Age of Empires III Review
Age of Empires 2. Now that’s a tough act to follow. Not only is the game one
of the classics of real-time strategy gaming, it’s still going strong. You can
fire up the game today and find opponents online without too much trouble. Now
the game that keeps on going has a sequel in the form of Age of Empires III and
it’s got some big shoes to fill. Let’s hope that it’s got some big feet…
The first thing going in Age of Empires III’s favor is that it doesn’t just take Age of Empires 2, slap a 3D engine on it, and call it a day. That’s not to say that it radically alters the gameplay that made its predecessor so enjoyable. Instead it takes what was good, tweaks what was not so good, and adds some interesting new gameplay aspects that make it a worthy entry in the Age of Empires series.
![]() |
Welcome to the New World. |
Another new gameplay feature new to Age of Empires III is that the maps include indigenous peoples. While this does mean that you’ll be subject to raids or to have your ships cross paths with war canoes, there’s more to it than that. Maps will have native villages and trading posts that can be captured and developed by players. The villages are sources of military units and technology upgrades and the trading posts are sources of experience points and resources. As you can probably guess, locating and capturing these sites early in the game is key to victory.