Age of Empires 3
As the third continuation in the epic Microsoft Games Age of Empires series, Age Of Empires 3 lives up to the greatness of its predecessors, adding numerous new features that both rookie and veteran players will welcome. In Age Of Empires 3, you begin with a settler, a hero, and a few military units, and you're set off against the world, racing through the colonial time period (and 5 different epochs) to conquer the world and the Americas.The graphics of Age Of Empires III are what you would expect them to be. The water reflects objects, the grass has all the particles you could ask of it, and the unit models are adequately detailed. A great new addition to the series is the visualization of structures breaking apart. If units attack a ship or building, pieces of it will fly off, and the building will remain deteriorated until it is repaired.
The background music isn't annoying, and it's soothing, just as it should be in an Real Time Strategy game. Units have individual voices, and none of them are inappropriate. The voice acting is the game is good, but not great.
A number of criteria are set for each level. You have to get your hospital to a certain size, you have to make a set amount of profit, cure enough patients and gain a good reputation. Once you have met these criteria, you are offered a job in the next hospital. The new job takes you to the next level, where you will find increasingly more demanding diseases which require a wider variety of diagnosis and treatment rooms.
Finally, the most important aspect of the game. Age Of Empires 3 does much to improve the fun factor of the series; Units no longer move their goods back to a storage area or town centre; all units harvest directly. This greatly speeds up the game and allows for greater mobility and control of troops. Farms can now support 10 farmers, and they never run out of food. This allows you to focus on more pertinent micromanaging and warfronts, rather than continually check back to the farms to make sure half your workers aren't standing around. Home City. The home city is the new, gimmicky feature of Age Of Empires 3. However, the gimmick is very valid, and it adds much value to the game. After obtaining a certain amount of experience (through killing enemy units, finding treasure, and completing game objectives), you are allowed to send cards to your colony. In campaign mode, you unlock cards for a civilization, allowing different units/upgrades to be sent to the colony.
AOE3 is a wonderful title sure to keep the Age series alive for a few more years. Buy it if you like RTS games.