It’s tricky to review a compilation of a game that originally came out four years ago. Technology moves on so fast that something in 2005 that was brilliant, might feel distinctly mediocre and dull now. Unfortunately in the case of this collection of Age of Empires 3 and its two expansion packs, it has suffered badly with age, although there is a glimmer of hope in there still.
There’s no doubt that Age of Empires 3 was a great game at the time. Although it was arguably not quite as entertaining as its two predecessors, it was still an extremely competent RTS. Building upon the Age of Mythology engine, at the time it looked great and immensely detailed, of course this isn’t as apparent now in a world where even strategy titles stick to 3D graphics and still manage to be extremely intricate visually. Fortunately the campaign is still a solid single player affair. The story follows the fictional Black family over three generations, divided into separate acts. It covers a fair amount of ground between the late 17th century to the early 19th century. There are 24 missions in all with various sub-missions so there is plenty to do. The problem is it all feels a little too predictable and generic. So many missions simply require the same old solutions that we’ve all seen countless times before in strategy games. Some of the stories behind the scenarios are neatly written but it all feels like it’s been done a thousand times before, making Age of Empires 3 feel distinctly average. Maybe it’s down to the age of the title but I suspect much of it is simply because Age of Empires 3 lacks true imagination which is essential to any RTS that wants to be more than just satisfactory.
A year after Age of Empires 3′s release, the first expansion pack The War Chiefs was released. It offers three new civilisations to play as all with their own advantages and disadvantages. There are the Iroquois the general all rounders, the Sioux which focus on cavalry units and the Aztecs who have no mounted units but plenty of unique infantry units. Admittedly some of the additions are extremely similar to the previous game, with even the separate civilisations being rather similar when you look past unit types, but that’s not strictly a bad thing. There is the typical spattering of new unit types which are also open to the European civilisations of the original as well as a new single player campaign which focuses on the Black family again. It’s a little shorter this time round at 15 missions long but still plenty to keep you hooked. The story is also well written, much like the original’s which is nice to see.
I found the final expansion pack The Asian Dynasties to be the weakest of the three games. Again it adds three new civilisations in the form of China, Japan and India, all with their own pros and cons. This time round there’s a new campaign for each civilisation which initially seems like a great idea despite the fact each campaign is shorter than usual. However it all gets a little silly and fast. At first it’s the little things that can be construed as quirks. Things like the fact that the Indians spend wood resources to recruit people rather than food, which is the much more logical idea. Then there’s the fantastical element. The units get a little crazier with the likes of firework rockets and charging elephants. The missions are more to do with finding treasure rather than collecting up resources. While it’s all welcome and it’s good to see an attempt to make the formula different after such predictability in the previous titles: it’s just a bit too outlandish. It detracts from the attempt by Age of Empire’s developers to portray things from a historical perspective, something which the original Age of Empires and its first sequel did brilliantly. Throw in some Age of Mythology style God powers and it just doesn’t quite fit in with the Age of Empires way of doing things.
Each of the games in the compilation come with a single player skirmish mode to keep you busy when you’ve finished the campaign modes, but that’s about it. There is multiplayer functionality but in my time of playing not once did I find anyone online to play against. This does make sense considering the age of the game but it means new players will miss out on the thrills that multiplayer Age of Empires used to consistently bring back in the day.
The real deciding factor here is would I have played Age of Empires 3 if it wasn’t that I have to for the sake of this review. No, simply put. It didn’t take long to realise that Age of Empires 3 and its expansion packs have not aged well. They were great games once upon a time but unfortunately not everything can age as well as the Civilisation series. If you want an enjoyable RTS challenge, go for something like Order of War or Company of Heroes. Keep your memories of Age of Empire as memories; it’s too hard to go back now.
VideogameUK verdict: 5/10
