Looking Back: How To Approach Age of Empires Now As A Newer Gamer
All that being said, the game is fine. Newer players beware, however, expecting to be able to sit down and play this game as well as its' successors. When you sit down for the first time you get that same Age of Empires feel you get from the later games and the same excitement when you finally reach a point in your civilization when your gut tells you it is time to go beat up on someone. It just takes a little more work and concentration. Play this game if you are really into Age of Empires and are serious about seeing where it came from. Or, play this game if you are just very serious about real-time strategy and welcome a slight twist on more recent games. Just know when you play it, that this is a game that came out 2 years before Age of Empires II, and 8 years before Age of Empires III. If you are accustomed to expansions and other real-time strategy games that came out between the next two installments of the Age of Empires series (not counting expansions) try the original Age of Empires, but don't expect the same fluid action of the later games. Expect to play a game that is still fun and one that came out in 1997--and in many degrees plays like a game that might have come out a couple years later. It is a good choice, and playing it one can get the sense of why a legacy developed around Age of Empires. Go for it.