Age of Empires I: Rise of Rome

So, I installed the first game in the AOE series first. The game was superb with good graphics in 2D. This game included the ancient civilizations like Rome, Greece, Egypt, Babylon and more. There were also good tutorials for the game. There are different game modes. Either you can play the tough and strategic campaigns with lots of games featuring different emperors and civilizations. Then there is single player mode where you can select any civilizations. You can also select the map you want and the no. of enemies and allies. You can also increase the no. of resources. So, let us come to gameplay. In most single player games, you start your empire as a little town with one town center and a few villagers. The town center is the most important building in your town. You can produce villagers from the town center. Also, you can upgrade your empire to different ages from the town center. The villagers play an important role in the development of your city. Villagers are required to build buildings and gather resources. You can assign one or more villagers to a specific resource like stone, gold, food or wood. You can only build buildings and units if you have the sufficient resources required. Advancing to different ages also require resources. When you advance to different ages, your town center gets modified and new upgrades and buildings will be available. There are military buildings, Granaries, Walls etc. Also, when you reach at the last age, the Wonder will be available. The Wonder is a key building which can be used to win the game. That's right! If you build a wonder, a timer will appear and if you can protect your wonder without destroying it for the specific time, you will win the game. If you lose your wonder, the timer will disappear and you will have to build it again or win by defeating your opponent.

A gameplay from Age of Empires I

You can train soldiers to defend your empire from barracks or stable. There are other buildings from which you can build other military units. Villagers can build docks to train fishing ships and galleys for naval war units. Siege workshop is also present which can produce siege equipments like scorpions. The priest is another unit but time wasting. The priest can convert enemy units into your side one at a time. It will take time converting so the enemy may can attack the priest with the sufficient time. You can attack your enemies anytime and defeat them. But, the enemies can also attack you so you must defend yourself and must be prepared. There is also a limit for producing units which is called the population limit. If the population limit is 100, only 100 units can be produced and cannot exceed it. So, you must be very careful while producing units. There is also a map editor tool through which you can make your own map and gather units at a certain place. The campaign mode contains several campaigns of kings or some wars. You may not be treated with the proper units and resources just like in single player mode. Sometimes, only war units maybe present and no villagers will be available for building and training. Or sometimes single units like king who then must be used to explore the map and find the town. Age of Empires: Rise of Rome is really a great strategic game.

Age of Empires II: Conquerors

Age of Empires II is the next edition in the Age of Empires series. The game features more advanced civilizations with advanced technologies. British, China, Japan, Korea are a few civilizations in this game. It has better visuals, maps and technologies and several campaigns. The gameplay is just like the first game but with a lot of change. New ages, buildings, units and civilization are present. Also, single player and multiplayer modes are present. The town center is more detailed and so are the units. Buildings are divided into technology, food, military and naval based. Buildings like blacksmith provide only technologies which can help the town or strengthen buildings and units. Some technologies are also available in town center too. The resources are same and you can build mills to make farms and assign a villager to it. Wonder is also present in this game too. Stunning technologies are also present. Another new building is the castle. With castle, you can create your civilization's special unit. If you select Korean civilization, your special unit will be war wagons. Some war technologies are also present at the castle. I remember a cool technology which is common to all civilizations by which you can see your enemies. You cannot see your enemies and the things happening in the map unless you have a unit of your own near to it. Through this technology from castle, you can track your enemies. It's a cool thing but very costly. New military units like battering rams, catapults are present. You can also upgrade each unit to a higher position with more attacking skills. I liked the Age of empires II more than the first game since they are some more easy to play. The campaigns are also colorful with lots of games to play and challenging. The map editor was far better than that of the first game. Age of Empires II became more popular and became a friendly little strategic game which can attract the gamers. Most of my friends still play Age of Empires II that the latest and older versions. I guess Age of Empires II really got in their mind!

A screenshot from Age of Empires II: The Conquerors

Age of Empires III

My like with Age of Empires II faded away with the arrival of Age of Empires III. I got the news from the Internet and I was looking forward in buying it. I upgraded my PC just before the arrival of AOEIII and I was lucky since I can play this game as soon as I get it. Unfortunately, I had to wait a lot to get the game since it was not available in the local store. My Dad bought it to me on my birthday. I quickly ran to my PC and installed and opened. What I saw was a game entirely different from the usual strategy games I ever played. It was beautiful with 3D textures and amazing graphics. The AOEIII was a lot different from the older games. It featured the 16th century heroes like Morgan black and the rest of the black family. The gameplay was stunning with great graphics, map textures and units. The new town center is really beautiful and advanced ages are present for upgrading. Cannons, mortars, musketeers and all units are modern. The buildings also changed. The fort replaced Castle. New buildings with latest technologies, units and upgrades arrived. A cool campaign, single player and multiplayer mode gaming is also present. The civilizations are modern like the Spanish, Russia, British, French and more civilizations are present in the AOEIII game. Some tribal civilizations are present which you can ally with by building a trading post. Trade routes can also be occupied by building trade posts. You can later upgrade them to a road or railway for getting trade resources faster. Units also have new appearances. Musketeers replaced the swordsmen. Siege units are also based on the modern warfare. Cannons, grenadiers have taken siege warfare to a new level. The war ships equipped with cannons are also great units. You can feel an old ship battle in AOEIII. Priests, villagers and other units are present. Factories, fort, blockhouses are some of the new buildings in the game. Some buildings are only available for some civilizations only. Towers are also present which can be build near the gate to attack the enemies. Bombard towers uses cannons against the enemies. A new feature called XP points is present. As you develop, your XP points will increase. You can go to your hometown at any time of the game by clicking on your country's flag. This will take you to your hometown. You can view the available shipments there. I you have enough XP points, you can send a shipment to your town. Villagers, technologies and units can be sent from hometown. Detailed map makes the game attractive. There also a lot more features in the Game. This Game has two extra add-on packs:

A screenshot from AOEIII

The Age of Empires III: Warchiefs- which includes three nomadic tribal civilizations and new campaigns.Iroquois, Aztecs and Sioux are the new civilizations. Some improvement to other civilizations can also be found and new technologies are available.

A screenshot from AOEIII: Warchiefs

The Age of Empires III: Asian Dynasties- which includes three Asian civilizations and new campaigns. New civilizations like India, Japan and China are available. New buildings, map rotation and units will also be available. New campaigns based on the new civilizations are also present.

A screenshot from AOEIII: Asian Dynasties

Conclusion:

Altogether, the AOEIII is the best and the most beautiful game in the Age of empires series. Those who are out there have not tried the game, you should try it. There was a cover which I got when I bought the AOEIII full which shows the AOE series with the released age of empire games and a artwork of Age of empires IV and V, I don't know whether they are bringing out the next Age of empires game in the series but I hope they would make a lovely game soon in the series.

(NOTE: I didnt include the Age of Mythology in this review. Also, there are more and more features than the ones I have written here present in the game)