Microsoft’s medieval strategy/action game is similar to others in the genre, though the medieval setting is a fresh and welcomed addition to the market.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Microsoft but, I hate to say, I’m becoming one. The company has thrust itself into the gaming market, making great games such as NFL Fever 2000, the Flight Simulator series and now Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

Empires II is yet another in the genre of games in which you control military units and wage war on the enemies. Yet, Empires II doesn’t seem tired with just a revamped graphics and sound like other recent additions to the genre.

The game is a combination of Command & Conquer and Sim City, where you must both fight and defend and also watch and manage resources. This isn’t exactly groundbreaking stuff, but it’s good fun.

The game features all the things previous games did, but the added details make it addictive, enjoyable and just fun to watch. Like other similar games, resources have to be collected to build more buildings, to complete research, etc. The great thing, though, is the variety Microsoft is giving the player. Players have to gather wood, gold and food in order to advance.

In games such as Tiberian Sun, you have but one resource to collect. Empires II offers three, which is more realistic and makes a whole lot more sense than gathering some alien crystal. But even within the categories, you get to choose. For example, food can be gleaned by gathering berries, hunting or fishing.

While the Warcraft series obviously was the first of this type of game, it’s still refreshing to see a game like this that isn’t based around a sci-fi theme.

I haven’t gotten far enough along to get the siege weapons, but have already found a variety of soldiers that make for even more variation in fights and strategies for taking out the bad guys.

Another surprise was that the tutorial was actually fun and interesting. Usually, I find the training/tutorial missions to be trite and a waste of time, opting to dive into the game and learn it that way, but Empire II’s set of tutorial missions are fun and I feel that they helped my understanding and skill in the game greatly.

Microsoft has a hit here. I’m not a big fan of the medieval period at all, but I’m completely hooked on this game.

Many people like to badmouth Microsoft, but please - spare their gaming division. They’re making quality products that are a lot more fun than the operating system it runs on.

Microsoft
Requirements: Pentium 166MHz or higher,
Win 95/98, Windows NT 4.0 32 MB of RAM
200 MB of hard disk space, additional 100 MB of hard disk space for swap file.
Local bus video card that supports 800×600, 256 color resolution and 2 MB of VRAM
Rated: Teen (animated blood, animated violence)

Originally printed in the News & Observer and NandoNext.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 27th, 1999 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Game Reviews, PC Game Review, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Related Posts: