WILL YOU ALL LET THIS GAME TAKE AWAY...YOUR FREEEEDOM???

THE BASIC BEEF
Several years ago, Ensemble Studios released one the most educative, fun, innovative, and downright astonishing games ever released on the PC. As a sequel to 1998s Age of Empires, this was as equally compelling. Age of Empires 2 follows up to the fall of Rome, and takes us to the Dark Ages…vicious, cruel, mean-spirited ages. So why is this game educational? This game accurately follows history of each civilization in the game. Blizzard’s “Star Craft” has pretty much the same form. You raise your populace and build many different types of buildings and units. We’ll get to that later. Anyways, the buildings and structures accurately depict the true civilization’s format.

“In Age of Empires II The Age of Kings – sequel to the award-winning Age of Empires – you have 1000 years to lead your people through the Middle Ages to greatness. Control one of the most powerful civilizations of the time. Decide whether to conquer the world through military might, rule through commerce and diplomacy, or seize power by means of intrigue and regicide. There are many paths to power, but only one civilization will reign supreme.” ROME HAS FALLEN AND THE WORLD IS UP FOR GRABS.

MY INSULTING/COMPLEMENTING OPINION
I really enjoyed moving through this game, mainly because of the historical accuracy. Each civilization has their own style of architecture, militia, and battle tactics. Since there are many ways to beat the game, it gives great variety on your style of ruling. I complement this game on its sound, graphics, design, controls, simplicity, innovative units, architectural designs, and as I said; historical accuracy. This is truly the most educative game I have ever played, being a great way to teach the youngsters some history. When you play campaigns, you lead a real Middle-Ages story, and you may even learn some stuff you didn’t know was there. Truly one of the best games on the PC, I would recommend Age of Empires to gamers of all types and ages.

SURPRISES AND VISUALS
Surprises and visuals are a plenty in this game. When you make armies of cavalry and infantry, and lead them into battle, it’s amazing to watch how they form up, charge, and attack. There are even some types of units themselves that do surprising stuff. Most surprises lay in the game’s campaigns. Here, you can lead the true histories of historical figures like William Wallace, Joan of Arc, or Genghis Khan. Each campaign has several different levels, and you learn some good history about the civilization. Truly, an educative game.

WELL WHAT ABOUT..?
Graphics are a thing to stare at. Seeing as how this game is several years old, and on the PC, you wouldn’t expect stellar graphics. Well, Age of Empires delivered a visual spectacle, and Age of Empires II is no underdog. It’s amazing to see a group of samurai, and cavalry archers, for instance. The archers stand back, and you see the arrows soar. The samurai go up to the enemy gates and fight their way in. All sections of the game are finely polished. Graphics are a good 4 stars.

Sound is no different thing. The game’s music is never annoying or unbefitting the environment. Music is pretty much just orchestra, but it’s truly well done. Most people never really find sound and music important factors in a game, but I think they can set the mood, or completely ruin a game’s environments, no matter how good the game is. The sound effects really live up to this. In the midst of battle, you see your swordsmen clashing steel with your enemy, and the sound is truly realistic. The horses, elephants, catapults, boats…they all make amazing sound effects. Sound and music were really a nice plus to this game.

Game design is pretty much no different than that of Star Craft as far as view goes. Your mouse controls the camera. You move it, the view moves and can see different parts of the map. Your camera is never centered or locked, so you can explore the map without taking a few guys with you. The game’s plethora is truly unique. You always start off with a town center, and several villagers. Villagers can find food (by foraging, fishing, hunting, or farming), stone, gold, and wood. They also build and repair buildings. Needless to say, your villagers are a key in the game. With them, you create different types of buildings that do different things. The buildings you can create change as you progress through ‘ages’. Ages are periods of the game that you can progress by completing certain tasks.

Let’s say you want to build a cavalry unit. You have a villager create a stable, when it’s finished, you click the stable and click ‘create cavalry unit.’ Creating units always cost different types of resources. Different buildings create different units. Buildings also ‘research.’ Research usually does something to upgrade your civilization, or units, and cost certain resources. Now that you have an army, you have to use battle tactics. You click and drag you mouse over units you want selected. You then choose their formation (boxed, diamond, centered ect.). Then, you right click on the map where you want to move. Right-clicking enemies attacks with your selected units. Different approaches lead to different victories. On the mode “random map” you can choose if you want to win by conquest, points, time limit, or wonder. Wonders are a certain architectural piece from that civilization that cost a great deal of resources and building time. As in the first game, the Roman civilization created the coliseum, the Greeks created a Statue of Alexander ect.

IT HAS
Great educational plethora, graphics, sound & music, replay value, historical accuracy, which is the most essential part of a game like this.

IT DOESN’T HAVE
Well, to be honest, I can’t even list multiplayer compatibility. I can’t list anything!

HOW SHOULD I PLAY THIS GAME?
I would strongly recommend playing this game in either Single-player campaigns, or multiplayer through internet connection. In multiplayer, the basic objective is to reign supreme over all other players, by any means necessary. In campaign, you learn a good deal of history, and control great historical figures from the shadows of ancient times.

THE ENDING; SAPPY OR HAPPY?
The Age of Kings is one of the most amazing games I have played. Games like this should definitely be more plentiful. It has awesome graphics, sound, great design, and great challenge. I recommend you try this game by any means necessary. Since you won’t normally be able to rent a PC game, I will do my best to persuade you to buy it and see for yourself. The game also has a data base showing a fun history of all civilizations in the game. So let’s look at the facts; you are getting a package containing an awesome game with graphics, sound, historical accuracy, and control of a civilization-bending it to your will. And as an added bonus you get an encyclopedia of the greatest Middle Ages civilizations! Who wouldn’t want to have all this in 1 little disc? Games like this never get boring, and can teach you idiots a thing or two. So, have I made myself clear? You MUST get this game. If you have to sell your last scrap of food to get it, do it now. It’s THAT good. I definitely give Ensemble Studios 5 stars on their historical masterpiece. Thinking of going to your local history museum? Think again, in this game you don’t have to be quiet, you don’t have to listen to some tour guide, you get to hack away your enemies with a sword and catapult all the way to historical regicide!!!