Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

The Good
(Fanboyism ahead)

To me, this game represents the peak of the RTS genre. Age of Empires II isn't merely good, and it isn't merely great. It's almost perfect. Graphics, sound, gameplay, design...no matter how I look at it Age of Empires II comes up aces. It truly is a masterpiece.

The sequel to the promising but flawed Age of Empires, this game is where we see Ensemble Studios get their sea legs (so to speak) and begin their rapid ascent to becoming the arena giants they are today. Age of Empires II, Rome has fallen and you must lead one of 17 civilizations through the Dark Ages to the glory of the Renaissance. Like the original you can trade, fight, and form alliances with your neighbours both on land and on sea. There are lots of ways to victory; you can be a mercantile nation, an aggressive militaristic power, or an advanced nation that relies on superior technology. Each civilization has a set of bonuses and handicaps (for example, the Mongols have strong cavalry but weak infantry, making them suitable for raiding) that make each civilization feel unique.

Minus some details, this was pretty the same idea of Age of Empires, which honestly wasn't the most innovative game ever to begin with. So what makes Age of Empires II so great? Many things, but predominately the fact it is simply one of the highest quality games out there.

I've probably spent hundreds of hours playing Age of Empires II and for a couple years it was the only game I played. I had played through all of the campaigns several times, played random map mode to death, downloaded 200MB worth of custom maps from the internet, and logged over 200 games on the MSN gaming zone before it went the way of ARPANET. Age of Empires II simply never gets old. It's one of those games you can just play again and again. There's so much gameplay depth, so much strategy, you can still discover stuff about it you didn't know before after years of playing.

Design takes priority over everything. This isn't a game that was rushed to release. Gameplay is smooth, polished and refined. Even tiny details have been glossed over to provide the most intuitive gameplay possible. Example? When a villager finishes building something he will immediately start work on another building if there is one; meaning you can quickly lay down 20 foundations, point a villager at one of them, and trust that they'll all get built with NO micromanagement required on your behalf. So simple! Yet so...genius!

Since millions of problems that plagued Age of Empires have all been fixed, and what is left is one hell of a solid gameplay deal. There are enough units, buildings and civilizations to keep the average player busy for ages, and that’s only scratching the surface. Although the game doesn't take huge strides in any new directions there are nevertheless a lot of innovative details that have left a permanent mark on the RTS scene.

Most common tasks are automated, meaning you have to spend relatively little time micromanaging an economy and are free to plan offensives. This is quite a radical departure from Blizzard and Westwood's non-stop clickfests. Handy features have been introduced like garrisoning (you can hide villagers inside certain buildings, keeping them safe from raiders). As far as warfare goes, you can group your soldiers into formations. Strong soldiers (swordsmen and cavalry) will be at the front and weaker ones (archers and siege weaponry) will be at the back. There are advanced formations that can be customised for more specialised tactics, such as making your soldiers split into two wings and flank an enemy. It's a really simple, versatile idea, and helps keep your troops organised as well as protecting weaker elements.

Unit AI is excellent. It's a sad testament to the state of pathfinding AI in RTS games that I was impressed Age of Empires II's soldiers know how to walk around corners and obstacles without getting stuck. Like most of the game, pathfinding can be customised for easier control.

And believe me, easier control is something Age of Empires II has high on its priority list. Age of Empires II isn't a game tailor-made for hardcore geeks like Starcraft. It is squarely aimed at casual gamers. There's an interactive learning campaign, near-encyclopedic documentation (the manual that comes with the game is nearly 200 pages long, and there are additional files on the CD) and helpful text-messages that appear whenever you mouse over something. Fortunately, Ensemble Studios was able to keep the game simple without actively dumbing it down and most of the newbie-friendly features can be turned off.

Graphics are great. Despite using a sprite-based 2D engine Age of Empires II pulls out all the stops, from arrows that get stuck in the ground, you can see individual plants growing on the farms, and smoke rising from the chimneys of houses. The game captures a sense of scale that was missing in the original. Huge castles loom over everything, and mountains and cliffs are rendered in amazing detail. The numerous unit sprites were designed in the manner typical of isometric games (modelled in 3D studio and then converted to 2D) which gives the whole game a rendered, pseudo-3D look. The game models things like terrain, cliffs and mountains, which have tactical uses as well as serving as decoration.

And there's an epic medieval soundtrack, hundreds of voice-acted sound-bytes (each of your soldiers speaks in the language of his nation, a nice touch), and lots of SFX an ordinary person would probably phase out altogether. It's fun to mute the music and just listen to the faint bird calls, crashing waves, and windy echoes of the empty highland mountains. Age of Empires II captures well what was perhaps the best part of its prequel: the epic sense of immersion. You're in an actual world.

The Bad
OK, there's aspect where the game sucks and blows: the voice acting. The verbal responses your soldiers give when clicked are fine, but the cutscenes are cringe inducing. It sounds like they were behind budget, needed a voice actor, and grabbed a programmer from the next room. By far the worst is the William Wallace cutscenes, where they've got an American guy trying to force a Scottish accent. I agree with what that other guy said, couldn't they have just hired a Scottish person? The cutscenes are short and skippable so this is only a minor issue.

Gameplay is rather slow-paced next to games like Starcraft (usually several minutes have elapsed before you start fighting) but from where I'm standing that's actually a good thing, as inexperienced players don't have to worry about being steamrollered in the first minute of the game. Age of Empires II actually gives you some breathing space.

The Bottom Line
Greg Street is famous for his quote "anything that harms gameplay will be blindfolded and shot". In most cases this would be mere marketing rhetoric, but they meant it when they made Age of Empires II. This game is stellar. Ensemble Studios would never approach these heights again, not even with the game's sequels. All of the game's elements are great on their own, but everything just comes together to create something even greater.

Obviously some aspects of Age of Empires II will seem dated by today's standards but it's still a superb game and an awesome classic. Highly recommended.