bulldog
08-19-2006, 06:47 AM
Well; when I recieved this game through the post the postman was actually struggling to carry the parcel, it was only until I opened the parcel that I found out I'd been sent the collectors edition. I found a massive hardback book with art work, two dvds, another tactics book, a strategy guide and two manuals, and, this collectors edition was cheaper than the normal edition, strangely.
Anyway, AOE III is set during the colonisation of the Americas. The main factions are pretty much the British (Who, apparently, are all murdering raping bastards who go around killing settlers of their own colonies), who concentrate on the industrial or technological side of things, the French, who more concentrate on massive resource gathering, and the Spanish, who are strong, and can build up a big army in a short period of time. Also included are the Germans, Dutch, Russians and the Turkish, as well as the mystic native civilisations: Aztecs, Incas, Mayas, Cherokee and so on.
This game doesn't really have that sort of realistic feel to it, the units, armies and nations are all historically accurate, but while there is an element of "spearmen versus cavalry" or "muskets versus infantry", the game doesn't really seem real at all. (Real being compared to Rome: Total War, or something more tactics based anyway).
The Graphics in this game are average at best, units are very blocky and pixelly also, you can literally feel the squareness when you click on units. The terrain, trees and in general all graphics apart from the units are magnificent. You could stare at the trees, the fauna and the glints and glimmers in the sea all day.
Moving away from the oh-so-beautiful forests, my point is: The engine in this game is not very good. The AI are complete idiots, even on hard mode they mass cavalry and do not build walls, or any sort of defences around their base. There are games which are far superior to this one out there, such as Rise & Fall or DoW. It's hard to, but I'll have to give this game a 7/10 for bloody trying.
Forgot to mention: one thing that really did it for me in this game was the fact all pirates, bandits, and in general all of the bad guys (even fanatic cultist Turkish people) are labelled British (Yes, the default label for all units is Spanish, in custom editor) are British. Oh, of course; I forgot to mention the only army that gets slaughtered in the cinematics is the British army. Oh, I forgot that we also have the shittiest bonuses, the worst-looking capital city and the ugliest portrait of the queen.
Anyway, AOE III is set during the colonisation of the Americas. The main factions are pretty much the British (Who, apparently, are all murdering raping bastards who go around killing settlers of their own colonies), who concentrate on the industrial or technological side of things, the French, who more concentrate on massive resource gathering, and the Spanish, who are strong, and can build up a big army in a short period of time. Also included are the Germans, Dutch, Russians and the Turkish, as well as the mystic native civilisations: Aztecs, Incas, Mayas, Cherokee and so on.
This game doesn't really have that sort of realistic feel to it, the units, armies and nations are all historically accurate, but while there is an element of "spearmen versus cavalry" or "muskets versus infantry", the game doesn't really seem real at all. (Real being compared to Rome: Total War, or something more tactics based anyway).
The Graphics in this game are average at best, units are very blocky and pixelly also, you can literally feel the squareness when you click on units. The terrain, trees and in general all graphics apart from the units are magnificent. You could stare at the trees, the fauna and the glints and glimmers in the sea all day.
Moving away from the oh-so-beautiful forests, my point is: The engine in this game is not very good. The AI are complete idiots, even on hard mode they mass cavalry and do not build walls, or any sort of defences around their base. There are games which are far superior to this one out there, such as Rise & Fall or DoW. It's hard to, but I'll have to give this game a 7/10 for bloody trying.
Forgot to mention: one thing that really did it for me in this game was the fact all pirates, bandits, and in general all of the bad guys (even fanatic cultist Turkish people) are labelled British (Yes, the default label for all units is Spanish, in custom editor) are British. Oh, of course; I forgot to mention the only army that gets slaughtered in the cinematics is the British army. Oh, I forgot that we also have the shittiest bonuses, the worst-looking capital city and the ugliest portrait of the queen.