"The AGE has come"

Age of Empires is the first in its series of great and unique games. There have been many attempts to create a great strategy game as this but none have come close (With the exception of the Civilization series) this has started the War-Strategy franchise that most series still try and recapture today.

Gameplay: 9/10
This game simply plays amazingly, there are the standard scenarios where you can start as a little village and venture out and become the dominant ruler of the lands. My favorite; the custom maps, which allow you to create your own challenge or own unique map fit to your likings. You'll notice I took a point off; the reason being is because of the last mode which is online/network gaming. This doesn't actually capture the real feeling of what Age of Empires really is, and can be quite confusing for starting players.

Graphics/Sound: 10/10
Here is where this game perfects every little aspect games are missing in this type of genre. The graphics are amazing for this time period, each character has his/her/it own unique look. Every person moves so human like it's kind of scary. Now there's the background with every tree looking so much different and real than any other game out there. Ok so that was the overview of graphics, here's the sound part which also is so amazingly lifelike as well. Each and every character, building, animal, and thing has its own unique sound or voice that is said so well. Everything sounds so close to real life including the water with ships moving to and from, to the mining of gold, stone, and food with the chopping of wood which fits the game perfectly.

Control: 8/10
Every character moves almost perfectly, the legs and arms are great and so are the attacks they make. There is a problem in this area that includes the moving of groups. While moving with a group of similar units, they will all make the same move at the same time so it looks like they're robotic soldiers moving into battle, which take some (but little) of the realness away from the game experience. Other than that it's quite easy to move your guys where you want them to go, which doesn't get them killed in battle by having them misinterpret your command and keep on running while they are being struck.

Difficulty: 3/10 (Want to be close to 5)
This is a difficult thing to rate for a few reasons. When playing the regular single player, custom maps, or scenarios you'll want to start on easiest difficulty which takes a few games to finally realize “This is incredibly easy” and switch it to the hardest difficulty with still just a hint of a challenge. Then there's the death match mode which is insanely hard unless you are a pro, even with easiest setting this can make your eyes bulge. There are still many different settings which barely raise or lower the difficulty setting.

Replay Value: 9/10
Here's one of those games that just makes you want to keep coming back and back to play, or create a new and rich gaming experience. With so many units, and map items that makes it very difficult to re-create the same map twice. These are one of those games you just want to keep coming back again and again to experience.

Final Evaluation: 9/10
I strongly recommend you to buy this game, you should still be able to find this game for under $19.99, or else just try online stores like amazon, ebay, ebgames or gamestop. Be sure to read the final tips in deciding on your purchase of this game. But there is the sequel which improves on everything, so get this if you don't want the sequel

Buy this game if:
1) You love new and engrossing games
2) You've tried this game and liked it
3) You liked strategy games
4) You like old Greek type games
5) You like greatly made games with good graphics/sound/control
Don't buy this game if:
1) You don't like new types of games
2) You've played this game and didn't like it
3) You already have the sequel
4) You only want to play real-time games
5) You like poorly made games (Who likes that?)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/04