Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

aka: AOK, Age of Empires 2, AoE2
Moby ID: 368
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

In Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, the player takes control of one of thirteen civilizations, including the Chinese, Goths, Britons, and Vikings, among others. The player starts with a handful of villagers, through expansion and careful handling of the economy, the player can advance up to the point where powerful war machines and well trained masses of troops will be the player's to make and control.

There are three distinct ways to play, one of which the object is to hunt and kill the other player(s) king, however there are a lot of options for each, anywhere from what type of map to start on (including coastal, gold rush, arabia, and rivers) to what the maximum amount of units are allowed.

The player can also play online at the Zone vs. up to seven other players, or via a TCP/IP connection.

Spellings

  • 世紀帝國 II:帝王世紀 - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 帝国时代II:帝王时代 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

488 People (171 developers, 317 thanks) · View all

Design
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Programming
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[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 88% (based on 62 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 247 ratings with 9 reviews)

The best medieval themed RTS of all time

The Good
It will keep you playing for months the multiplayer is incredibly balanced all the civilizations fight well and strategy is abundant. Back when this came out the graphics where great as well. Choose from the mongols, chinese, britons, franks, saracens, etc. A lot of diversity with each civilization having their own interface and own sounds. I really learned a lot of history from this game as well. I'll never forget how Barbarossa died. The rated system on the zone is what kept me coming back, the numbers were well calibrated and you only got a lot of points for when you really won. Singly player was fun too, though not nearly as fun as multiplayer. The civilizations each possess their own special units which totally change their position on the battlefield. Playing on custom maps was also really fun. You can choose from random map, deathmatch, custom map, king of the hill, and a whole slew of other styles. This is truly a strategy classic.

The Bad
The zone system they used online was a little buggy, and it didn't contain cheaters to well either. I doubt they've fixed it either, the net's best hackers were addicted to this game.

The Bottom Line
A really great strategy game, an unforgetable classic. It also serves as a usefull learning tool about midieval warfare. Truly a groundbreaking game.

Windows · by Thiago Oliveira (85) · 2003

Fun....in the beginning

The Good
This game needs a lot of strategy. I enjoy games that take thought in order to win, rather than just total hack-and-slash. Without thought, you will probably lose.

The graphics are very crisp and nice, and I enjoy the various ways the troops die. I prefer the nice look of the Vikings, and the interesting Aztec/Mayan buildings.

The sounds in the game are sound good, and give the impression of the sound of battle as troops fight.

By far the best thing about the game is the map editor. It is very fun to create a featureless desert, with two huge armies in the middle of the map, resulting in a quick, but violent, battle. The test feature allows you to give your map a test run to see how it works, so that you don't have to leave the editor and create a new game to try it.

The Bad
After playing for a little while on one level, the computer just repeats itself and fails to do anything new. You get bored and just resort to cheats to win, and do the same in subsequent levels.

The Bottom Line
Buy this game if you enjoy large scale strategy battles.

Windows · by Boris Stovich (26) · 2004

A must-have for every RTS fan.

The Good
This game has lovely graphics - it's a pure pleasure to look at those beautiful houses and towers. Proportions of buildings are now improved - you won't see a catapult bigger than stable anymore. People are now much more detailed and environment is much more realistic and varied. Despite being a 2D game, AoE2 still looks good.

Sounds are much more varied than in Age of Empires - instead of saying the same "roggan?" now your villagers are speaking in their native language - when you play Franks, they will speak in French, when Britons - English and so on. Samples of weapons are much better and more realistic than in AoE.

This time, you have 5 campaigns, where you will take place of Joan d'Arc, Saladin, Barbarossa and other famous people. Every mission has short spoken intro and outro. Objectives can change during a gameplay. Most of missions have some scripted interludes. I have to admit, that campaigns are the best thing in whole game.

And of course, there is also a random map, taken almost directly from Age of Empires, but there are some significant differences: first, maps are much bigger and more detailed. Second, there are 13 new civilisations like Vikings, Mongols and Saracens. And third, Ensemble Studios added new gameplay type - Regicide. In Regicide, you try to kill enemy's king, while protecting yours king. Obviously, you can still win by building a Wonder, collecting all relics and simply destroying your opponent.

Your army is now much more intelligent than in AoE, you can change formation of your detachments, and your soldiers don't lose their way anymore. As in AoE, you have plenty of units to train - cavalry archers, camels, trebuchets, galleons, battering rams, and more. Moreover, each civilisation has its own unique unit, unavailable to others. Obviously, there are plenty of technologies which improve your army. Once again, computer player is aggressive and won't let you get bored.

Also, there is a small encyclopaedia. Maybe it doesn't alter a gameplay, but it's nice addition to a game.

The Bad
Well, this section will be short - for unknown reason central and eastern Europe is omitted in the game. And that's all.

The Bottom Line
You may skip Age of Empires, but you have to play it's sequel, if you like RTS. There are still many people who play it by LAN or Internet, so you shouldn't have problems with finding somebody to play.

Windows · by Sir Gofermajster (485) · 2009

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Missing Unnoficial Add-Ons? Photon Fighter Dec 22, 2023
Partial credits? Mtik333 (29526) Jan 6, 2022

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PC version of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cut content

Age of Kings, during its development, was subject to many changes. Some things that were cut out of the final game are...

  • A fifth resource: ore. Was removed because it made the game too complex.
  • Outlaw units. These were intended to function like wolves, guys that belong to no player and attack you if you get near. Were removed because they were too annoying.
  • Sea walls. These were supposed to be built by ships and could withstand a good amount of damage. I'm not sure why they weren't included.
  • Dolphins: you were supposed to be able to fish these like any other sort of fish. Microsoft forced Ensemble to remove them.

The interesting thing is, all of those things and more are still hidden in the game, buried inside the .dat file. If you reverse-engineer the game, you are able to access them, and add them to custom scenarios. Templates have been released that contain all of them.

Dry Dock Technology

Dry dock technology decreases the amount of gold a trade cog brings back home. The reduction can be at least 33% in some cases.

It seems to be balanced with the ship speed increase so that the productivity of trade cogs remains about the same as before dry dock research. In some cases I had slightly better gold income (gold/second) before the research of dry docks than after. I did not make a thorough testing with many different distances, but what I did was test it in a deathmatch game too, to be sure it does happen in real games.

Source

EULA

The EULA of this game includes a clause which prohibits the use of Age of Empires II in a nuclear plant.

Online servers

The game's online servers (which were hosted on MSN Gaming Zone) were shut down on 19 June 2006 in the wake of MSN Games' shift from "CD-ROM matchmaking service" to casual online games.

Pre-release

Before release, multiple pre-release versions were released on Internet warez sites. According to Matt Pritchard, they usually were only one or two weeks older than the latest in-house versions. It seems they came from various sources, including press previews, Microsoft test versions and even from Ensemble employees. They were also multiple attempts of hacking Ensemble's server and network.

On a lighter note, the German magazine GameStar bribed one of the official webmasters with "German beer" for some exclusive screenshots.

References

This occurs during the Saladin Single Player campaign, during the mission in which you secure Jerusalem. If you strike down the Knights Templar leader (a hero unit), he declares, "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!" This is obviously a reference to Obi-Wan Kenobi dueling Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope.

Sales

Between 1999 and 2000, Age of Empires II (PC) won a single Gold- and three Platinum-Awards from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more then 100,000 units (Gold) and more then three times 200,000 units (Platinum) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. As the Gold-Award is not counted into the Platinum-Award, all four awards total in between 700,000 and 1,700,000 units sold.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Weapon of the Year (for the Trebuchet)
    • March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Interface Design of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – #16 Top Game of All Time
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • 1999 - Best Game (Editors' Vote)
    • 1999 - Best Game (Readers' Vote)
  • PC Gamer
    • 1999 - Real-Time Strategy Game of the Year
  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/2000 - Best Real-Time Strategy Game in 1999
  • Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (Entertainment Software Association Germany)
    • 1999/2000 - Gold Award for selling more then 100,000 units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
    • 1999/2000 - Three Platinum Awards for selling more then 200,000 units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Every award is counted individually

Information also contributed by Heikki Sairanen, Ingold, jeremy strope, Maw and Xoleras

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Related Sites +

  • Age of Kings A t r i u m   Your only source for Age of Kings
    A fan site with all the game info. Info on all the different tribes. Great forum & a page with a lot of links to other fan sites .a must site of visited.
  • Age of Kings Heaven -
    A fan site with all the game info. Info on all the different tribes. a must site of visited.
  • AoK Battlefield
    The webmasters show a lot of dedication of their site, they even took a visit to the ES office. Updated regularly and has contests for war stories and other things. Nice looking ubb forums in which to post.
  • Berserker Clan
    A group of keen AoK gamers that compete regularly online. The site has a large number of recorded games, and active forum, and some other game-related downloads.
  • IGCD Internet Game Cars Database
    Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games.
  • King Arthur's Castle - Camelot
    Updated regularly and a nice stylish design. The team of webmasters seem to be very dedicated and it has shown so far.
  • MrFixitOnline.com
    Probably the best site to improve your game skills. Many tactics, a strategy forum, recorded games and much more.
  • Planet Age Of Empires
    A very good website with tons of info and files, including recorded games, maps, scenarios, and AI editing tools. Also has a large forum.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 368
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Rynok.

PlayStation 2 added by Xoleras. Macintosh added by Jeanne.

Additional contributors: MajorDad, P Boughton, Robert Teichmann, Dr. Elementary, Unicorn Lynx, Dapy, Maw, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, Plok, Victor Vance, FatherJack, Flapco.

Game added November 2, 1999. Last modified March 29, 2024.