"Your quest for treasures will not matter once I burn your village to the ground!" the cocky AI player says to me as my explorer picks up a nice little sum of gold. I decide that I have heard enough of his insolence and I giggle with an evil grin as I send my 30 men armed with muskets into his village and proceed to wipe him off the map. Gives his allies pause and perhaps they will keep their mouths shut next time they decide to take shots at the Dutch.
Only days away from the six year anniversary of Age of Empires 3 being released and after all that time it still is one of the most fun and beautiful games around. Its not up to the graphical quality of some titles but it is still a pretty game. Its mechanics are still good and its multiplayer base is still strong. It still can shine and bring out some of the best rage quits and come from behind victory dances.
I still enjoy each nation and the way the game deals with the time of the world portion in regards to the fact that your village is a new city being established in the new world. You can send away for things from your home city and based on how well you do you can upgrade your shipments and make them better. Sometimes a battle can turn on the 10 soldiers you called from your home city who arrived just in time to save you.
The resource system didn't change much which kind of was a staple of the franchise. However it needs work, the balancing of it was out of whack. Some nations can advance faster then others due to the resource system and upgrades and it makes the game unkind at times. The AI also is bad at times, I have had to win games by myself countless times after my allies die even after I have given them tons of resources trying to help them along.
Multiplayer with humans can also be challenging as the way the game matches people up is horrible. I played a game where I was matched up aganist a new player and I intentionally played worse to make it fun.
Other then that, it is a very fun game and worth getting if you haven't already. Just don't count on a sequel, Microsoft shut down the studio that made it.
Review
Grade-Harvest It!
Highs-Good strategy, shipments from home city, strategy, and the differences between nations make it good
Lows-AI allies die quickly and the resource system is a disaster
ESRB Rating-T for Teens, Ages 13 and up
Kid Friendly?It's a bit complicated as stated I would respect the rating on the game
Where Can I Get It?Amazon has it, they sell the normal version of the game for about $19.50 but you can also get the deluxe edition for a bit more, that has all the expansions
Overview-It might be $19.50, but there is a reason for that price six years later
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