Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
The Age of Empires series, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and later published by Microsoft Game Studios after Microsoft acquired Ensemble Studios in 2001, was a relatively late comer to the RTS genre. Yet it quickly became a hit for the industry and would go on to establish an impressive and iconic legacy in the gaming community.
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings follows its predecessor Age of Empires as a period development and expansion game. Players take one of thirteen civilizations (eighteen with the Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion) from Dark Age hunter gatherers through three following ages of technology into the Imperial Age where they deploy highly advanced armored cavalry, heavy infantry, and siege equipment to destroy all who oppose them.
Players start with the central Town Center, a universal drop off point for resources and the only building that can train the resource gathering villagers and research the advancement tech to a new age. Villagers collect four types of resources (food, wood, gold, and stone) which are scattered around the map. Since these nodes are not always near the Town Center villagers may construct repositories like Lumber Camps and Mills to shorten collection time.
Villagers also construct all of the game’s buildings and remain valuable, and oh so vulnerable, through the game. Several military buildings serve as training sites for the games different types of combat units (Barracks for infantry, Archery Range for all ranged soldiers) and a single Dock building serves as the production center and resource drop point for all naval related activities. Research buildings like the Blacksmith and University develop technology to improve and refine the civilization’s military and economic capacity. More advanced buildings are unlocked as the player advances through the ages of technology, for example all of the resource collection buildings are available in the Dark Age but the mighty Castle can’t be constructed until the player’s civilization reaches the eponymous Castle Age.
The Castle is the only building which, despite having generic architecture, is unique to the civilization. It cannot be converted by Monks (the game’s healer unit and the only unit that can ‘capture’ enemy units and sometimes buildings) and produces the civilization’s unique unit (and with The Conquerors their unique tech). The Castle is also a powerful defensive building and provides several strong generic technologies and units.
Overall unit design in Age of Empires II is generic. Units are divided into the five categories of Infantry, Archers, Cavalry, Siege Weapons, and Naval units. Each individual unit has a set of statistics for its hit points, attack, and armor. Players accustomed to the unique faction skins of Command & Conquer or Starcraft may find the presentation a bit bland; but it is this generic approach to development that make civilization bonuses and unique units more applicable. For example the Frankish Throwing Axeman unique unit has a ranged attack but is classified as an infantry unit allowing it to defy other aspects of the game (such as ignoring the bonuses of counter-archer Skirmisher units).
Age of Empires II is nothing if not a historically based game. All of the civilizations, units, and even campaigns are designed after historical models. Five campaigns are available in which the player controls a single civilization through five missions that follow a historical figure during the pivotal events of their life (like Joan of Arc’s battles against the English and Genghis Khan’s uniting of the mongol tribes and subsequent conquest of Asia). Each mission is heavily scripted and expansive providing hours of game play. Several different skirmish modes against AI opponents with five difficulty levels are available and Age of Empires II also includes a scenario editor allowing players to duplicate the tools used in making the campaigns to develop their own scenarios and even campaigns.
The scenario editor is perhaps Age of Empire II’s greatest asset for replayability. With The Conqueror’s adding three new campaigns and several single mission historical battles the single player modes can provide at least forty hours of game play but restrict the player on available civilizations (many civilizations are never playable in the campaigns). Difficulty and victory conditions can be adjusted in Skirmish mode but the AI remains generally predictable and its competency tends to degrade as games run on. The scenario editor makes Age of Empires II the player’s sandbox and while primitive by modern standards is more than enough to flesh out the Age of Empires experience to the max.
Multiplayer is a very intriguing aspect of the game and one of the reasons Age of Empires II has remained popular over the decades. Multiplayer uses the same settings and victory types of the skirmish mode (scenarios can also be used if the scenario supports the right number of players) but the rest is up to the players. Using Siege Onagors to make a back door into an enemy’s base through the woods is a tactic the AI would never use and is legendary for its effectiveness.
Sadly multiplayer is touchy in Age of Empires II. Movement in the game is rapid and a relatively strong internet connection is required for all parties involved. Game crashes, while rare, are also a danger and can lead to a half hour of downtime. Players living in areas of limited connectivity will find Age of Empires II to be more valuable for its single player elements.
The release of the Age of Empires II: HD Edition on Steam has revitalized the game’s relevance to the modern gaming community. Now, anyone who expects the HD Edition to be an updated remake of the original will be sorely disappointed. The HD Edition is not a remake, it adapts the game’s graphics to be compatible with high resolution displays and makes the game acceptable on newer operating systems. The HD Edition also includes The Conquerors expansion and all of the original game’s modes and content. Mod support has also been added through the Steam Workshop and a new expansion from Microsoft, The Forgotten, has added four new playable civilizations and campaigns. This expansion, while officially published, is based off the community mod Forgotten Empires and features a noticeably unique style. With the HD Edition players familiar with the Age of Empires series can now enjoy what is quite easily the best of this classic series and hope for continued expansion and improvement in the future.
Age of Wonders III
After a healthy experience of the Eternal Lords expansion to Triumph Studio’s latest title in its Age of Wonders series it seemed like a good time to mention recent 4x contender Age of Wonders III. The Age of Wonders series has brought up 4x fans since 1999 and features many traditional elements of 4x play such as turn based strategic and tactical modes, city building and management, and multiple resource requirements such as gold, production, and research.
Faction design in Age of Wonders III takes two intertwined forms. Players must choose a class from six choices (seven with the latest expansion, Eternal Lords) and a race, of which there are a total of nine with all the expansions included. Each race comes with a set of generic units as well as strengths and weaknesses in their economics and unit abilities. Player classes determine what the player’s faction leader class is as well as what spells, technological upgrades, and specialist units are available. Any combination of race and class is allowed and part of a successful strategy is determining which class and race best combine to fit a player’s style.
Leaders are chosen at the beginning of a random game or scenario (and preselected in the campaigns). Players can also create custom leaders, allowing them to customize the leader’s appearance, starting preference, and adept and mastery spell skills. All adept skills are available at the beginning and mastery skills can be chosen once the corresponding adept skill is selected. A leader can have a maximum of three skill selections and does not need to choose a mastery. Skills contain a set of spells that correspond to their type (Air, Earth, Fire, and Water originally with several more added in the expansions) and are useful in supplementing racial and class strategies.
Notably among most 4x games Age of Wonders III focuses heavily on combat. Players will quickly learn that two moderately prosperous cities are superior to one large, wealthy city. Thus the ability to conquer new cities and protect existing ones is paramount to success. Triumph Studios put a lot of effort into the detail of class and unit designs and perhaps the most strategically critical and unpredictable part of the game is the tactical combat mode. Racial and class units all have their own strengths and weaknesses and most classes are not necessarily all encompassing. The Rogue class for example has a wide range of stealth and support units and is very flexible in most combat environments. However the Rogue class is the only class which lacks a Tier IV unit (the highest unit tier) and can be swiftly overwhelmed by more martially focuses classes.
Combat is certainly the prominent feature in the single player story mode. Players can choose between two campaigns, with each campaign following a faction on one side of a global war for racial and ideological supremacy. Each mission in the campaign begins with a pre-chosen leader and a small army. A settler is usually included, although in roughly one third of the missions the player must conquer a nearby neutral city to begin building their economy. Several types of objectives like recovery or conquest appear throughout the campaign but the usual formula for victory involves keeping your leader and hero units alive while eliminating the AI factions.
While this is a fairly common approach to campaign development in 4x games it tends to lend a fairly abstract difficulty curve to the campaign. Oftentimes the player is simply dropped into fog of war with no ability to sustain an army no indication on the best route of exploration to take; all while the AI opponents are building up their forces and claiming treasure sites. Additionally the requirement to keep certain heroes alive, while certainly flavorful and effective at giving the leaders importance, discourages the player from using that leader unit in all but the safest and most secure combat encounters. It can be a frustrating feature in a game where just one wrong move or a lucky shot can turn a battle.
The Random Map and Scenario part of the single player experience has much more potential and opens up the full race, class, and leader customization options. Scenarios are single, pre-build maps with pre-selected leaders and races for the player to choose from. Each scenario has a storyline governing its setup but once the game begins it functions more like a Random Map with the players free to develop their chosen factions as they please.
Random Maps are blank slate single and multi-player maps for 2-8 players. At setup the player or host can adjust such features as the percentage of different terrain types, the number of monster lairs and treasure sites, if there is an underground level to the map, and other options. Players can start with anything from their leader with a small army and settler to a large army and a metropolis level city.
The standard AI, while certainly an able opponent, tends to be more frustrating than dangerous. Players can usually spot an AI’s advancing army through effective use of watchtowers and/or flying scouts; yet its complete awareness of the map means it can always find any vulnerable or unguarded cities. The AI will target wounded and valuable units in combat even if it puts its own forces in danger. It also behooves new players in Random Map games to leave the hero resurgence option checked when generating the map as the AI is fond of attacking leader and hero units.
Most 4x fans will enjoy the familiar genre elements in Age of Wonders III. However those players accustomed to styles emphasizing economic or diplomacy victories may find Age of Wonders III underdeveloped in those areas. However strategic and tactical combat elements are among the most detailed for a 4x game in the diverse number of units, abilities, and options available to the player. Players seeking familiar 4x play with a strong fantasy setting will not be disappointed in the latest of the Age of Wonders series.
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition
When Age of Mythology and its expansion pack The Titans first came out in the early 2000s I was sure that Real Time Strategy games had entered an era of improvement and advancement. Microsoft Game Studios had already delivered the stellar Age of Empires series and built an impeccable track record from which to pioneer new developments in strategy gaming. Now, with the release of Age of Mythology: Extended Edition on Steam, I look back at the old style graphics and gameplay and realize that Age of Mythology was not so much a precursor of things to come as it was a development studio experimenting with new concepts as it prepared to embrace the new millennium.
Age of Mythology brought the myths of antiquity to the RTS genre. Now players could command the heroes of Greek myth as they opposed legendary monsters like Minotaurs and Cyclops or marched alongside ranks of hoplites to fend off Viking raiders and their Giant allies or conquer Egypt with its incarnate demigods and mummified pharaohs. Microsoft Game Studio’s superb attention to historical detail exhibited in Age of Empires II returns here with lore for each unit as well as an amazing variety of obscure mythical creatures to populate each of the four playable civilizations’ unit rosters.
Made back in the era when multiplayer and LAN was still coming into its own; Age of Mythology features a very well developed single player story mode. The campaign guides the player through an ever expanding storyline with separate sections focusing on Egyptian, Greek, and Norse mythology. Alongside an engaging story and a very diverse set of challenging missions the campaign also gives players a full experience of the game’s content; familiarizing players with the differences among the civilizations and showcasing the different units and god powers. The campaign isn’t perfect; Age of Mythology abandons the traditional method of specially scripted and constructed cut scenes and uses its own in-game graphics to animate the characters and events. The voice acting is marginal and those characters that aren’t mythically based are rarely sympathetic and often annoying. Occasional touches of humor alleviate the disappointment to some degree.
The wide variety of information inherit in the unique civilizations can feel overwhelming if taken all at once and the single player campaign, while long, is easily the best resource for becoming familiar with the variations among and within the different civilizations; and there are many. Players familiar with Age of Empires III will recognize precursor elements in the choice between minor gods that represent advancements to higher ages. Each civilization has nine minor gods to choose from, with three major gods dictating which minor gods are available. Once a major god is chosen, the minor god choices come in pairs with each minor god offering a myth unit, god power, and set of unique technologies upon reaching the next age of development.
The game doesn’t start with the myths either. Mundane workers and soldiers are different for each faction with the Greeks taking the traditional approach of infantry, cavalry, and archers supported by a multi-tasking villager. The Egyptians on the other hand, while still using simple laborers, must empower their resource and production buildings with their unique Pharaoh hero to increase their productivity and efficiency. Egyptians military units are also more specialized, with each unit designed to counter another type; unless you construct the mighty war elephants which are effective against anything smaller than them. The Norse throw an even bigger variation by having their soldiers construct all their buildings. Dwarf units serve as specialized gold miners and Ox Carts are mobile drop off points following the gatherers and dwarfs to each new resource node.
The differences among civilizations make for a very interesting multi-player experience. As with all of the older RTS titles Age of Mythology’s core concepts remain the same such as base building, resource managements, and large scale unit combat. Once the unique aspects of each civilization enter play things become much more interesting. Different combinations of minor gods keep each civilization fresh and observing the variations in each civilization’s economic system can lead to unusual strategies; particularly where Favor is concerned. Favor is the new resource that allows the production of myth units, the monsters that make heroes what they are. Each faction gains favor in different ways; the Egyptians construct increasingly large monuments while the Greeks need only assign villagers to pray at their temple. The Norse must engage in combat with their foes, with hero units gaining more favor than myth units.
Modern RTS players may find Age of Mythology’s dated graphics, somewhat simple AI, and more varied civilization design primitive compared to more recent RTS titles. Multiplayer matches can be routine, especially against weaker AIs, but players willing to invest the time in learning the finer parts of each civilization will find many new challenges to oppose other players. It should be remembered that Age of Mythology: Extended Edition is a remake not a sequel. Players who enjoyed Age of Mythology in its early days will find all their nostalgia return for the modern PC. Newer players may question the game’s novelty but some patience and a little enthusiasm are all that’s needed to find one of the finer titles in RTS history.
Supreme Commander
Those of us who remember playing Total Annihilation recall what was easily one of the most unique Real Time Strategy experiences in digital gaming history. Total Annihilation was an ambitious game with dynamic base building, expansive resource collection, a heavily detailed unit roster, and a physics simulator that was ahead of its time. It was the closest thing to war simulation that the technology of the 90s could bring.
Gas Powered Games, now formally Wargaming Seattle, made Supreme Commander to be the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation and in this they succeeded brilliantly. Supreme Commander continues to capture the epic scope of strategic warfare that Total Annihilation first envisioned. Hundreds of air, land, and naval units clash in small or large engagements in an attempt to assault bases defended by gun emplacements, artillery cannons, and shields. A large unit roster features scores of units encompassing nearly any conceivable combat role. Each of the game’s three factions utilize the same unit types, but subtle differences in design give each faction its own strengths and preferences in combat style.
Coming to grips with the staggering number of units and the different faction abilities is perhaps the chief purpose and accomplishment of Supreme Commander’s single player mode. Each faction’s campaign encompasses six separate missions with each mission progressing in stages of increasing difficulty and scope as the player completes objectives. Often the player has to start with little more than their Commander unit, a strong but critically important mech unit with tremendous construction capacity, with which they must construct a fortified base to begin driving back the enemy. Base building and map expansion can take several hours per mission leading to over twenty hours of gameplay in single player. This is a two-edged sword where Supreme Commander is concerned. The first half of the campaign limits the technology tiers, of which there are three plus the mighty Experimental units, that the player can access and thus the units available. This slow progression gives the player a chance to get familiar with units and structures as they become available. Yet the slow pace of each mission can leave players impatient for higher technology tiers.
Although the campaign’s scripted fortifications and unique terrain features can lead to impressive clashes it is in multiplayer and skirmish that the combat becomes truly dynamic. Forty different maps capable of supporting up to eight players offer a wide range of options for multiplayer and skirmish matches. Some of these maps are quite large and allow for multiple combined arms conflicts; while smaller maps make quick victories possible by forcing two or three player matches into close quarters. The game’s online performance is surprisingly lenient given the large numbers of units generally on the map making most matches seamless on a wide variety of speeds. However the enormous numbers of units that can appear with six or more players can lead to a general decrease in speed without higher end machines.
Supreme Commander’s skirmish mode is very well developed for a modern RTS. Four different levels of AI difficulty can be chosen and the AI’s personality can be further customized with options like Turtle or Rush causing the AI to focus on specific strategies and their appropriate unit types. While this can make the AI predictable it also makes a wide range of battles possible allowing players to determine what sort of war they are interested in fighting.
A special mention should be given to the game’s expansive zoom ability which allows players to move from up close unit examination to a map-encompassing eagle eye view. The system is perfect for managing battles on the scale that Supreme Commander delivers and is meticulously designed for easy control and management. The only tragic aspect of this system is that when the action heats up players tend to spend more time gazing down on a world of dim terrain features and unit markers instead of watching the colorful explosions and dramatic unit destruction.
Supreme Commander is the success story that Total Annihilation deserved to have in the modern gaming community. With an expansive single player aspect and high potential and reliability in multiplayer it caters to any level of RTS preference. The game features a rather high management learning curve for new gamers but its single player campaign and skirmish customization options allow players to become accustomed to the game at their own pace. Supreme Commander isn’t perfect and suffers from unit-pathing issues, particularly among naval units, as well as a weakness for large slow operations. Yet it is a welcome addition to the modern RTS community and a necessary experience for any dedicated RTS player.