately between AD 1500 and 1850.
The game has made a number of innovations, both in the series and the genre, such as the addition of the Home City, which combines real time strategy and role-playing game (RPG) features; and an advanced physics engine to animate it, making battles more realistic. The game has been accepted in general by all the age groups ranging from eleven to more than sixty and works as an excellent means to spend time at leisure.
The Main Deck
Age of Empires III, in the style of previous titles of the series and the genre, requires the player to develop a European nation’s colony from a basic settlement to a mighty empire, progressing through “Ages,” —stages of technology representing time periods—and destroying the enemy base(s). There are two main branches to game play, the economy, and the military; winning a match depends on the mastery of both. This is a boon to both the genre of players i.e. those who like aggression and those who want to live a peaceful city life.
There are three modes of game play: the story-based campaigns, single player skirmishes, and online multiplayer skirmishes. Single player skirmishes take place between human players and computer personalities, conforming to rules that are set up before the game. The map, difficulty of the AI, and each player’s resource gather rate may be modified. It should be noted however that the most difficult rate is tough to crack through, so this means that even professional players will have a great time breaking the barrier.
As in most RTS games, the player can advance through technological phases, which provide access to greater improvements, units, or buildings. In Age of Empires III, these phases are called “Ages,” and represent historical time periods. They are: The Discovery Age, Colonial Age, Fortress Age, Industrial Age and Imperial Age.
Similar to the Age of Mythology minor gods system, Age of Empires III utilizes a Politician System as a method of granting bonuses on a successful advancement to another age, since they offer a certain shipment to recover the price used to age up. Initially, all civilizations have two politicians as their choice while advancing; more are unlocked at the rate of 1 every 10 levels of the Home City. The game thus carries the contents of ideal RTS games while including some new features as well.
New Concept of Home City
Age of Empires III is the first game in the series to introduce the “Home City Concept.” The Home City functions as a second city, a powerhouse that is separated from the active game. It cannot be attacked or destroyed, although an Imperial Age upgrade called Blockade stops the player’s opponents from receiving Home City shipments. Similar to a Role-Playing Game character, the Home City is persistent between games, meaning that upgrades gained through many games can be applied and stay applied for as long as that particular city exists (cities only cease to exist when they are deleted by the player from the game menu). Multiple Home Cities can be created and maintained, although each Home City supports only one civilization.
The game with this new concept has grasped the player’s attention towards maintaining the city more rather than battles, which is perhaps the core part of Strategy Games.
The Campaign
The story-based campaign mode consists of related scenarios with preset objectives, such as destroying a given building. In Age of Empires III, the campaign follows the Black family in a series of three “Acts,” which divide the story arc into three generations.
Instead of playing as one of the standard civilizations, the player takes command of a special civilization that is linked to the character or period that each Act portrays. This type of campaign includes the characteristics of RPGs and thus grasps the attention of a larger community.
Awards and Critics
General reception was good, though not as positive as its predecessor, Age of Kings. The game received a 91% score from the American version of PC Gamer. GameSpy presented the game with two awards in 2005: ‘Real-time strategy game of the year’ and ‘Best Graphics.’ Other awards, including an ‘Outstanding’ from GameZone, reflect the positive critical reception of the game. In December 2006, the Governor of Texas chose Age of Empires III as his “featured game of the month.”
It can be safely said that Age Of Empires III is a critically acclaimed game and covering generally all the aspects of RTS games and including the RPG characteristics too. With good graphics the game looks appealing and the campaign gets the players attention. The game can be pretty addictive, so our advice is that, play it well and prepared to get hooked.
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