Investigating AoE3 and EE2

For those who are not aware: Microsoft and Ensemble Studios are expecting to release Age of Empires III this month. In the meantime there is a free, downloadable demo that you can get from Ensemble's web site to try out the game. That is, if your computer is fast enough. This game requires some serious horsepower to run properly.

I have played a few games on AoE3 and the jury is still out. The graphics are truly amazing but it looks like the gameplay may be seriously limited compared to AoE2 which, if it truly is, will be a major mistake for Microsoft. What we are looking for is a game with MORE challenge, not less. We want to move forward, not backward. From what we have seen so far of this game, it is nothing special. It is built on the Age of Mythology engine and is visually impressive but not nearly as impressive as we had thought that it was going to be. From the looks of the demo, it would appear that Ensemble has made many of the Empire Earth series mistakes without adding any significant enhancements of their own.

It will take a bit of gameplay to determine how suitable AoE3 will be moving forward but currently it looks as though Empire Earth II may prove to be a better choice as it is less quirky and more dedicated to the genre. AoE3 relies on too many gimmicks and not enough on gameplay a la Age of Mythology. From the first moment you sit down to play to get the feeling that this game was geared more towards children than the two previous AoE titles.

As I said, the jury is still out. But don't be surprised to find that AoE3 doesn't make the grade.