Based upon Ensemble Studios' Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, this addition to the Age of Empires series shifts from its real time strategy roots to a DS exclusive turn-based strategy title, though the same goals still apply. Command and rule.
Using the DS touch screen, players must guide their chosen empire in a series of battle campaigns, utilizing a number of units, strategies, and hero units in battle, while also constructing a town to provide new units and upgrades.
Five different civilizations are available: Britons, Franks, Mongols, Saracens, and the Japanese. Each has a unique hero unit, for example Richard the Lionheart (Britons), Minamoto Yoshitsune (Japanese), Joan of Arc (Franks) or Genghis Khan (Mongols), who all provide a number of advancements during battle.
It was discovered that a fatal, cart-bricking bug has slipped unnoticed into the final version of the game: Whenever the name of your DS is 3 characters or less, the game corrupts the EEPROM and crashes even before displaying the title screen. From this point on it will no longer boot, even on a DS with a longer name, unless the cartridge's EEPROM is wiped clean.