Post by Fayde on Jan 24, 2011 23:01:00 GMT -8
Meli and I got Age of Empires 3 today at Walmart with some Christmas money, and I felt like sharing a few things about it here. If anyone decides to buy it, let me know, cause I'd love to add this game to our growing (yet still somewhat small) online gaming options.
I only played 1 game of it thus far, and I probably won't delve too far into it like I've done with SCII and SoaSE. However, it is a lot of fun, and different enough to warrant buying the game.
First, it has a lot of the same "upgrades" as SCII did with it's original. Better AI, better unit pathing, and a much more practical and flexible interface. There are some things that really set the game apart, much like SCII did with Brood War.
First, the theme/setting. Colonization of North America, 1700s, Napoleonic warefare and 5 ages, rather than 3 or 4.
To me, it plays much more like Age of Myth than it does AoE2, in that there are a lot more race-specific differences than just a single unit and the graphical representation of the buildings/units. While it is limited on a couple of special units, the Civs also gain extra bonuses in other areas, such as economy, tech, trade and so on. This is a lot more like Myth imo.
Also, there are some actual gameplay differences, such as when you build a house, you also gain an extra Settler/Worker as a bonus (although I suppose that could have been a race specific aspect). You also build units in groups, rather than popping them out one at a time. You can build up to 5 units at once, and they come out in a group. This is a HUGE improvement in building up your army. Of course, as a balance, you must have all of the resources to allow you to perform this task, which is pretty expensive.
Another neat thing is that you can trade and "exploit" native americans to help you in your missions. They provide Gold if you build trade posts with them, and they sort of act like passive Pirates in SoaSE.
Another thing is the attention to historical detail. The uniforms, weapons and technology are very detailed and well done. Just the graphics (although not great) alone pull you into the theme/setting and really add lots of historical flavor that I thought the other games were missing.
Lastly, your Town Center levels up... Not sure what that does yet, but I don't remember that in the originals. I'm guessing the more you do, the better it gets. Maybe gives you attacking bonuses or cheaper Settlers.
All in all, it is a bit more "large scale" than SCII, but still falls very short of being more of a Civ game like Civilization or SoaSE. It fills a nice happy medium for me. It's detailed enough and long enough to set it's self apart from a tactical RTS, but still playable enough to keep it short and sweet. It took me half an hour to kill an easy AI (albeit I was messing around for a good 5 minutes), but it took a bit to get used to and build up my resources to get to the next age.
All in all, thus far, I am impressed. Again, not sure how far I will sink my teeth into it, but I really think it's going to be a fun game. What would make it funner, is to have people playing it with me. ^^
I only played 1 game of it thus far, and I probably won't delve too far into it like I've done with SCII and SoaSE. However, it is a lot of fun, and different enough to warrant buying the game.
First, it has a lot of the same "upgrades" as SCII did with it's original. Better AI, better unit pathing, and a much more practical and flexible interface. There are some things that really set the game apart, much like SCII did with Brood War.
First, the theme/setting. Colonization of North America, 1700s, Napoleonic warefare and 5 ages, rather than 3 or 4.
To me, it plays much more like Age of Myth than it does AoE2, in that there are a lot more race-specific differences than just a single unit and the graphical representation of the buildings/units. While it is limited on a couple of special units, the Civs also gain extra bonuses in other areas, such as economy, tech, trade and so on. This is a lot more like Myth imo.
Also, there are some actual gameplay differences, such as when you build a house, you also gain an extra Settler/Worker as a bonus (although I suppose that could have been a race specific aspect). You also build units in groups, rather than popping them out one at a time. You can build up to 5 units at once, and they come out in a group. This is a HUGE improvement in building up your army. Of course, as a balance, you must have all of the resources to allow you to perform this task, which is pretty expensive.
Another neat thing is that you can trade and "exploit" native americans to help you in your missions. They provide Gold if you build trade posts with them, and they sort of act like passive Pirates in SoaSE.
Another thing is the attention to historical detail. The uniforms, weapons and technology are very detailed and well done. Just the graphics (although not great) alone pull you into the theme/setting and really add lots of historical flavor that I thought the other games were missing.
Lastly, your Town Center levels up... Not sure what that does yet, but I don't remember that in the originals. I'm guessing the more you do, the better it gets. Maybe gives you attacking bonuses or cheaper Settlers.
All in all, it is a bit more "large scale" than SCII, but still falls very short of being more of a Civ game like Civilization or SoaSE. It fills a nice happy medium for me. It's detailed enough and long enough to set it's self apart from a tactical RTS, but still playable enough to keep it short and sweet. It took me half an hour to kill an easy AI (albeit I was messing around for a good 5 minutes), but it took a bit to get used to and build up my resources to get to the next age.
All in all, thus far, I am impressed. Again, not sure how far I will sink my teeth into it, but I really think it's going to be a fun game. What would make it funner, is to have people playing it with me. ^^
