Age of Empires 3

The first Age of Empires was a game that met with some initial resistance from fans of real-time strategy. The game was heavy with micromanagement of economics and AI units could barely carry out your orders, let alone think for themselves what to do next. It demanded precision control of every facet of the fast-paced historical gameplay while setting a high standard of graphical excellence that was still able to run on just about any PC of the time. After taking a break from the main series with the offshoot Age of Mythology, Ensemble Studios are back on the path of history. Age of Empires III is a game of exploration in the New World with some help from the Old and that farily sums up where this game fits in the history of this series as well.

Taking control of Russians, English, French, Ottoman, Dutch, Portuguese, Germans or Spanish, you play the game in single-player skirmish and campaign modes or hop onilne for head to head and team competition. Each side has their own strengths and weaknesses as well as a diverse range of game changing features that make it entertaining to jump around between them. The English and Spanish are about as conventional as you can get while the French feature more expensive but hardier villagers. It's too early to tell if the balance is "just right" between all the sides, however there is no one favored group just yet. These differences make the game all about leveraging your advantages while minimizing your disadvantages. Like all the great real-time strategy games, this one provides an enormous canvas of unit, building and strategy options for you to explore. At the core is the guns or butter dilemma that has plagued man during wartime since he could stand on two feet.

The interface for the game simply needs to be better. Some functions you use regularly have hotkeys and some don't. Some text on the various screens, both in game and out, looks clickable but isn't while other text is clickable but you'd never think to try it. There are also areas where you can right-click to get menus of information that you'd just never expect to find. The interface is largely inconsistent in the way it presents information to you and in the way you interact with it. After a few hours of play, you become acquainted with its quirks, but it could be much better. The default in-game interface is also way too large, a problem that was notable in the game's demo, too. Thankfully, a more streamlined version is available. The buttons are smaller, but it's definitely the way to go. This can be turned on in the options. Be sure to do that right away.

The original Age of Empires packed a stunning visual punch and backed it up with solid gameplay. Back at a time where most strategy games were chunky and 2D, the first Age game pulled aside the curtain to reveal a world that was sunny, animated, colorful and lifelike. Strategy games were never the same. Age of Empires III presents a similar leap forward for real-time strategy fans. As Half-Life 2 did for first-person shooters, AoE III shows just how inspiring these games can be when lovingly crafted with outstanding artistry and solid gameplay fundamentals.

Age of Empires III doesn't redefine real-time strategy gameplay. You're still scurrying to collect more resources than your opponents and rushing to field a giant army, and the game still rewards frantic clicking and unit management. But the presentation is unmatched, and even though the game is rooted in RTS conventions, there are enough new elements and strategic variations here to addict even grizzled veterans. If you're a fan of the genre, you owe it to yourself to check this game out. And if you've never played a real-time game before, this is the place to start.

The Majesty of the Frontier

Graphically, the engine that powers Age of Empires III has a laundry list of the latest graphics technology: real-time shadows, high dynamic range lighting, you name it. There's even bump-mapping on the barrels of the cannons. But the real impressive thing about the technology isn't that it's there, it's that you don't notice it. From the moment your Home City first appears on the menu screen, or a new map loads up to reveal pale grey waters lapping quietly against rocky New England shores, you become lost in the game world. The latest in technology is coupled with truly beautiful art.

Age III pulls out all the stops to depict the sweeping majesty of the old west or the unspoiled beauty of the colonial-era Americas. One of the single-player campaign cutscenes, done in the game engine, pans across rolling hills of golden grass while huge herds of buffalo amble along like waves of water. Another level depicts a small Caribbean port picking up the pieces after a devastating hurricane, with citizens milling about amidst wrecked ships and broken docks. Yet another level has you picking your way through a dense swamp looking for the ruins of Spanish treasure ships half-buried in the mud and dripping with gold doubloons. You're never lacking for eye candy.

The music is equally impressive. Done in full orchestra, it moves effortlessly from majestic scores highlighting the beauty of the landscape to pounding battle drums accenting the fury of battle.

Of course, the combat is equally spectacular. The goal of the game is to devastate your opponents, and said devastation is accompanied by deeply satisfying images of destruction. A large part of this has to do with the real physics incorporated onto the game engine. You can feel the impact when a cannonball shatters into a wooden frontier building, breaking it into pieces that fly off in macabre arcs. Smoke billows from muskets, cannons leap back as they expel their fury, building spires burst into flame and collapse into themselves, and the masts of ships crash to the deck as the vessel shudders with the impact of enemy fire. Every game of Age of Empires III drips with spectacle

Of the more mainstream RTS franchises, Age of Empires has always been my favorite. There are great things to be said about Blizzard's 'craft series and Westwood's C&C brand but for my money, nothing beats the depth and variety of Ensemble's games. This year's E3 is giving us the chance to finally check out, in detail, the work the team is doing on Age of Empires III, a game that rivals most action games in terms of graphics and leaves its RTS competitors in the dust in terms of gameplay.

People were originally overwhelmed by the beauty of this game. In fact, we were so wowed by the early visuals that we actually asked the developers if the screens were real. Having seen the game in action, we still find it hard to describe just how lovely this game is. The wide variety of New World geographies are wonderfully and naturally rendered here. Whether you're fighting in the wet jungles of South America, the swamps of the mid-Atlantic or the dry plains of Texas, you'll find yourself totally convinced by the organic nature of the landscape. When you add the massive buildings and the lively units to the mix, you have a game that's as likely to draw your eye as most cutting edge shooters.

But it's not just about being pretty here. Though the graphics will definitely have people stopping by your desk, those that actually sit down and play it will find that the gameplay is even more captivating than the visuals. That's as it should be. People will play a pretty game for hours, but they'll play a fun one for years. The visuals are meant to serve the gameplay here, so while it might look cool to see musketeers thrown about as cannon shot tears through their lines, the practical effect is always more important than the visual appeal of seeing hats and muskets fly up into the air. The only real disappointment here is that the weather, beautiful though it is, has no real effect on the actual gameplay. I'd love to see musketeers trumped by a torrential rain or artillery frozen in place during a snowstorm.

If you haven't been following the game, Age of Empires III is the logical continuation of the series. Picking up where Age of Kings left off, the new game simulates European warfare in the New World between 1500 and 1850. There is a three-part campaign that covers three generations during this period. During that time players will take part in key historical events (the American Revolution is more or less just alluded to here -- bring on the expansion!) as they fight to gain the better of other European powers.

The basic mechanics of gathering resources has been simplified quite a bit. There are now only three resources -- food, wood, and gold -- and you'll no longer have to turn them in at a storehouse in order to add them to your stockpile. As your workers pick up food and wood and gold it's immediately available for your use. The absence of drop sites does seem to minimize the game's sophistication somewhat but it frees you up to start considering the game's other, more innovative economic considerations.

The Home City is a brand new idea for the series and it reminds me just a little of the home ports from Colonization. While you'll still rely on your own infrastructure in the New World to provide most of your resources, you can request goods or military forces be shipped to you from the home city. You'll have to earn the right to ask for these shipments through successful play in the New World. You can choose to keep the resources flowing as soon as they're ready or save them up in anticipation of some future need. The available resources and technologies of your home city can be improved with experience points earned by establishing trading posts.

This revolutionary new feature to the RTS landscape is incorporated into all aspects of Age of Empires III -- from Campaign to Multiplayer -- and is unlike anything you've experienced before.

Much like the persistent character from a role-playing game that encourages you to keep playing, your Home City is an important support system to your efforts in the New World. During a game, your Home City can regularly send you supplies or military reinforcements.

You are the leader of your colony, but your success brings glory back to Mother Europe. The more games you play, and the better you do, the more powerful your Home City will become. Every few games, you gain the ability to both upgrade and customize your Home City:

• Upgrade your city by unlocking new types of soldiers or buildings, or improving those you already have.
• Broaden your tech tree in whatever direction most fits your play style--invest in warships, native alliances, cavalry, artillery or economy.
• Customize your Home City by changing the appearance of buildings, the weather or even the types of people who walk, work and perform in its streets.
• Throughout a game, as well as in between games, you can visit your Home City to watch its citizens go about their lives, get an opinion on how you're doing, plot your next move or just marvel at the beautiful sunset.

A variety of small treasures can be found on the maps as well. These are always guarded by a band of outlaws/bears/wolves/etc. If you can eliminate the defenders, you can claim the reward with your hero units. In some cases, you'll just get a small resource injection. In other cases, you may receive new units. Still other cases grant your units some kind of ability bonuses. While these small treasures aren't vital, they help add a little color and excitement to the game.

Speaking of color and excitement, Age of Empires III looks quite good for an RTS game. There aren't fireballs or laser blasts flying around here but the artists have done a great job making the most of the historical source material here. Buildings are wonderfully detailed, units are dressed in colorful uniforms, smoke from musket volleys, cannon balls splashing in the water -- all these effects conspire to create a completely believable visual presentation.

Water effects and lighting are particularly good here. You can't tell from the screenshots, but these two aspects of the visual appeal of the game look very natural during the game's action. Seeing the long shadows of a group of marching troops or watching the small ripples of water as parts of your enemy's ship are blown off really makes the game come alive. The explosions are also quite good but the actual destruction of buildings seems a little scripted. Knowing that the tower on a town center will always fall the same way at the same pointing each attack takes away from a bit of the excitement.

The units move and fight very naturally. I quite like watching the musket-armed troops stop firing and begin jabbing their bayonets into an approaching cavalry formation. You'll also notice that the cannon crews will go through the motions of reloading and firing each shot. Naturally you can't spend too much time appreciating the small things when a battle is raging but it's still worth checking out from time to time.

What makes the Home City most attractive is that it allows players to strengthen particular aspects of their game on the fly. If you need a resource boost early on, you can ship crates of wood, gold or food right to your town center. If you'd rather build resources over the long term, you can ship over a technology that lets you collect a particular resource faster. If resources aren't a problem, you might consider shipping over a tech that lets you train units faster. If you need units and are short on resources, you can just ship over a few troops. While Age of Empires III doesn't really allow for a quick rush, getting a leg up early on can really give you an advantage.

Allying with Native American tribes also gives you an advantage over your allies, particularly if you combine this strategy with some key Native American improvements from your Home City. Even if you do opt for this approach, aligning yourself with a Native American tribe merely gives you a handful of unit types. Your trading post basically serves as a different type of barracks, not a whole other settlement. Strangely, the Native American tribes are almost never hostile towards you. Just build a trading post and they'll instantly give you access to all their troop types and technologies. While you can destroy an enemy's trading post, players can't destroy (or even attack) the Native American settlements themselves.

There are plenty of other opportunities to secure an advantage. Trade routes run through many of the maps, with trading posts located at intervals along the route. Players can claim these posts and earn regular resource payments from them. Like most aspects of the game, you can upgrade even these trade routes turning simple wagons into large freight trains. If you're sufficiently advanced, you can even pick which resources are brought in by wagon or train, giving you a chance to bolster dwindling supplies.

Age of Empires III also introduces some new elements -- home cities, native tribes, trade routes and such. Taken individually none of these are profound innovations but their cumulative effect makes the game feel fresh and strengthens the appeal of the core design.

Players can visit the Home City screen to request a wide variety of shipments -- either crates of resources, soldiers, settlers, or military and economic improvements. The number and type of shipments you can get depend on the amount of experience you've earned during the mission and the advancement level of your town center. I like the way new, more powerful shipment types open up later in the game because it tends to keep things in the right proportion. Being able to get 13 musketeers late in the mission is as significant as getting two settlers at the very beginning. In between missions, you'll be able to purchase new shipment types, giving your Home City even more options for support.