Age of Empires : Gold Edition

The civilizations are diverse, running the gamut from the Assyrians to the Persians to the Yamato, and each can be played from its Stone Age roots to the epoch of its greatest achievements. This is one of the few games in this genre that lets players choose either an aggressive path or a more peaceful defensive course of action, as it is possible to win many games by defending your border and building an expensive Wonder of the World.

Overall, the game's graphics are very good, but special mention must be made of the animations. At last, horses move like horses, elephants move like elephants, and even the sight of a villager chopping wood looks realistic. Battles can get a little out of hand since the game lacks military formation controls, but they are a sight to behold nonetheless.

Should you tire of the single-player challenges, Age of Empires is still very popular online. It isn't hard to join a multiplayer game at nearly any time of day. Be sure to grab the latest patch, which lets you build many more units and is necessary for playing online. Even if you already have Age of Empires 2, don't miss out on the game that started it all. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Good graphics--especially the unit animations
• Many ways to win
• Still popular online

• Needs a patch to achieve true greatness
• Would be more fun if civilizations had bigger differences

For those not in the know, the original Age of Empires took the RTS (real-time strategy) format out of strategy geekdom and, thanks to excellent presentation, made it a bestseller amongst the casual gamers.

In your average RTS game you control 'units' (people, animals etc. that belong to you) that can build, fight or gather resources. Biuldings are generally of three types; unit generators (barracks, stables), research buildings (libraries etc.) or defensive structures (walls, towers). Each type of unit (villager, soldier etc.) has a set of statistics associated with it that decide its fate should it get into battle. Some units also have particular abilities that a dd variety to the gameplay.

In AoE, you are responsible for developing a race of ancients all the way to the iron age. Wich civilisation you play (Egytian, Babylonian, Sumerian, Assyrian) effects the availability and abilities of your units and research, giving each race certain istorically appropriate characteristics (Assyrians, for example, are particularly good at archery, ther archers therefore have a 'bonus', allowing them to do more damage and fire more arrows).

At the time of its inseption, AoE offered very few innovations to the genre, in fact it was even critisized for ommitting certain 'standard' features, pincipally the ability to group military units into combat formations, wich, combined with poor unit AI, lead to some critisism from reviewers.

What saved AoE was its presentation. OK so the (somewhat minimal) cut scenes look pretty dated, and the 'Campaigns' (groups of missions supposedly following a coherent storyline) were always a little uninspriring, but the game engine is still looking good.

The graphics on AoE are fantastic; the scenery and buildings are clearly drawn and very easy on the eye and the units move around with a quality of animation that (oddly) puts the sequel 'Age of Kings' to shame. The interface is intuative and instantly accessable even to those never having played this type of game before. The lack of complexity for which AoE was originally critisised reduces confusion cosiderably and maximises the fun element, probably the very reason it did so well!

The 'Gold Edition' includes the 'Rise of Rome' expansion. The expansion adds a few more units, more campaigns, a scenario builder, and irons out various gameplay and AI glitches in found in the original. The ammendments are also applied to the original AoE, wich is good because you wonder how on *earth* people managed without some of the improvements, like 'build queues'; the ability to pre-order a chosen number of units from a unit production building, wich was not possible in the original game!

As well as playing the campaigns, you can also play a 'random map', taking your civilisation from scratch to rule the entire map. This is a much better idea generally. For a start, the gameplay seems designed for this type of 'open ended' scenario, rather than a fixed storyline (wich is probably why the Campaigns don't work so well).. there are also so many options regarding map size, terrain type, number of opponents etc., that add an infinate amount of variety.

Compared with subsequent RTS games, including its own sequel, AoE still offers a superb gaming experience. The graphics are, in many cases, better than those of conteporary RTS games (so much so it makes you wonder what happened), and the gameplay, although not very 'realistic', is fun and intuitive.. just dont expect much high brow strategy.


The game that set the standard for all those that followed!   November 9, 2001
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Brilliant! The only criticsm of the game is that i,can't get my dad off the computer now! He just loves it, and i don't blame him. The campaigns and senario builder create endless fun as you crush your oponents (or vica versa) into the dust. Random maps are good too, but i could could do with a little more control over the game settings. A must buy, though, and worthy of all the awards it has!


does it conquer other historic games??!!   October 12, 2001
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Oh yes it does,this is one beast of a game,you build up your civilization groing making allies and enemys. upgrade to become the most advance race and wipe out enemys. the normal game has loads of campains,games and other wicked bits like making your own campains. but if you buy the gold edtion it also has rise of rome which is even better! buy it now!


'Dated?' This game still has a lot to offer   December 29, 2003
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

A hardened Civilization fan I often looked down my nose at this title, and for Years refused to convert. However, on receiving this game as a gift for Christmas I reluctantly installed and gave it a bash. Little did I know I was soon to be converted, and online ordering Age Of Empires II only 4 days later!
Age of Empires offers a great introduction to the series and makes you familiar with the interface and concepts.
The gameplay is awesome, with varied combat types, units, civilization traits and construction options. Also the variety of victory options makes the game forever twisting and turning, as opponents turn from Trade allies to Sworn Enemies at the drop of a hat. If you lust for blood you can simply mass an army and wipe out your opponents, or you can build you civilization's culture and go for a Wonder victory. The possibilities are endless.
If you like real time strategy games then this is a real gem for any true gaming fanatic!


One of the Best Strategy Games Ever!   July 21, 2004
Sambo (England)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

What can i say? Sheer perfection. This game has everything that makes the perfect strategy game. Great animations, quality sound and lots of things to do/achieve.
Age of Empires is one the worlds best selling computer strategies ever to be made and here it is with an add on for a budget price from Amazon.
Age of Empires contains great AI computering making it more challenging to think up of new ways to conquer your enemy and also has a real life feel as you go through the different stages of the timeline (stone age, tool age etc....). There is also a huge technology tree which allows you to choose from many units to create to send into battle using a variety of different techniques so that they are used to their full effect.
This game mixes the fantastic battling styles of the Command & Conquer series and the history content and real life feel of Civilisation series. A truly original and lasting game. A must buy for any computer owner.