Age of Empires

I've literally spent hundreds of hours playing this game , including more all nighters than I care to admit. If you are a military buff this game can become addictive. You can build whole empires here- either from scratch from the stone age, or with fully developed high middle ages technology (which includes gunpowder weapontry.) You have to build up the infrastructure for your empire- including farms, fisheries, mines, and timber. Then you have to build workshops and training schools. Only then can you concentrate on the right mix of cavalry, infantry, archers, and artillery. Just the complexity of the castles and walled towns you can build is fascinating. If this is not enough, you can also build up a navy for sea control, coastal bombardment, and amphibious landings.

Yet, it is never tedious, you really get a feeling that you are actually building up an empire- your empire for your subjects. And every single individual unit is fully and believably animated. A major advantage of Age of Kings over the earlier Age of Empires is that you can order your fighting units into set formations like squares and lines, instead of just sending a mob into battle. The interface here is unbelievable- the "giant" map actually has the feel of a huge extent of territory- enough for a kingdom or an empire.

I prefer this as a single player game- the program is smart and relentless enough to keep you constantly on your toes. Just try playing against 7 to 1 odds with no allies if you don't believe me....


What?! It's morning already?!   September 17, 2002
Nancy Pingree-Pahel (Durham, NC USA)
This game is fun and challenging! It's easy to get caught up in the action and lose track of time. I'm guilty of staying up until 4:00 AM playing without realizing how late it was, until I couldn't stop yawning and took the time to look at my watch. My son and I fight over who gets to play the game since we only have one computer that is capable of playing the game.

It's easy to control the characters and easy to build. But watch out! If you don't keep tabs on ALL of your city or empire you can easily be wiped out by other countries. While you may be off on your ships attacking other countries, THEY could be invading your country and killing everyone (learned this the hard way). By the way, the best way to gain more points is NOT to go off attacking other countries; I also learned this the hard way.

The downsides aren't many:
1. When you're in a battle with other ships, they frequently disappear, then come back into view. Puts you at a disadvantage because not only do you not know exactly where they are, but you can't attack them - meanwhile, they're still attacking you.


2. You need to be careful when you tell men to chop down trees, because if you don't tell them to stop, they'll cut down every tree there is, then stand around waiting for you to tell them what else to do.

3. The characters also aren't too swift when it comes to finding their way from point A to point B. Often I'd have characters standing in water because they couldn't figure out that the bridge they needed use to cross over the water was a few feet to the left or right (even though there are other characters have seem to have no problem crossing the water).

4. I'd like to see a delete or bulldoze option so you can tear down something.


The game is not hard to figure out. I always consider my first game session a learning experience, then I take what I learned and expand from there. I love the game! It keeps you busy at all times, never a dull moment. The downsides don't take away from the fun or challenge at all and the graphics are great! Definitely a must buy!


Just one thing lacking   October 13, 2001
A 12-year old gamer (Presque Isle,ME, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Age of Empires is a great game, with the computer playing as all the other cvilizations you decide to put in the random map game, death match, or scenario. Some could be allies, some mortal enemies,it's all up to you.The game is a good way to hone your strategic skills, with multiple difficulty settings. The only thing that annoys me is that in multiplayer Mac and PC users are incapable of playing against each other, so the Mac users amongst us ( like , oh say, ME ) who have mostly PC users for friends can't play against those who have it ( and subsequently almost never get pit against a human intellect.) All and all, it's a quite satisfying game.


Great Game!   April 17, 2001
Jake (California)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This game is alot of fun to play online. For those of you who dont know the basic Age of Empires idea, what you do is you build civilizations based on ancient civilization from the past (Persians, Egyptions, etc). After you have built your civilization you you attack your opponents civilization. There are two basic types of games for those of you who dont know, Random Map (RM) and Death Match (DM). In RM you start out with a limited supply of resources and work your way up. In DM you start out with a huge supply of resources then just get right to the battle. Just buy this game, it is great!


PERFECTO!!!! COULD NOT BE ANY BETTER!   April 5, 2001
Jaclyn (NY, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This Game is so cool:

1) Multiplayer is awesome(on the msn games website). Its funner when you play with other people, but still the computer is awesome.

2) This game ranges from easiest, easy, moderate, hard, and hardest. The game is hard when you face the computer, but no too hard so I can still beat it.

3) Although the graphics ain't the best, its better that way becuz if the company that made this concetrated on the graphics so much, they would conetrate less on the game(and that would be bad).

4) Its fun and challenging and has MANY options. I've played it many hours a day since like 2 or 1 week ago and I probably won't get sick of it. I totally reccomend this game!