![]() ![]() ![]() The cannonballs issued from the barrels of your guns aren’t just for show – they’re physical objects that damage whatever they crash into. They also beefed up the graphics with a slick new physics engine that really shines when you roll out the heavy artillery. Instead of developing one area of their game to the exclusion of all others, developer Ensemble Studios has created an infrastructure that unifies their game and makes all of it worth playing. The emphasis in multiplayer battles will be on speed and adaptation, because you’ll never know what your opponent is going to throw at you thanks to the game’s eight, heavily modifiable nations. Once your city has gotten to a high enough level and you’re confident with your scheme, you’ll go online and challenge human opponents with your custom-built nation. You can set up the battles that suit you, fight them, and then use your new toys to customize your nation in a way that fits your play style. You’ll create a profile for skirmish matches that will benefit from the experience gained in those battles, turning Skirmish mode into something of a Campaign without a plot. What makes Age of Empires III different is that this system of leveling up and collecting cards will apply to every sector of the game, not just the single-player Campaigns. Now, card-based systems aren’t the most exciting things to talk about and they certainly aren’t new, though they’re a surefire way to add depth to just about any game more and more developers seem to be catching on to this all the time. You can then choose new shipment options from a pool and add them to a deck of up to twenty shipment “cards.” These twenty then dictate what shipments you receive. ![]() After a skirmish or mission, your country will gain experience points and convert them into levels for your city. It also makes for a brand new card-based experience system. Fortunately, the support of your nation makes time fly. Obviously, you’ll want to dash through the ages as quickly as you can to get your evil imperial mitts on cannons and guns. Like the previous entries in the series, Age of Empires III has you progressing through eras, which in turn dictate the buildings and units you can produce as well as the shipments you can receive. After a short while, the supplies you ordered will arrive at your city center, free of charge. You get one shipment point every minute or so, each of which is good for a boatload of whatever resources your country has to offer. The big difference is that your country will help you in this process by sending periodic shipments of units, resources and technologies.īut rather than just get sent stuff, you now visit the new Home City screen and order it, Amazon style. You start with a base and some peasants, build this, train that, then march over and conquer them. At first, your campaign through the Americas seems uncannily similar to what you saw in Age of Empires II. You assume control of one nation’s campaign, intrepidly commanding its forces and expanding its empire. The players, including the British, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Russians, Germans, and Ottomans, all seek to fill their coffers with the unspoiled riches of the virgin land while allying with native populations and thwarting the designs of their European rivals. To say that this game voyages into new worlds of playability and unity is an understatement, especially since it unfolds on a 15th century American stage. Instead of pitting you against more of the same, Ensemble Studios has taken their game to the next level with Age of Empires III, unifying the lion’s share of the previous game’s features into one massive, interlocking juggernaut bent on slaying every hour you want it to, and probably a few you don’t. But after six years of captivity, most players have managed to tame that game. Gamers were left confused and bleary-eyed in the wake of its ferocious, multi-pronged offensive if the campaign mode didn’t get you, the skirmishes would, and right when you thought you were safe you’d get sucked into the sweet online play. Age of Empires II kicked about as much ass, scientifically speaking, as a pride of giant metal lions. ![]()
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