|
|
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.
[ page
1
]
[
page
2 ]
|
|
|