AoE 3 follows the same concepts as the first 2 games in the series but is enhanced in many ways to top its predecessors
In Age of Empires 3 you can choose from one of eight European civilizations: the Spanish, British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, German, and the Ottomans. Each civilization with its own sets of unique units, enhancements, and bonuses.
As in the other installments of the Age of Empires games you start off on a randomly or manually selected map on a variable difficulty setting (very easy, easy, moderate, hard and very hard) with a few villagers, some starting resources, and a town center where you can make more villagers. Your villagers can gather 1 of 3 resources food, coin, and wood which are used to create units, build buildings, and research improvements. Wood is gathered like you'd expect from trees, where coin can be gathered from gold mines, plantations, and whales (the Dutch can create banks which produce a constant supply of coin). Where food can be gathered from farms, wild animals, and fish.
You win games buy destroying every enemy unit or building on one team which is actually unlikely to happen because usually players resign when most of their units and buildings are destroyed. Real life players are likely to play until their last villager is dead while computer players resign usually much sooner.
The new features of Age of Empires 3 are the addition of the explorer and the Home City, and the decreased difficulty in collecting resources. In previous games you would have to build mining camps, mills, or lumber camps near resources and your villagers would gather and then carry it off to the nearest Town Center or resource storing point. Instead villagers gather and the resources go automatically into your wood,food,or gold stockpile. Much more faster and easier in my opinion.
The explorer is the leader of your colony. He is a good fighter who cannot die. He can only be knocked unconscious and can be revived when a friendly unit moves into the area. He can build town centers and trading post at trading cites. He is an ordinary fighter but has special attacks that can do loads of damage.
The coolest and most important new feature is the addition of the "Home City." As you play your home city's level increases so you can earn access to more powerful improvements, more resources, and larger unit shipments. Each civilizations Home City is different and has access to different shipments. The way your shipments are used can decide the outcome of the game and are very strategic to building your colony.
The graphics in the game are much better than in AoE 2. The battle scenes are fantastic. Bullets whizzing buy, cannon fire denting the ground and snapping trees clean in half, and spectacular looking naval battles. You can actually see parts buildings chipping off as cannons and mortars bombard it.
All in all, Age of Empires 3 is great looking visually and the game-play is fun and addicting. Its game-play is similar to its predecessors so familiar players know what their doing and newcomers can get the hang of it easily. Age of Empires is a fun, addicting game that stays with its roots yet offers new features to give it a slightly new feel. Age of Empires 3 is a great addition to the Age of Empires series and continues as one of the best real time strategies ever.