Microsoft Age of Empires 3

Just before I got a copy of Civ 4, I thought I'd try out Age of Empires 3 for a while. I liked the previous installment, Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, which covers the Dark Ages to the late Medieval period. So that means you get to control trebuchets, siege rams, the Mongol Horde (cavalry archers), the Byzantine cavalry, among others. It had an expansion pack named The Conquerors brings in the Mayans, Aztecs, and also the Spanish Conquistadors (horsemen with BB guns apparently). Too bad, smallpox isn't incorporated in the game. A very fine game, and I especially enjoyed the Regicide games wherein, as the name suggests, you kill the king (literally, a single unit with robe and a crown that can move around the map) of a team, and that team is defeated.

(I'll skip talking about Age of Mythology and Rise of Nations in detail)

This game covers the European colonization of the New World. I'm sure a lot of websites have already covered most of the technical and gameplay matters of the game, so let's just stick to the opinion.

First of all, the graphics are stunning IF your system can handle the stiff requirements. The water is reflective, pieces break off when hit by cannons and other mortar fire, and all in all, amazing detail up close.

I must confess, I didn't enjoy playing this game, and that if I wanted to play a historical real time strategy (RTS) game, I'd play Rise of Nations (which covers almost all the periods of history until the present time). If I wanted to play a non-historical RTS game, I'd play Age of Mythology. So why not this? It probably has something to do with the game topic because I come from a country on the receiving end of the age of "discovery". So when I move my troops to build trading posts on the colonies and build "native units" and have them fight for me, I feel for the native units. That's my main gripe from the game.

Off to the dusty shelf you go.