I’m a bit disappointed in Age of Empires III. I really enjoyed the first AOE and AOK, but the 3rd one just leaves me with the feeling something is missing. Skirmish mode, where players practice the multiplayer aspect of the game, generally has very small maps, with the control of one or two resource points making the scenario win or lose. I understand the reasoning behind the scale of the game, but I prefer bigger maps like in Command and Conquer Generals.

Pluses of the game include the beautiful graphics engine and the use of the Havoc physics engine. Beautiful water is a trademark of Pixel Shaders. Destructible terrain is a definite plus to a RTS game as it gives visual cues as to when a structure or tree is damaged or destroyed.

The single-player campaign tells a compelling story about a family’s brush with their version of the “Illuminati” and the quest for gold and something else. The single-player campaign consists of 21 missions, lasting a good 20+ hours of game time. In that sense, the game is worth the purchase of $37.99 at a local store near you, as it has a lot of play time and replay ability with the skirmish missions and online multiplayer.

Age of Empires has now reached the Cowboy and Indians age with Age of Empires III. It seems Ensemble Studios has a plan for the series to last 5 games. The first Age of Empires took us up to the Roman civilization, the second, up to the age of the knights. It’s likely that the fourth installment of the game will take us up to near modern times, and the fifth installment into the future.

Theme- 8 Learning Curve- 8 Replayability- 8 Fun- 8 Sound- 9 Graphics- 7 Compatibility-10 Price-9 Availability-10 Originality-8 Total= 85