We love the Age of Empires games. Ever since they burst onto our screens back in the late 90’s they’ve always managed to retain features that make the game simultaneously easy to pick up but hard to master. And so, after the brief stop off in Ancient Greece, we’re back in the world proper with the latest incarnation of the best selling series.
The game places you in the New World tasked with colonizing the land for power, fame and wealth. In the single player campaign mode the story sees you playing as members of a family with a hidden secret, which you must keep concealed from the world as you travel around the various states of America.
As you’ve probably guessed from the setting the game features not only your standard colonials, but also a chance to play as the Native Americans. If you so wish you can choose to form alliances with the natives, which allows you to utilise their soldiers and their healing powers.
Yes, yes, yes I hear you cry. It’s just the same game in a new setting, what’s new? What have the developers of some of the finest strategy games known to man done to push forward boundaries? Well, to be honest, not a great amount. There’s now a home city feature, which gives you a persistent capital that you can upgrade as and when you see fit. There’s also a system of cards that you can collect and then use to gain new supplies or soldiers.
This works on an experience points based system. Each action you take in the game, be it killing enemy soldiers or destroying buildings sees you given a certain amount of experience points. Once you’ve reached a high enough level then you’ll be allowed to trade your cards in for a new shipment of troops or resources.
Once you get into the game proper you begin to realise that everything’s familiar and just as it always was – combat especially. You won’t need to use any special tactics, and success is normally down to creating the right combination of units rather than through any dastardly plan you put into action. It’s simple, and certainly effective yet at times does feel rather limited when compared to the strategic options offered to you in titles such as Rome: Total War.
Where the game really excels is in its physics and graphics engine. It looks simply stunning and if you’ve got a decent rig you’re in for a right old treat of gaming goodness. The animations are top notch and every little detail from the way the buildings collapse under artillery fire to the way soldiers fly through the air when a particularly well-aimed cannonball hits them is all top notch.
And, that, as they say, is that. Oh we know it doesn’t really do much we haven’t seen before. But when games are as good looking and fun to play through as this does it really matter? Add in the fact that it’s still got that lovely Age of Empires feeling to it and you really can’t go wrong. Don’t go in expecting something groundbreaking, because it most certainly isn’t. Just treat it for what it is – a top-notch developer at the top of their game.
A brave new world
