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" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "世紀帝國3" -- Chinese spelling (traditional)
• "Rocket" -- Internal development title
• "AoE III" -- Abbreviated title
• "AoE3" -- Common abbreviation
• "Age of Empires 3" -- Informal name

Part of the Following Groups

• Age of Empires series
• Gameplay Feature: Fog of War
• Gameplay feature: Interior decorating
• Gameplay feature: Recordable replays
• 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 (20930)

Critic Reviews

GameZone	Oct 16, 2005	9.5 out of 10	95
eGames	Jul 31, 2007	9 out of 10	90
Gamezoom	Jan 12, 2006	90 out of 100	90
DarkZero	2005	8.8 out of 10	88
Pelit	Dec, 2005	85 out of 100	85
Video Game Talk	Jan 12, 2006		80
PAL Gaming Network (PALGN)	Nov 14, 2005	8 out of 10	80
ActionTrip	Oct 17, 2005	79 out of 100	79
2404.org PC Gaming	Nov 08, 2005	7 out of 10	70
1UP	Oct 14, 2005	7 out of 10	70

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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).)