So this is the third definitive effort from the team we’ve seen age of empires, one and two getting their boosts, and hopefully also someday mythology. Talk to the developers at e3, the one year they said they’d like to so hopefully that does happen. Anyways let’s focus on the game, so this is the third entry in the series and the last of the definitive releases before they worked on age of empires 4, which is highly anticipated. So here we’re getting stunning 4k ultra hd, graphics and fully enhanced audio across the package and a number of improvements. Really, it is the entirety of the initial experience plus new content. So you get a few campaigns that you get to work through, that have you know cinematic moments? They have scripted scenes. You work through these different missions. They actually kind of help. You learn the experience too, if that’s something that interests you there’s, also historical battles, there’s the art of war, challenge missions, if you want that, you’ve got all the 14 civilizations from the original game and two new civilizations, including these swedes and the inca, and then on Top of that there’s also an expansive multiplayer experience if you want to compete with others online or just compete with your friends. So with my gameplay, i hope you don’t expect anything too intense. I know you can set up cool formations and everything i just got. Ta send troops out to go in battle because it’s just more fun that way so i’m, a fairly big age of empires fan i’m, not too insanely intense into some of the meta like i’ve.
Seen in some of my past reviews for the other age of empires. Titles i know people are pretty dedicated about that, but yeah it does seem to really bring alive. The original experience the multiplayer – i should also mention features cross network play so that’s kind of great. So you get all of the released expansions for the game and it also features mod support, uh customization for certain, like i guess you could say, campaigns a spectator mode. If you want to enjoy the game in that sort of visual presentation and, of course, skirmish. So skirmishes is actually where i spend the majority of my time. When i play an age of empire’s title i like to set up different scenarios with different numbers of teams and kind of battle, with large scale amounts of different troops and different. You know ways to fight because they’ve got naval combat which is kind of more expansive in this one, and also again, the infantry based ground forces that also have a little bit more intense, musket and or artillery based options when it comes to battling, which does you Know change the dynamics of the conflict and the battle at hand and with the video i’ve tried to show off different situations, some of the campaign some regular matches and you can jump in kind of through the different eras. So if you’re not familiar with age of empires, the goal is generally to start from a simple age, and you basically expand over time.
You go through the different ages. Once you get enough safe food or gold in order to reach that tier, and then you get access to new weapons and technology and buildings that you can create and new troops, and it really does change the dynamics of combat because maybe some of your competing forces Aren’T necessarily at the same level you’re at it’s, all about speed, hitting the different levels fast and making your way up there and, of course, with so many different options. In regards to how you want to present the game. There are just many ways to kind of play and interact with it and this one’s kind of neat, so here we’re, seeing sort of like a little bit into it. I think we’re going to the third age here so with each h. You also pick a different sort of – i guess political and or ideology concept to it, and that gives you certain bonuses. So this is a little bit different than the previous age of empires. Games it’s not as direct and it’s, got some more dynamic elements to how you go about doing certain things. They’Ve also done a lot of work in regards to revamping the representation of the aboriginal groups here and making them a little bit less mystically, weird uh. So that’s kind of good that they went and had something that’s a little bit more faithful and natural, and i think it doesn’t really impact gameplay in a negative way.
It does actually, you know, run in pretty decently with the experience i do find it somewhat funny, though, that puts like you’re working with them and that’s kind of not historically how that happened, but i you know it is good to see that being present. At least you know kind of updating some of the uh, shocking, setups and stuff like that, for how some of the individual groups were represented, so it’s good that they took the initiative there to improve that, and i don’t think it really changes the gameplay in a Way that would be, you know, sort of this fact and just satisfactory to those that have you know, experienced the original version of the game. So with that – and i hope i handled that you know decently well, just kind of going over. You know what that provides in the game and doing it in a fairly fine and sensitive way past that the game is really quite full of content. I don’t know if it’s necessarily my favorite entry in the series, but this is a very well done package. It looks great, the visuals really are upgraded. Every little element of it looks fantastic, whether you’re zoomed, all the way in seeing your little troops battle and blow up buildings and harvest resources or, if you’re zoomed out in a very high tactical kind of zoom there’s. Just like a really large uh subset of complex options and mechanics in this one that do feel you know once you jump in freshly if you’re coming from the second one, you feel a little bit overwhelmed with some of the tweaks, but once you get rolling, you Kind of understand the way that certain systems and how they flow it’s changed.
You get used to it pretty fast, and i do really like the sort of more focus. I guess you could say on naval base combat in this one, because it’s really cool looking. You know big explosions, the cannons firing, and i know that there’s ship battling in the other age of empires. Titles i’m not saying there isn’t i’m, just saying they sort of do a nice step up with this one and incorporate it into the gameplay a little bit more. So you get like really widespread options in regards to the the various factions and the content you can play with in this one. There are a lot of ways to go around it. You know whether you’re enjoying that story based campaign action, the extra modes or enjoying what others have created in regards to the mods and stuff. I think there’s a lot of ways to interact with this one and play it for a long time and if you haven’t played the other age of empires games, please do two is amazing seriously. I played it for years back in the day and then the definitive. Oh yeah, but let’s focus on the third one again, because we don’t want to get too sidetracked. I’M, just quite a fan of this franchise. I really like the setup and the design for it and it’s a lot of fun. You know: it’s got a good amount of strategy to it, and it’s got a good amount of time that you can spend playing on the levels or not.
If you set up a more fast paced thing, you can choose the pacing of the game. Do you want it going like lightning speed, and i think you maybe saw some of the clips i’ve shown of a game like game mode set up where it’s running like really fast, and you can do that or you can do it slow or you can do It at a medium, regular pace. They have different options for the ui i’m, using the definitive ui scheme, which i think is fairly nice. It complements the experience. Well, it looks clean, looks sharp there’s all the information you need to know and for the most part yeah. This did run quite well, i think also, you know, like small little hiccups here there with some of the pathing of the characters, but not the biggest deal. You can command your armies fairly efficiently. You can go nuts, you can have large scale battles, you can have all these conflicts of individuals going at it across. You know the different modes and they just present a lot of ways to really play and experience this entry in the series again working towards an exciting new release, because you know like a fresh age of empires game. I never thought we’d really ever see the day, but, alas, were really really close to it, and it’s just been such a treat, seeing these definitive releases year after year, jumping into this third one and seeing what it has to offer another cool part of this one Is it’s a little bit more based on actual sort of locations when it comes to sort of like the mapping like you can play in california as an example, or a lot of different other options for different global locations, and i think that’s kind of cool.
I also like the shift to different types of production when it comes to safe food. You’Ve got like a bit of a windmill and you’re, not like plopping down the traditional farms, you’re sort of adding individuals to it in order to harvest, and they have some resources that you can go through. That method it’s very different, very neat, and i like the those adjustments to the core game. So if you are coming off of playing the second uh game for the first time, the definitive edition you know, you’re gon na come in and it’ll take a second to get it adapted to what’s changed in the different mechanics, but you’ll you’ll get a grasp of It fairly quickly, i think, because it’s just sort of i don’t know if you could call them refinements, but i think they really were at the time sort of refinements to the core experience to try to do something. A little bit unique – and i know you know my setups – for these aren’t, the best but again i’m, just sending troops out there and having a good time with the game. I know that you can do some really intense, like meta type things with the layering of your troops for more effective combat. You know that’s entirely up to you if you’re playing that way go for it be as intense about the franchise as you want or as casual as you want to. This is a fun series: it’s, a fun selection of games, good amount of strategy, good amount of challenge to it, and just i really want to hammer in them.
There’S many ways to play they’ve done a great job on bringing back the core experience that you might remember, improving it by adding new modes new ways to interact with it, cleaning up some of the more questionable content that was in there at the time, while also Still making sure that the spirit and the intention of the overall original experience is still achieved and it’s kind of nice having those like more healer type integrations with the local populace and stuff, i think that’s kind of a nice touch. You know you go into historics of what did happen back then, but it’s a game of today and we’re. You know kind of looking at it through that lens, so it’s, an interesting thing to think about, and i think it’s a fair kind of thing to bring up for this particular release. So you get all the dlc content, all the civilizations you get two brand new ones updated across platform. Multiplayer. You can earn xbox achievements through steam. If you’re wondering you can get the enhanced visuals and you just get a comprehensive package that offers a lot of content, that you can just spend countless hours commanding troops across different battlefronts and work through the campaigns or you know, work through the other extra modes. They’Ve added there’s just a lot of ways to enjoy what this has to offer and i think it’s quite a lot of fun and definitely worth your time so that’s age of empires, three definitive edition.
I can’t wait to present the fourth one when it comes out because i’m just so gleefully happy that it’s actually going to be a thing.KuErUescdd4
