Described as Civilization meets Warcraft II, I was intrigued by Age of Empires. I like the idea of Civilization, even if I still haven't found an entry to that series that I quite like (though more are coming in the 1001 list, so here's hoping), and I spent a lot more time in front of Warcraft II than I ever thought I would, so Age of Empires should, I think, be a good game.
Good game or not, I'll probably be glued to the screen for a little while, due to the nature of the real-time strategy beast. Will my empire rise from its pathetic origins into something straight out of the history books? Will I rewrite those history books and tell my own tales? I've no idea until I fire it up.
Fun Times
I don't have the best of jobs but it has its perks, and one of those perks is that if luck is with me, I can find a treasure trove of old games that people have just thrown away. I found Age of Empires: Gold Edition in the trash - didn't even come with a box or paperwork of any kind. I'd been looking for it for a while without any luck, but one day, there it was, appearing out of nowhere.
Thankfully, the disc didn't care what state I found it in and happily installed the game and its expansion pack, The Rise of Rome, with an optional install of the intro movie (duh, gotta install that). Minutes later, I was watching historic battles unfold in all their... adequately?... animated glory.
But that's just a teaser of what's to come, as my first challenge was to learn how to play the game. A tutorial campaign staring the Egyptians is as good a starting point as any, so I jumped right in.
From the first click, you can tell this is going to play in a similar vein to that of the Civilization and Warcraft titles, more so Warcraft, which was fine by me. Click on a villager to select them, right click on a thing for them to do - kill an animal, chop down a tree, attack someone and so on.
Do that enough times and you'll gather enough resources to grow and flourish as an up-and-coming civilization. Churning out 7 villagers is a piece of cake when you decimate a bunch of gazelles, though.
As the tutorial goes on, you'll learn about different building types, and how they'll allow you to research enhancements for your villagers and upgrade your village itself.
An empire crumbles without armies, so you'll also learn about training troops to hit people, rather than trees (why they couldn't just adapt their knowledge of hunting lions is beyond me...), and will be able to build all kinds of fortifications and training centres and boats and whatnot. It gets fairly deep, and a little suddenly, after a few easy introductory missions.
I said that Civilization II felt like combat was the first and only choice in dealing with problems, despite what the developers would say, and I was hoping Age of Empires wouldn't be so obvious in that regard. You'll either need far greater numbers than any opponents you encounter, or you'll need to better train and equip your troops, but is every game a race for a dominant military force?
Like Warcraft, I was enjoying my time with Age of Empires. It was slow in places, but then we are simulating the development of an entire civilization, and cutting down trees with an axe isn't a quick task, so I just keep chugging away awaiting the next thing that I could get to do.
Frustrations
Then we hit a few snags.
Your objectives in the tutorial campaign aren't anything to be afraid of, and are doled out in simple steps, complete with hints and tips should you need them.
"Bah! Stockpiling food? How hard could that be?!"
In navigating the map with a few troops, I had managed to chop down a load of trees and find the ruins, one of my objectives. I even managed to scout out my opponent a little, who is naturally better at the game than I am.
What I didn't manage to do was stockpile food. In fact, I burnt through it awfully quickly, and there was nothing on the map to forage or kill. I had neglected to make a farm until I had just one villager left in town to do anything, at which point my enemy decided to make some more forward progress...
All I was left with by the time I called it quits was one farmer, slowly whacking his field until meat came out of it (yeah, the icons are a bit off - berries are meat-shaped too), and a single unit armed with a spiked club, hammering away at the enemy docks (whose boats were threatening me), only for workers to come up and fix the damage faster than it could be dealt.
I called the session there and, well, won't be so wasteful with my resources on the next attempt.
Final Word
I didn't experience the massive battles that I had been lead to believe were in the game but could see the first few steps on the road towards them. Barracks, walls, watchtowers... they're not just for show, are they?
Multiple scenarios, campaigns and customization options should keep anyone who's interested rather busy, which leaves me to say that Age of Empires is better than I expected. It soars above Civilization and Warcraft, though both those games have their strengths over Age of Empires too. Controls are simple, though micro-managing everything can be a bit of a chore if you've not got the hang of getting the most out of an RTS title.
The graphics are simple but detailed, and the sounds aren't the greatest, though I was bopping to the music from time to time. It really does have a lot going for it, and the series it spawned is proof of that.
Multiple sequels and two decades later, and there is an Age of Empires: Definitive Edition on the horizon, which I'm really going to have to consider, and not because of the 4k graphics it'll offer - because it's just a solid game.
I read that the AI was a bit iffy until it was patched, and maybe I'll encounter problems later on, but for now, I know where Age of Empires sits in my real-time strategy shortlist and it's pretty high, it must be said.
Fun Facts
Always designed as focusing on the historical aspects, Age of Empires is complete with music recorded on instruments of the period, or samples thereof, which helped to contrast it from the Sci-Fi and Fantasy RTS games of the time.
Age of Empires, developed by Ensemble Studios, first released in 1997.
Version played: Age of Empires: Gold Edition, 1999