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A great storyline but the new interface ruined it for me.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: April 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'm a big fan of the AoE series...but AOE3 with the new interface ruined the experience for me. The angle of the interface combined with the clutter of multiple smaller windows just made the game too much of a hassle to play. The special effects were great as were the storylines, the new generations, new types of characters, battles...but the interface made the game all but unplayable -- for me. I have to say that the graphics are amazing.

Great game, But...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: December 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Having nothing to do during the thanksgiving weekend, I decided to buy Age of Empires III after trying the demo (I didn't see the wizards in this version which are the units I hated most in the previous version Age of Empire and the that was the reason that prevented me playing AOE).

I played the campaign set in a moderate difficulty level. After 2 weeks, I have completed the campaign.

It's not difficult to admit that I enjoy this game very much. The campaign was relatively easier to win than other games I tried. This is good for me because I am not a hardcore gamer and I just want to play games just for entertainment. The controls are intuitive and are easy to learn. The control I like most is the 'pause' key, which allows you to pause the game while you can still issue commands to your units, and browse the whole map. This is important against computer opponents because without this feature computer opponents will advance a lot faster than you and will send you floods of armies in no time.

I don't have any complain performance wise. I am using a 3 ghz pentium 4 with 1 gig of ram and a 256 meg of video. The graphics, using this setup, is smooth and really good.

So the game is great, but why 3 stars?
1) Every time you start the game, it asks for the original cd to be inserted in your cd drive. Very annoying. This alone will make me give 2 less stars for this game.
2) I hated the scenarios in the campaign where no battles were fought. There was one scenario where you just have to guide Amelia Black et al in a snowy trail into a valley. Very boring.

No official support for Windows 2000

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 18
Date: October 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you run Windows 2000, be careful before you buy this game. Windows 2000 is not officially supported, although the game can be run. Web searches give any number of reasons from the developers: extra QA time, supposed DirectX incompatabilities, etc. I have been playing the demo version so far with no problems, but don't like that they insist on only using Windows XP with this game.

Slow as mlasses

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 18
Date: January 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game runs slow as molasses. I have twice the processor power than recommended, a 256mb Video card and 750mgs of ram.
Can not get the sound to work. System tells me to turn off all the good graphics the game has to offer! Save your money!

Brilliantly Made, Lovingly Played, Worth Every Penny of the Money I Paid!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: January 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

To begin a review of a game like this, I would like to begin by expressing my most heartfelt gratitude to the outstanding team at Ensemble Studios for first causing me to fall head over heels for computer gaming. It was their debut product, Age of Empires, that kept me sitting at a computer just long enough to realize that I could make something of my hobby. Now, seven years later, I fondly recall my computing beginnings while staring out my office window, as I continue to build the expansive resume required to proudly hold a position at such a company as theirs, an aspiration I've never quite given up on.

Every time I conducted a major overhaul of my then-obsolete computer, there has been an Age game there to put the new equipment to the test. From Rise of Rome to Age of Mythology, Ensemble knows how to create a game whose maximum settings are the computing industry's maximums at the time.

With Age of Empires III, I beamed with a probably idiotic grin as I installed it on my latest piece of machinery, which includes 3GB of DDR2 and two nVidia GeForce 6800 cards in SLI-linked configuration. I figured I would give it a run for its money, and let me say, this game did it.

The graphic overhaul tops the list of my favorite elements of this game. The water is actually...water-esque (which is worthy of mention, as this game and Asheron's Call II are the only two games I've ever seen pull it off, and ACII, well, let's just say it's on vacation. Forever.), buildings crumble to pieces, and the Havoc physics engine just makes my day.

Other favorites:
- The musical score: OUTSTANDING! Go through the history of the Age series of games and listen to their scores. They've always been great for their times, but this one certainly takes the cake. This is an orchestrated, majestic, impeccable-quality (and, I might add, MP3-based) score that makes for great listening alone. My personal favorite is called "OfLicious", and it's just breathtaking.
- While the single-player campaign may not be based on any part of legitimate history, I think they somehow managed to make it entertaining nonetheless. Ensemble must know very subtly that sex sells in games, because I caught onto at least three separate instances where you know the historic folks are "getting it on" in the campaign. Scandalous!
- This may be a crazy nerd thing, but I have this fond admiration for some of the modern techie stuff done to this game. For one, all of your settings are stashed in My Documents (including screenshots) instead of some Program Files folder, making them much easier to hunt down. The core data files of the game are no longer in airtight compressed files, but instead in XML files, capable of being read by anyone who stumbles upon them.
- This game scales well for the lower-end graphics cards out there. There was a day when I was using a GeForce Ti4600 and trying to play this game, and as long as I turned everything down, I didn't have any trouble. However, they sure know how to reward someone who keeps on the cutting edge, with the kind of cinematic-quality graphics that would keep you playing no matter what the game was about.

Not-So-Favorites:
- They didn't bundle as many cheats with this game as there normally are in Age games. When the game itself gets boring, that's why cheats exist to begin with, but there aren't many to toy around with here, sparing of course the raw XML file editing, which I'm sure Ensemble just loves to hear about.
- The game itself seems to get boring a little too soon. Although I confess to being ridiculously shallow and mostly enjoying games because they look and sound pretty and are an escape from basic reality, if I was trying to play this game to be entirely gripped by its content, that wouldn't carry me all that far. No matter what map you're on, or what enemy you're up against, you're guaranteed to have a pretty straightforward experience every time you start. Build things and watch cannons tear them down from beyond their firing ranges. (Then again, this is an RTS like the games before it, so I wouldn't expect much more out of the genre than to be somewhat predictable.)

On the whole, I've never lost faith in that little family of Dallas developers who has shown me that it's possible for programmers and designers to be history buffs as well, and to do a fine job at both. Sure, it may be just a game, but it's also a passion and a career for some, an art and a science to create, and a challenge and learning opportunity for all who play it, all bundled into three little CDs.

I recommend this game wholeheartedly, and that's just all there is to it.

FUN AND ADDICTING! Just a huge program.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: January 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is a great new Age of Empires! The graphics are the bomb! The new addition of a Home City really puts a sweet twist on it! I give this great game a wonderful 5 stars.

NOTE: Be sure to have a newer computer with plenty of room. Installed in the typical instal was 2131 MB. And besure to have a new Video card. Or it just won't handle this graphic intence program.

Considering everything tho... This is a great game!

What a piece of crap!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 15
Date: January 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Do not buy this game. There are legions of "throughly modern and up-to-date" video cards that are simply "not supported" by AoE3. Once again Microsoft puts their profits before performance and the consumer is screwed. This might be a pretty good game. Someday I might play it. But for now the formulaic Microsoft rush to sales before first order bugs are removed means that you, kind citizen, like me, will very likely be screwed by this (non)game.

Age of the best!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: November 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

ok people! dont listen to all the people giving this game a junky review. For a game like this beauty it is almost a crime to give this game a bad review!! I would like to say that the game has b-e-a-uuutiful graphics and the game play is fun and addictive. However, don't get to stuck on the story mode because it aint great! if u want to get the best out of this game you have to play online or the instant action mode! BUY THIS GAME!!

Conquering the New World has Never Been So Boring......

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: May 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

What went wrong during the development of this game? The graphics are beautiful and the sound terrific. Despite the beautiful graphics, the presentation is severly harmed by the pointlessly large interface/control panel, taking up almost one-half the screen. Who let that out of the studio?
But even worse - the gameplay is simply boring. Combat, exploration, building and research just aren't as fun as in AOE II or I, for that matter. Like many new RTS games, AOE III has dumbed down the economy; yet somehow, building an empire feels more tedious than in AOE II. I can think of several RTS games that are more fun (though far from perfect), and would recommend them over this one - any of the Lord of the Rings RTS games, Empire at War, Empire Earth II or even the ol' Rise of Nations. Each of the above named-games has more innovative features, more interesting campaigns, fun combat and a strategic map overlay. The one truly unique feature - the "Home City" - does not really add a strategic element or much of anything else, except a card game and some bonuses. snooze. Despite the graphics, AOE III is behind the times.

Best of all the games in the AOE series!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: November 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I truly thought Age of Empires 1 and 2 were awesome, but then came along AOE3!! The graphics are like never before, you can zoom in and out! Another great thing is that instead of shooting buildings they throw burning items at them, and also instead of just dissapearing when you destroyed a building as like in the previous games,the buildings actually lose pieces and then come crashing down! I would no doubt reccomend this to any Age of Empires fan. Long live AOE!!

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