The public trial version of Ensemble Studios' Age of Empires features an exclusive campaign, Reign of the Hittites. A branch of the Indo-European migration into Asia Minor, the historical Hittites eventually rose above the bloody power struggle within the ranks of their own royalty to build a superpower of the ancient world that would rival the mighty Egyptian Empire. Over the course of five scenarios, the campaign roughly follows the history of the Hittite kingdom from its humble beginnings, culminating with the Battle of Kadesh, which is is possibly the earliest well-documented large-scale battle of antiquity. The technology tree is limited to the Bronze Age in the trial version.

In addition, the trial version contains another campaign called Armies at War, A Combat Showcase, the purpose of which is to demonstrate large, spectacular battles that are possible within the game. This campaign consists of a single Egyptian scenario called The Bronze Age Art of War, which does not follow any particular real historical event. Instead, the player's objective is to overpower enemy Greek forces with the army that is given at the beginning of the scenario, and then destroy the Greek Government Centre. Settlement construction and reinforcements are not available.

The trial version of Age of Empires supports multiplayer games and includes one 8-player scenario, Multiplayer Rumble. Also supplied are the full electronic manual for the game, as well as printable technology tree tables for all twelve civilizations that are playable in the retail version.

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