PC Review Reviews Gaming Age of Empires III



Which brings me neatly to my particular bone of contention in terms of the visual aspects of Age of Empires III. Although the game is particularly adept at keeping things to a level suitable to your particular PC’s capabilities, it still can’t hide the odd instances of slowdown that occur with alarming regularity. Perhaps it’s something to be fixed by a future patch, but it’s certainly off-putting when you’re in the throws of a huge battle with an online chum.

And battle you will. Be it single, or multiplayer, violence plays a large part in proceedings. Once a huge battle begins, your troops will automatically drop into formation, the relevant type of troops slotting in at their allotted spots. More realistic than before you’d assume. However, the fact that your collection of troops all move at the speed of the slowest unit means that swift cavalry charges are only possible if you happen to select them individually. But that’s not the only problem Age of Empires III suffers from in terms of the combat system. Since units appear particularly small on screen, in huge mass battles in particular, you can simply lose track of certain troops, and spend eons merely searching out the remnants of your early cavalry charge. Add that to the sometimes iffy frame-rate, and it’s easy for frustration to build as your online opponent only achieves victory thanks to a slightly quicker trigger finger.


The actual collecting of resources, and keeping your economics in check has become vastly simplified by the new feature of not making your slaves meander back to town to drop off their latest wood cuttings/food gatherings. A plus for most, but a little strategic play lost for others.

It’s the introduction of a ‘home city’ that turns out to be the biggest new feature. As you progress through the game, killing enemies, and blowing up their homesteads, you’ll achieve experience points which can then be spent on obtaining aid from your home city. Aid comes in many forms, from a set of fresh new army recruits, through to a swift economic boost. It’s a delightful introduction, and yet another touch of strategy added to Age of Empires already bloated bow.


It’s difficult to simply encourage anyone to pass up on the opportunity to play Age of Empires III. The same addictive basis of gaming genius that’s made a series so loved still exists, and as such can on the one hand be considered a masterpiece. On the other, flaws are too numerous to take its place at the true pinnacle of modern day RTS title. It’s with a heavy heart that I unfortunately announce that the Age of Empires titles simply cant stand up to the modern day RTS design, and finds itself overly eager to hide its archaic gameplay formula. As long as you’re not expecting something fresh, and filled with brand new novel ideas that will take the genre to the next level, then you’ll adore Age of Empires III. Yet if you’ve come to expect a little more from your strategy based romps, you’ll be sorely disappointed.