The problems with Age of Empires 3 really start when you zoom in, seeing how messy and stilted things are up close. The fact that it squeezes five technological ages into just the colonial era means you don't see the same dramatic evolution as you do across the eras in Age of Empires 2 (which stretches from the Dark Ages to the Colonial era), but it's still a satisfying journey punctuated by flashy new units that reflect your progres. There's an enjoyable card system too, which lets you set up a deck between battles, then call in supplies from your Home City on a timer.Īll this makes for a fast-flowing game that condenses centuries worth of military and technological progress into battles that last between 10 minutes and an hour. You now only have three resources to worry about rather than the four of previous games, there's a big clear button that automatically sends you to the next idle villager, and you no longer need special buildings to store resources, cutting down on menial micromanagement. Whatever your preference, the options are there, and you can resize the initially oversized UI too.įurther smoothing things out are various mechanical tweaks. For most, though, the 'Definitive' UI is probably the way to go, making those precious resource counters displayed large and clear at the top of your screen. Nostalgics can opt for a cleaner version of the original UI minus the excess of wooden veneer that boxed in the action in the 2005 version (I, for one, would like to have had the original UI in all its screen-hogging glory). It may be demanding and intense, but Age of Empires 3 is also deceptively simple. It may be demanding and intense, but Age of Empires 3 is also deceptively simple, and a whole lot less fiddly than its predecessor thanks to a mix of modernisations it made back in 2005 and now with the definitive edition. In this sense, even the campaign missions feel like warmups for online play rather than strong stories to immerse yourself in. It doesn't suffer fools or the fumble-fingered, and even prologue missions can be gruelling without a refresher on the hotkeys for jumping to the town centre, queueing up villager production, and jumping between hero units. You can catch all the action at T90Official's Twitch channel while we wait for the new expansion to drop.Age of Empires 3 requires cohesive strategy, fast clicking, and the mental motivation to learn a thousand hotkeys. If you don't have the base game, the best way to get it is through the Xbox Game Pass for PC.Ĭan't get enough Age of Empires 2? A two-versus-two World Cup tournament is actually happening right now, including the best players from around the world. Best part? It looks like it's going to cost just $10 but it will require the base game. If you'd like to get your hands on the Lords of the West expansion pack, you can preorder now from Steam or the Microsoft Store. To go along with the new civilizations and campaigns, 16 new achievements will be included both through Steam and through the Microsoft Store (depending on where you bought the game). These new campaigns are fully-voiced and are expected to live up to the existing campaign excellence found in Age of Empires 2: DE. Edward Longshanks, The Grand Dukes of the West, and The Hautevilles are included, ranging from England to Burgundy to Sicily. If you're one who's all about the singleplayer experience and are getting a bit tired of the same old AI, three new campaigns are included in the expansion. Combined with a First Crusade unique tech which pops out seven Serjeants at each town center, it's clear Sicilians will be able to snowball infantry production beginning in the Castle Age. Sicilians can build castles and town centers 100% faster than other civs, and land units are able to tank 33% of all bonus damage. The Serjeant can build Donjons, which can in turn create more Serjeants as well as house other units and fire back at enemies.
Sicilians have a focus on infantry with the Serjeant unique unit.
Combined with the ability to research economic upgrades an age ahead of other civs, Burgundians should get a good head-start and be able to keep it well into Late-Imperial. They'll be able to convert food into gold at a two-to-one ratio thanks to the Burgundian Vineyards unique tech, and any knights felled in battle will return half of their gold cost. The Burgundians, a Western European cavalry civ, have a Coustillier unique cavalry unit with a shock attack, as well as a heavy infantry unit known as Flemish Militia.