Age of Empires 3

Intro:-
Now Ensemble is back on the history train with the third official Age of Empires game. Age of Empires III moves the action to the New World, letting players lead a variety of European nations from the Age of Discovery through the Industrial Age. Eight playable nations battle across a wide variety of geographies -- from the swamps of Florida to the snowy passes of the Rocky Mountains. Players can recruit different Native American tribes and seize control of various trade routes. Material and technological support will be offered by the player's home city back in Europe.
The 24-mission campaign is very well designed. Divided into three large acts, it tells the story of three generations of the Black family. First Morgan Black, a Knight of St. John races to the New World to stop the Spanish from seizing a powerful natural wonder. Next, Morgan's grandson John and his Native American allies find themselves in the Seven Year's War. The final act shows John's granddaughter Amelia as the head of a railroad company making their way west.
I won't spoil the particulars of the story here but a common quest and a common enemy unite all three acts. The connections aren't always clear at first, but the associations start to build as the game goes on. Putting the pieces together isn't terribly hard but it gives a nice sense of purpose to the whole game and keeps you invested in the action.

While we're talking about the game's story, it's refreshing to see a game that covers this era of warfare without referencing either Napoleon or the American Revolution. While both are fertile ground for strategy game developers, it's nice to get something a little different this time around. Meeting Washington and Bolivar and taking part in the Seven Year's War adds a little authenticity as well as variety. On the other hand, some of the choices -- like finding Russians in Colorado -- may leave gamers scratching their heads in wonder.

The range of missions is pretty broad. There are plenty of defense missions where you have to protect a given structure or a whole town from enemy assault. In other cases you'll have to destroy or capture key structures. Along the way there are plenty of other objectives: rescuing captured settlers, seizing trading posts, liberating Native American settlements and a whole host of other tasks. Better still, many missions combine a variety of these objectives at once. While most of the missions let you build a base and start collecting resources, there are some missions where you have to make do with a set number of troops.

Outside of the single player campaign, Age of Empires III benefits from a very soild multiplayer interface. A few simple clicks take you to ESO2, Ensemble's online matchmaking service. Finding and joining games is remarkably easy and there are a wide variety of options to choose from. Different starting eras and resource levels will let players jump into as advanced a game as they want. The AI offers up a few taunts from time to time to (sort of) replicate the personality of a human player. It's a nice trick honestly, but the AI can't even approach the level of smack

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The good thing:-
Tried-and-true formula still makes for a complex and interesting strategy game Innovative "home city" system creates long-term depth and strategy Plenty of content and modes of play Spectacular visuals, if you have a fast system.
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The bad thing:-
Some aspects of combat don't look and feel quite right Frame rate can bog down at the wrong moments Falls into some of the same traps as many older real-time strategy games .


Regards
Team Gaming roof

Age of Empires the Age of Mythology

Buildings:-
The numerous buildings of each civilization in the game are masterfully detailed and rendered, which the great artists at Ensemble Studios can be thanked for. Each of the three civilizations has a distinct building set and like previous Age games, when one upgrades to the next age, the building set also changes.

God Powers
God powers are a new invention in the Age series and will forever change the way the game is played out. Each god grants one power per age and you may use them whenever you choose to throughout the game or in other words, you can save them up to use in the last age, use them immediately, or not use them at all. You can only use each power once during the game so you must be selective of the times you use them. Your god powers are displayed at the top center of your screen for easy access.

Interface
The interface of Age of Mythology is quite easy to use and is very logically designed. This section will help beginning players understand the layout of the screen, identifying both basic and advanced aspects of the interface such as the idle hero banner, grouping banners, and resource box. Every button and number are described in detail and if you have yet to play a game, this should give you a good jump start.

Game Maps
In Age of Mythology there are a wealth of new and interesting random maps to play, as well as some favorites from the past. There are twenty-three total map choices in all and that leaves quite a few possibilities when selecting random map. The "Random" option chooses a map that is ideal for regular one-on-one or team gameplay, while "Random All" will randomly choose any of the twenty-one maps, which may or may not be a map with a regular start or strategy. As always, there is a good mix of land, water, and mixed maps

Relics
As with god powers, relics are new territory in Age of Mythology. Though they've been around since Age of Empires, their use in Age of Mythology is drastically different. Relics are placed randomly around the map for players to pick up and gain bonuses from. They can only be picked up by your civilization's hero, whether it be the Egyptian pharaoh, Norse hesir, or one of the Greek heroes. Once picked up, the relics must be taken to the player's temple and garrisoned there in order to take advantage of them. There are a total of 47 relics, some more useful than others.

Techs
Technologies have always had their place in real-time strategy games and Age of Mythology continues that tradition well. There are well over one-hundred and sixty technologies in Age of Mythology in the categories of economic, military, and myth techs. With such a large number you are ensured to have a wealth of options and variety of gameplay. Also, this might pose a problem to your gameplay as you might be missing out on some very important technologies or getting the wrong ones. Study up on your techs and you can be sure that your units and economy will surpass your opponent.

Units
There are a wide variety of units in Age of Mythology, as there has been in previous Age games. One of the foremost factors that separates an expert player from an average player is understanding the relationship between units, or in other words, what counters what and what combinations of units work best. Becoming familiar with these concepts will ensure that you will consistently win battles. In this section we have separated every unit in the game into three categories based on the three cultures in the game. In addition to these sections, you will find unit tables for each of the cultures as well, which will give you valuable stats that will be integral in your understanding of the units.

Age of empires 2, the age of conquerers

Gameplay changes
The Conquerors Expansion also introduced various new gameplay features and tweaks, including the new game modes Defend the Wonder, King of the Hill and Wonder Race. Additional maps, some based on real life geographic locations, and new winter and tropical terrain textures were included. In-game, infantry are able to garrison in battering rams, protecting the infantry while increasing the ram's speed and attack, while ships are able to form formations for more effective fighting. The graphics are the same, but new civilizations have been added such as the Spanish and the Huns.
Micromanagement is made easier, by an improved scripted Artificial Intelligence of villagers and siege weapons. Villagers will now commence automatically gathering resources, if they build resource gathering sites, while siege onagers will not fire if their attack is likely to harm friendly units. Additionally, an in-game option has been added to allow the game to automatically replenish farms after they are exhausted (for the same price as constructing a farm the ordinary way). Chat commands are introduced, in order to communicate more effectively with allied computer players.

Campaigns
The Conquerors Expansion adds four additional single player campaigns. These are based on Attila the Hun's rise to power, Montezuma's defense against Hernándo Cortés and the adventures of El Cid. The fourth campaign, "Battles of the Conquerors," is actually a group of unrelated single scenarios, each based on a significant historical battle. These include the Battle of Agincourt, the saga of Erik the Red, and the Battle of Hastings, among others. Possibly by coincidence, all three campaigns (excluding "Battles of the Conquerors") deal with the history of Spain. The Visigoths (who later became the Spaniards) play an important role in the Attila the Hun campaign, El Cid goes over the Christian reconquests against the Moors, and Montezuma is about the Spanish conquest. In addition, the "Lepanto" scenario from "Battles of the Conquerors is about a Spanish victory against the Ottoman Turks.

Compatibility Problems
While it is possible to run Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and Age of Empires II: The Conquerors on Windows Vista and Windows 7, a compatibility problem with the games graphics engine will result in graphical errors also known as "toxic grass" (grass will be red and green pixelated and oceans will look pink, purple and cyan-blue). No patch has been released by Microsoft. Running these games with Windows XP compatibility settings or using alt-tab in rare cases can help with the problem but does not completely eliminate it in Vista. There is no known fix for Windows 7.

Technologies
The Conquerors Expansion introduces in total twenty-six additional unique technologies to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings video game. These technologies can be purchased from various in-game buildings, most notably the castle (which now being able for the player to research the unique technology(ies) of the civilization), and give the player an additional bonus depending on the technology

Age of empires 2

Introduction:-

When it comes to vast, kingdom-spanning ambition, you can't do better than Microsoft's Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Microsoft went all out to create this real-time strategy game, and it fairly hums with gorgeous graphics, sophisticated AI, and challenging scenarios for the novice and experienced player alike.
The point of the game is to shepherd your fledgling civilization to world domination, using war, trade, and exploration. You start with the bare minimum to get going, and you've got to balance your people's needs with your desire to be a little Napoleon. The Age of Kings gives you a ton of new units and technologies to enrich your strategic options. Each scenario is placed accurately within history, but you're also free to create your own.
The multiplayer format is robust, allowing up to nine players to share a world. When battles commence, you can take control of every aspect of your workers and soldiers, sending them running for shelter in the town center, ordering them to defend a watchtower, or setting their combat stance to "aggressive" for free-for-all sword smashing fun. When you're not fighting, find your idle peasants with a mouse click and send them back to work chopping trees, rounding up sheep, fishing, or mining gold and stone.
As you acquire more resources, you can improve your soldier's gear and skills, start to trade more efficiently, and make life better for everyone in your empire. You can choose from 13 groups to manage, from the Japanese to the Teutons and Franks. Each group has unique units and special characteristics, making this a game that changes every time you play it.
If all this sounds complicated, it is. New players may be intimidated by the range of choices, but the teaching scenarios are very helpful in conquering the controls. Age of Empires II is a sophisticated, gorgeous successor to the wildly popular original. It's a real feather in Microsoft's cap--a world-building game that will hold you captive.

Description:-

Age of Empires II: Age of Kings puts you in control of a powerful ancient civilization and challenges you to become the dominant power! Use the Map Editor to design your own campaigns See if you can conquer a worthy opponent online!

Featuers:-

You will take an ancient people through a 1000 year span, and develop trade, armies and technology to lead them to greatness
Amass and equip an army like none ever seen, and use strategy to have them conquer enemies
Construct means of commerce and diplomacy, while discreetly employing intrigue and regicide
Command one of 13 civilizations - including the Franks, Japanese, Byzantines, Vikings, Mongols, and Celts
Battle alongside heroes of the day - Joan of Arc, William Wallace, Genghis Khan, Saladin, or Barbarossa