Age of Empires II: Age of Kings
Published By: Microsoft

Reviewed by JayTee
11/2/99

Article Discussion Forum

First Impressions:

Suffice to say that I’ve been an AOE (Age of Empires) addict since its inception about three years ago. First, I played the single player random map games, and then moved on to the campaigns. Next, I went on IRC and scavenged for challengers, and that’s when I was really thrashed. After a couple of months, I advanced to the Zone (www.zone.com) and got more thrashing. I learnt and still could barely advance in the required 15 minutes that many mentors have told me to do so. I played the game every day for three years without ever joining a Clan because most of them consisted of boys half my age, shouting obscenities at me each time I bungled. Oh well, so much for team play.

Let it be said that this award-winning strategy piece is one that would cause you lots of sleepless nights. Time is not only spent playing it, but looking for good skirmishes: It’s akin to watching grass grow. But when you find one, you’ll treasure it, more so if it’s one without lag. But still, there was no point to my constant indulgence because I was not only progressing too slowly for my own liking, my mother was already packing my bags if I spent another moment hogging the phone line (in Malaysia, we don’t yet have flat rates for our phone fees).

When I first got news that Ensemble Studios had started work on Age of Empires II: Age of Kings, my passion somehow doubled. I told myself, if I can’t beat them in AOE, I will train up for AOK. Well, the game is here, and in a nutshell, I wasted my time because the gameplay is quite different. I have played both the Alpha and Beta versions, and when the final product landed on my desk, I was at the same time ecstatic and a little apprehensive: so what doth lies ahead after Rome has fallen?

Boon for Beginners

First off, MS has done quite a good job at maintaining the game’s approachability to beginners even. Although at a glance (to veterans) this game may only be about better graphics and improved gameplay in certain aspects, the fact that there is a learning campaign where novices can go and learn about the basics of the game, right from the front panel, is MS’s gesture to reassure those who want to play the game for the first time, that it ain’t too difficult to learn. And for those who’d like a little depth to the game, check out the encyclopedia which features extensive histories of the thirteen civilisations; background on the Middle Ages, armies, weapons and warfare.

Going for the Rough

I’m a skirmish player and hence, I beelined for the random maps and started to play timed games to see if my original regiment worked (I’ve tried this on both the Alpha and the Beta versions, but I wanted to see if anything was different with the final release). Sure enough, I could not advance to Castle age in the fifteen minutes I could in AoE to go to Bronze Age. There are major differences in AOK that make gameplay not only enhanced, but different.

Where there were only three ages in AOE, there are now four ages (five, if you count Post-Imperial as a separate age, but I don’t really see any difference between this and Imperial age) in AOK. AOE had twelve civilisations, and now there are thirteen with AOK. Each civilisation has a unique unit and a team bonus. There are also some new units, new buildings and new technologies, and some of the new stuff I saw in the Beta was also changed in the Retail release. For example, you used to be able to build Trebuchets (those wooden static catapult thingies) in the Siege Workshop, but now you can only build them in your Castle.

GamePlay

Overall, while gameplay is extended and one has to rethink one’s original strategy (can’t use the same one in AOE) to triumph, you still have to advance as quickly as you can, so management of resources is key. However, there is one aspect of the game that is quite imbalanced.

A couple of friends and I were playing deathmatch for the first time on AOK, and while most are quite new to the game and were not yet experienced enough to know which advancement or war unit would each civilisation be good at, a friend of mine was playing the Persian civilisation. Starting at post-Imperial age, everyone did the usual: build three or four town centres, build 20 houses, churn out peons as fast as you can, and siege workshops were also built by the dozen, for onagers (once known as catapults). This time, we could also build castle to make use of our unique units. However, our Persian friend built his castle and started building elephants (fondly called ‘eles’). He thrashed the three of us flat.

The next time we spawned another death match, all of us chose Persians, and it was just a game of speed, which really took away the fun. Hence, in a death match, the other civilisations seemed redundant. Be Persian, build 10 castles, and you’ll win, for sure.

But there is a lot to like about AOK, and I thoroughly enjoy it more than AOE. Enhancements that were strokes of genius, in my opinion, are:

GARRISONING – you can now garrison units inside buildings to heal them slowly as well as to launch surprise attacks. Garrisoned units are not damaged if the building is attacked, but they will be ejected if the building is attacked and suffers damage or is destroyed. You can set gather points (oh yea, you can do that now in AOK) inside any building where the unit is being created. However, they cannot reenter the building once you un-garrison them. Best of all, ranged units and villagers can attack while garrisoned.

RELICS FOR GOLD – Remember the panic when one runs out of gold towards the later stages and there’s none to mine? Well, get your priest and find a relic, and place it within the monastery, and you will have a continuous supply of gold for your stockpile

FORMATIONS – This I really like. Now, I can group ranged units like archers and monks, with my infantry and calvary, and when I put them into formation, the AI instantly knows to put the ranged units at the back (in the straight line formation) and the infantry or calvary in the frontlines, or the ranged units within a block (square) with the frontliners forming a protective barricade around the ranged units. And they move accordingly. This is really fantastic when you have no time to be assigning hot numbers to your military units.

FARMING AT SEA – Now you get to farm at sea, but it costs 25 more wood than normal land farms (i.e. 100 wood). Takes little space too.

LOCATE IDLE VILLAGERS – Now this is a really useful tool. No more do you need to look for idle villagers manually. Simply click on this (you have to enable your "Advanced" mode console type to see this button) and you’ll be able to scroll through any idle peons. However, those used to garrison towers will also be picked up.

TOWN BELL – Click this to call peons back to be protected within the walls of your town centre with this neat feature. Each town centre fits 15, except for Chinese (fits only 10). Saves you a lot of unnecessarily peon kills during a rush, but remember to research murder holes in your University once you can, as town centres or any other building (Towers, Castles) won’t be able to attack close range units once they are right next to the building, without Murder Holes.

Marketing Efforts

Actually, I think that AoK is a game that will suit women, as time and resource management are classic areas women seem to excel in. Although I haven't met many female contenders, the one or two I've actually encountered really can kick ass :). And when it comes to combat, AoK keeps it rather basic: Simply assemble an army of infantry, calvary, archers and siege weapons, and you're ready to rumble. Interestingly, one politically correct feature they incorporated within the game is that now there are female peons, hehe. Must be a request from female players :).

Tips Cheats & URLs

Microsoft Age of Empires II : Age of Kings - Inside Moves (Eu-Inside Moves) by Mark H. Walker

Age of Empires : Unauthorized Game Secrets (Secrets of the Games Series.) by Lawrence T. Russell