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Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings
...continued

Newly added to the combat engine are group formations and combat stances. The new formations include box, custom, flank, line and staggered. I found the predetermined formations to be helpful during the initial portion of an attack, but rarely used them beyond that point due to the chaotic results of most large battles. Combat stances, on the other hand, are extremely useful throughout an entire battle and can be the difference between a frustrating experience and an enjoyable one. A combat stance commands a particular unit to stand in a defensive, aggressive or stationary position. Using these postures effectively will ensure you don't loose half the Turkish army as they chase down a single Teuton raider.

There are four campaigns that include six to seven missions each and a random scenario generator, which comprises the single-player experience. Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Khan, and the Barbarossa campaigns are a set of predetermined missions with specific goals given to the player in storyboard format. Each of these campaigns is loosely based upon actual historical data, such as the Holy Crusader's attack on Jerusalem and the invasion of China by the Mongolian hordes. Dressing up the campaigns are still-framed animation sequences and narration, but unfortunately these dressings are rather bland and add little to the overall experience. The title shines a little brighter in the multiplayer realm and includes support for LAN, modem, Internet and Zone play. I've only seen a handful of offerings with the level of options included here. Other than the aforementioned options available in single-player, online empire builders can configure their games on more than 20 different types of maps, add in AI players as enemies or allies, and even construct their own campaigns, levels and maps in a very well done editor. All in all, Ensemble has put together one of the best strategy games of the year and a definite improvement over their first offering.

Graphics: Graphically, the game is substantially better than Age of Empires, with much bigger and more elaborate structures. Just by looking at our screen shots, you'll get an excellent feel for the level of detail found in AOK -- it's astounding! I do have a couple of complaints though. Units look about the same as they used to, but to the title's credit, there are more of them. The increased size of the buildings creates the illusion that, as the player, you are much closer to the battlefield. While this is a nice visual feature, it sometimes detracts from gameplay by limiting your field of vision. This may not be something everyone complains about, but it leaves me wishing for an option to zoom in and out.

Interface: Like the first-person shooter, I think we've gotten to the point where the RTS genre has an established interface that can be loosely applied to any title falling within its boundaries. Taking suggestions from players and analyzing some of the other games on the market, Ensemble has added a horde of features and options that make this one of the better interfaces around. Hotkeys are nicely configured and make building a snap -- this is especially nice for when you want to construct walls around your city. The newly added features mentioned before such as the gathering points, cartography, bell ringing, combat stances and formations and added villager controls go a long way to assisting the micromanager in us all. On the negative side, though, they should have included more automated features. With as much stuff that is going on in one of these games, some players are bound to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of things they need to be managing. I would have also preferred an option to control the camera, rotate the map or do something that would allow me to alter my perspective.

Gameplay: If you're able to push aside all of the small gripes that can be raised about Age of Empires II: Age of Kings and just play the game, you'll be amazed at how deeply enjoyable the experience will be. No other piece of software I know offers this same blend of history and strategy in a cohesive and really fun way as this title does. There is a whole lot to be played here, and even the most astute strategist will find months of satisfying gameplay. The single player experience is expansive, well rounded and diversified. The built-in tutorial gives newbies a chance to learn the complexities of managing an empire and the editor is powerful enough that it can be adapted to construct maps for multiplayer games, level sequences for single-player or just an individual scenario. Multiplayer is even better, and it even allows you to save. This is without a doubt the most fully-featured RTS title I've played all year, and it's one everyone will enjoy.

Sound FX: The sound effects minus the campaign intermissions are fine. Rolling catapults shake the ground as they march into enemy territory, cavalry hooves gallop in synch as they ride into battle, and all sorts of ambient life brightens up the resounding clank and clatter associated with empire building. The voice acting though, especially during mid-missions, could have been much better. When no accent was required, I had no problems with it, but fake accents are easily identified and stand out like a sore thumb.

Musical Score: Like in AOE, the music was a blend of slow, soft, simple tunes with a classical feeling. The musical score never truly impacts nor detracts from the gameplay. Though I really liked what music was offered, I felt that they could have aligned it better with the results on the screen, especially during the campaigns. Still, the score is never bad or out of place, and therefore does its job better than some, not as well as others.

Intelligence & Difficulty: With all of the newly added features and depth, the two things I expected most from this sequel were an improved AI model and more nationality. I got them both, but, unfortunately, the AI improvement is only a marginal one, and with the added complexities of this title, it ends up being actually worse than before. Pathfinding is still in need of help, especially when grouping a large amount of units and moving them across a river. Drilling down to individual units and controlling them in large-scale battles is difficult and could have been improved by better AI. Failing to configure a unit's combat stance will almost certainly mean defeat, and while the new formations are nice, the units don't seem to have the common sense to know how to use them in battle.

In terms of difficulty, I liked the fact that the game allows you to configure it to your taste. Multiple difficulty settings also help in making this title more user friendly. However, I don't like how unfair the majority of the campaign missions are. The predetermined settings make for some extremely long battles and ones that require an almost linear style of play. AOK isn't impossible by any means, it just takes too long to complete some of the missions.

Overall: This is a rock-solid real-time strategy offering from folks that have a proven track record for providing historically accurate and fun strategy games. Its depth and long list of features will keep even the best empire builders and military strategists busy for months.

 

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