Age of Empires III (Windows)

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Description

Age of Empires III is the third installment in the series of real-time strategy games. The main idea of the gameplay remains unchanged: with the limited amount of resources and a handful of settlers, you must think about the expansion of your colony. Besides the strong economic thread, you should also think about the development of your army. Like in the previous games your people start in an early part of humanity's history and progress to new ages (up to the industrial age) with better weapons and other possibilities.

The game offers you a complex single-player campaign that is divided into 24 missions and three acts. You take the role of Morgan Black and his family which struggle against a mysterious European cult. You can also challenge yourself in the multiplayer mode where you can command one of the eight European powers (from French to Russian). A new addition to the game mechanics is the home city in Europe which regularly sends supplies or military reinforcements. It is persistent and after multiplayer successes you gain the ability to upgrade it through a tech tree.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "帝国时代III" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "世紀帝國3" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "Rocket" -- Internal development title
• "AoE III" -- Abbreviated title
• "AoE3" -- Common abbreviation
• "Age of Empires 3" -- Informal name

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D engine: BANG!
• Age of Empires series
• Gameplay feature: Fog of war
• Gameplay feature: Interior decorating
• Gameplay feature: Recordable replays
• Games that include map/level editor
• Physics Engine: Havok
• Physics Engine: PhysX
• Setting: City - Havana
• Setting: City - Lisbon
• Technology: amBX
• Video games turned into board / card games

User Reviews

Nothing groundbreaking, but a solid game	Cadorna (223)
A good game, but not a worthy successor	D Michael (232)
Nothing new under the sun	Sebastian Cardoso (51)
The best RTS since WarCraft II	Chris Wright (105)
Show me an AOE fan that actually likes AOE 3? I didn't think so.	Indra was here (20905)

Critic Reviews

GameStar (Germany)	Oct, 2005	89 out of 100	89
Krawall Gaming Network	Oct 31, 2005	88 out of 100	88
PC Powerplay	Nov, 2005	87 out of 100	87
Game Informer Magazine	Dec, 2005	8.25 out of 10	82
Armchair Empire, The	Nov 25, 2005	8 out of 10	80
PAL Gaming Network (PALGN)	Nov 14, 2005	8 out of 10	80
Video Game Talk	Jan 12, 2006		80
UOL Jogos	Oct 25, 2005		80
Gamer Within	Nov 18, 2005	7 out of 10	70
1UP	Oct 17, 2005	6 out of 10	60

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Trivia

Engine

Age of Empires III uses a modified version of the Age of Mythology engine.

Physics engine

The Windows version uses the Havok physics engine. Few modern Mac titles use it because of its licensing fee. MacSoft gutted Havok from the game and substituted it with a significantly less expensive technology called PhysX, developed by AGEIA for its Mac port.

Awards

• GameSpy
  • 2005 – #5 PC Game of the Year
  • 2005 – PC RTS of the Year
  • 2005 – Best Graphics of the Year (PC)
• GameStar (Germany)
  • 2006 - Best PC Strategy Game in 2005 (Readers' Voting)
• Golden Joystick Awards
  • 2006 - Online Game of the Year
• PC Powerplay (Germany)
  • Issue 04/2006 - #1 Strategy Game in 2005 (Readers' Vote)
  • Issue 02/2006 - #3 Strategy Game in 2005
• Puget Sound Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication
  • Early January 2007 - Distinguished Award for Technical Writing and Editing (for the manual and quick reference card)

Information also contributed by Scaryfun and Sciere.

Related Web Sites

• Age of Empires III (official website)
• Age of Empires III (Official website)
• Age of Empires III Community Site (Home of the Age of Empires III community)
• MacSoft (Mac developer's product page)
• RTS Reaches the Next Level (An Apple Games article about the Mac version of Age of Empires III, with commentary provided by Lead Designer Greg Street (November, 2006).)