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Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

 
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Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
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Game Description

As in the original Age of Empires, released in 1997, the ultimate goal in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is to develop a civilization from its humble beginnings to the glory years of a vast, world dominating empire. This goal can be achieved by various means including domination by military might, economic superiority, technological advances through four distinct eras, or diplomacy and trade.

You begin your empire-building task in this real-time strategy game as a small tribe on an unexplored map. By discovering resources and putting your clan to work harvesting them, your empire steadily develops. As time passes and your civilization grows, you'll expand your realm through population increases, exploitation of more resources (food, wood, stone, and gold) and specific work assignments to your villagers such as hunting, fishing, foraging, farming, lumberjacking, and mining.

As your resources, land acquisition, and knowledge grow, you'll inevitably meet other tribes or civilizations. Some will be reasonable and willing to exchange ideas and resources, while others will be determined to subjugate your realm through force. To meet these latter contingencies, you'll need to develop a military and equip it with the latest weapons technology can forge. If you seek a peaceful solution to world domination, you'll need to concentrate on building and construction as a means to develop new technologies and advance commodity trading via trade routes and alliances.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings contains a vast number of enhancements and improvements over the original game. Just some of the new features include a choice of technology paths (over 100 nodes), building and defending Wonders of the World, and crafting military might through not only ground-based troops but naval and siege warfare as well. You can choose to play against human- or computer-controlled opponents, the latter being especially formidable due to aggressive AI programming.

The heart of the game revolves around a random map generator for both single and multiplayer modes. With no two games ever being alike, this feature allows for unlimited replay. For those wishing to immerse themselves in historical campaigns, the designers have included four fully developed campaigns based on the struggles of Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, Frederick Barbarossa and Saladin, each consisting of a series of linear scenarios.

There are 13 playable civilizations from which to choose: Britons, Byzantines, Celts, Chinese, Franks, Goths, Japanese, Mongols, Persians, Saracens, Teutons, Turks, and Vikings. All have characteristics and attributes based on their real world existence and philosophical outlooks, proprietary weaponry and armor indigenous to their historical eras, and special bonuses based on inherent strengths.

Other enhancements to the original game include eight new map types that can be manually selected or randomly chosen by the computer, many new units ranging from demolition ships to heroes, new buildings and technologies, military formations and stances, and gathering points for newly created units. Additionally, the act of garrisoning specific buildings or locations is now available, as are new in-game accesses to an encyclopedia containing historical notes on the various civilizations and the expanded technology tree.

Nearly every setup in the game is customizable for both single and multiplayer games. Winning the game hinges on achieving various victory conditions built into each scenario. The game includes not only an option to design your own scenarios and campaigns through use of both campaign and map editors, but offers a chance to develop player scripts as well.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings spans history from the days of the great Roman Empire to medieval times. From multiplayer game options such as Deathmatch and Regicide (players must protect their king or queen while attempting to assassinate the enemy leader) to single-player campaigns and scenarios, Age of Empires II offers the real-time strategy gamer a huge array of possibilities and deep gameplay. Multiplayer Internet action is offered free at the MSN Gaming Zone, over a LAN, or through a direct modem-to-modem connection.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Every so often a game comes along that manifests itself as a reviewer's delight. Far more the exception than the rule, this happy event occurs much too seldom in practice considering the tremendous number of computer games released each month (circa 1999). This might be expected, though not excused, due to the complexity inherent in most new titles as the limits of computer gaming technology expand in ever widening increments. Who can blame the designers for trying to take advantage of every new possibility as they forge games with more and more capabilities and scramble to pack their products with the latest enhancements and technology of game design?

Unfortunately, with this increased capability comes the logical downside, a necessary evil of modern-day gaming -- the obligatory patch or patches that soon follow on the heels of the original game release, usually fed by fan feedback through on-line forums, e-mails, news groups and so forth. In light of this discouraging and dismaying trend, the release of a RTS game free of any major problems is a significant event. This brings me back to the subject of this review, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, a game that incorporates the best features of the real-time strategy genre and manages to avoid the numerous pitfalls that often lessen a gamers experience.

While not perfect, AOEII contains no sharp-stick-in-the-eye game busters or fatal flaws that suddenly leap at you after hours of play. The designers have "fixed" the majority of major complaints levied at the original Age of Empires and, in one fell swoop, have improved the product immensely while incorporating significant features in nearly all aspects of gameplay. In effect, any faults AOEII may have are niggling at best and don't critically affect the intense and absorbing qualities of this real-time strategy success.

For those who like historically based strategy games, look no further than Age of Empires II. Even though the on-screen images of similar types of units may at times be difficult to discern (especially in the furious heat of large battles), the designers have more than made up for it in several ways. The 13 civilizations are easily recognizable due to factors that include distinctive cultural philosophies (in both political and military areas), the flavor of realistic language indigenous to each race that, while somewhat limited in scope, is still very influential in developing an era-enhancing atmosphere and proprietary architecture that evolves throughout the various ages.

Regardless of which civilization you choose to play, each will exhibit traits, weaponry and research proclivities based on the historical record. One highlight of the game (there are many), features buildings that are upgraded pursuant to advancement through the four ages: Dark, Feudal, Castle and Imperial. These structures, shown amazingly to scale with astounding details, eventually build to magnificent showcases that dazzle the eye. Individual units (a vast number exist) can be periodically upgraded as well along with the effectiveness of purpose for which they serve.

Level headed and decisive management of requirements, resources, research and goals are essential in AOEII:AOK and can seem daunting at times in the flurry of real-time activity. To help novices conquer the learning curve necessary in the game, a short campaign-based tutorial is provided that guides William Wallace through his attempts to thwart the British troops of Henry Longshanks as they try to bully the Scots into submission. Additionally, the manual contains an exhaustive "tips" page for beginners not familiar or experienced with real-time strategy games.

The actual movement of your forces on-screen couldn't be simpler, especially with the point-and-click interface and shortcut keys that, once learned, make manipulation of the many aspects of gameplay a breeze. The selection process of grouping like units together could be difficult but isn't, due to the intelligent visual depiction of groups that allow for a fast winnowing-out process. In fact, several methods are provided for selecting individual units as well and establishing a rallying point (a flag) that can be situated just about anywhere on the game map.

Speaking of grouping units together, the introduction to the game of a central bell-ringing option at the town hall is enormously helpful. With this handy tool, you can call the populace away from their daily jobs to garrison buildings or locations in order to fend off surprise attacks, especially when your military may be away from the town. You can gather the masses to conduct group healing, position them for protection (safety in numbers) or generally take stock of your population. Once the crisis has passed, a simple second bell-ring will send them all back to work automatically.

The technology tree in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, while not as exhaustive as the one in Civilization, is still formidable and won't likely disappoint anyone involved in a specific campaign or scenario. The game comes with a marvelous fold-out reference chart that contains an incredible amount of information and is nearly priceless as an aid to keeping track of possible advancements by the individual 13 civilizations.

The chart unfolds to four panels, each filled front and back with indispensable data regarding each civilization's specific attributes. Included are unique units (e.g., the Persian war elephant and Viking berserkers) and specific bonus awards tied to culture-based historical characteristics of the race (e.g., the Chinese receive a significant bonus for farming while the Turks' gunpowder units train 20% faster than their counterparts).

Unit strengths and weaknesses are covered with each showing the best response unit to use against specific attacking units, the best counterattack unit and a clear indication of which units are not appropriate for that specific skirmish. The major units addressed in the chart are archers, infantry, siege, ships, cavalry and monks. New units introduced in AOEII:AOK are depicted in red on the chart, thus providing an easy reference and comparison for those familiar with the original.

One side of the four-panel fold out is devoted exclusively to a color-coded technology tree that spans the four possible ages and shows tie-ins and cross-links associated with buildings, technology and units. Another color-coded matrix shows buildings, units and technologies not common to all civilizations in conjunction with each type of civilization and the age in which it is prominent. These two may sound similar but the manner in which the subject matter is displayed offers the user a complete perspective of the varying elements.

If that weren't enough, the manual contains comprehensive charts for each of the 13 civilizations that cover every single aspect encountered in the game while controlling any specific race. The appendix also contains matrix charts showing building attributes (economic and military) broken down by Age, cost, hit points, attack, garrison and range values. Unit attributes are summarized and include cost, hit points, attack, armor, range, speed and special abilities. Technologies, broken down by specific units, show costs and benefits inherent to each.

Actual gameplay proceeds in crisp fashion with little time for boredom to set in. Once all the keyboard shortcuts are mastered, the pace can be very quick and on-screen activities expand at a fast rate. Keeping up with this activity is one of the many challenges provided by this real-time strategy game. Fortunately, the designers have added some features to help the player overcome this potentially daunting problem. These include the aforementioned town hall bell, an AI that minimizes the amount of micro-management required during large-scale battles, gathering points and a "find-idle-villager" button that allows quick identification of workers who are currently non-productive.

Militarily, the game introduces the heretofore missing option of formation types and stances. You can configure your troops to form in line, box, staggered, flank or horde formations but the best new option in this area is the availability of combat stance, more easily identified as disposition. Assigning your forces to take either aggressive or defensive posturing becomes an integral part of battle strategy and tactics as do the orders to simply "stand your ground" or not attack.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings provides every opportunity to play the type of game you wish. There are four main campaign games centered on Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, Saladin or Frederick Barbarossa, each with a handful of linked historically-based scenarios that must be played and won in linear fashion to advance. Quite possibly the best feature, though, is the random map game where no scenario is ever the same. Nearly every aspect of gameplay is adjustable including number of players, civilizations to be used, map type and size, population limits, starting resource availability, which Age to begin in and victory conditions!

The fun doesn't stop there however. You can choose to play the single- or multi-player version of the Regicide Game with its survival-at-all-costs motif where your king must be the only surviving royalty and where special rules are built in to change the results of certain technologies, thus creating a very different type of game. Equally intense is the Death Match game with specific rules and its fight to the death scenario.

The game has various victory conditions that can totally change the way you need to play. The most common is the Conquest mode where defeat of your opponents requires meeting specific criteria, not just eliminating them. Another option is to play a game wherein the winner is the first player who builds a Wonder of the World within the specific Age required! And yet another innovative victory option revolves around becoming the first player to collect all of the relics within a certain age -- but with a twist. Once a civilization has possession of all the relics, a countdown clock commences that allows the other civilizations a set amount of time to wrest a relic away from the controlling civilization, thus terminating the countdown clock.

Other types of play are available such as victory being awarded to the civilization that has the highest point score when a set amount of time has elapsed or a victory predicated on reaching a pre-determined score, without time limits. Multi-player action is accommodated via a LAN or the Internet (up to 8 players) or through a modem or serial connection (two players). As in the single player games, multi-player action in Age of Empires II offers a ton of adjustable game parameters.

The fact that the game contains a campaign/scenario creator and editor module is just pure icing on this cake. Not only can you design your own campaigns and/or scenarios, you can create computer player scripts which basically give the computer instructions on how to handle specific game elements such as AI behavior and building parameters. These new edited or created scenarios and campaigns can be made available or traded with game fans on the Internet, thus providing even more replay value beyond the random map generator.

I've barely touched on the incredible amount of detail to be found in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The possibilities of this real-time strategy game seem nearly endless and it definitely is on my short list of personal "game of the year" nominees. If the music and sound isn't spectacular (which it's not), it's my opinion that most strategy gamers will focus on the game's stellar gameplay and forgive any minor shortcomings, the largest of which is possibly the lack of a zoom or map rotation feature.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

They don't come much better than this. The designers have done a masterful job in combining the best of all previous RTS titles and, in fact, have exceeded expectations by introducing new and fresh ideas that make the game shine like brightly polished armor.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Only held back by the similarity of some units in the earlier phases of the game. Otherwise, a beautifully rendered world with stunning architectures that evolve dramatically throughout the four ages of the game.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Most of this rating is due to the wonderful sound effects--the clanking of armor, the brash sound of blade on blade, the synchronicity of battle sounds as armies meet armies, the day-to-day hum of ordinarily citizens going about their jobs, and the thoughtful inclusion of race-specific languages and tones. The music neither adds nor detracts significantly from the gaming experience and isn't necessarily attuned with the on-screen action at all times.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Between Internet downloading of new scenarios and campaigns, designing your own, or using the incredibly diverse random map generator, this is one game that will remain on my hard drive for a very long time to come.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

Superb. Covers nearly every aspect of game play.
~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Production Credits

Company 1: Ensemble Studios; Lead Design: Greg Street; Design: Karen Sparks, Sandy Petersen, Bruce C. Shelley; Lead Programmer: Angelo Laudon; Programmer: Paul Bettner, Tim Deen, Mario Grimani, Dave Pottinger, Matt Pritchard; Lead Artist: Duncan McKissick; Artist: Jeff Dotson, Herb Ellwood, Bryan Hehmann, Duane Santos, Chad Walker, Eric Walker, Scott Winsett; Lead Production: Chris Rippy; Sound Director: Chris Rippy; Executive Production: Tony Goodman, Harter Ryan, Brian Sullivan; Public Relations: Brian Sullivan; Music Lead: Stephen Rippy; Music: Kevin McMullan; Quality Assurance and Playtesting Lead: Mike Kidd; Quality Assurance and Playtesting: Doug Brucks, Rob Fermier, Brian Sousa, Joe Ybarra, John Evanson, Herb Marselas, David Lewis, Trey Taylor, Brad Crow, Mark Terrano, Ian Fischer, Dusty Monk, David Cherry, Dave Kubalak, David Rippy, Sean Wolff, Paul Slusser, Chris Van Doren, Thonny Namuonglo, Chea O'Neill, Don Gagen; Administration: Madelynn Arnold, Keira Erhard; Business: Jeff Goodsill, Brian Moon, Bob Wallace; Network Management: Roy Rabey, Jake Dotson; Web Support: Mike McCart; Legal Representation: General Counsel Associates LLC, Betsy Bayha; Outside Director: John Boog-Scott, John Calhoun, Thad Chapman; Company 2: Microsoft; Program Manager: Tim Znamenacek, James McDaniel; Lead Testing: Jamie Evans; Playtest Lead: Rick Lockyear; Tester: Douglas Hall, Sean Kellogg, Daland Davis, Eric Lindman, Eric Meldrum, Thomas Courser, Reuben Radding, Matt Alderman, Jason Brown, Carl Bystrom; Playtest Team Member: Dennis Stone, Brock Meade, Michael Christensen, Kevin Holme, Juan Lee-Pang; Multiplayer Test Team Lead: Scott Gerlach; Multiplayer Test Team Member: Michelle Grisim, Bret James Fenton, Kent L. McCorkle, Shane W. Nelson, Aleah Wardrop; Product Planner: Steve Schreck; Localization Test: Suzanne Boylan, Aengus Jankowsky, Michael Ivory; Hardware Configuration Testing: Paul Gradwohl, Harold Ryan; User Education Writer: Kelly Bell; User Education Editor: Amy Robinson; User Education Print Designer: JoAnne Williams; User Education Artist: Jennifer Epps; Setup Development: Randy Shedden, Chris Haddan; RECON Playtester: Adam Maloy, Bruce W. Carr Jr., Jacob Fulwiler, Mike Engle, Pete Mayberry, Beth de Diego, Mark Shoemaker; Product Manager: Sebastien Morre, Pontus Frohde; Public Relations: Carlos De Leon, Andrew McCombie; Legal: Jeff Koontz; Localization: Yuko Yoshida, Paul Delany, Eric Kao, Ji Young Kim, Laurence K. Smith; Management: Stuart Moulder, Edward Ventura, Matt Gradwohl, Craig Henry, Jo Tyo, Eric Straub, Jordan Weisman, Doug Herring; Product Support: Steve Kastner
~ Rich Hernandez, All Game Guide
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Wikipedia: Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
This article is about the original video game. For the Nintendo DS version, see Age of Empires: The Age of Kings.
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
PC Box cover
Developer(s) Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s) Microsoft
Designer(s) Bruce Shelley
Series Age of Empires
Engine Genie
Version 2.0a / 2.0b
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 2
Release date(s) September 30, 1999
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single player
Multiplayer
Rating(s) ELSPA: 3+
ESRB: Teen
Media CD-ROM
System requirements 166 MHz Processor
32 MB RAM
200 MB Hard drive space
Input methods Keyboard, mouse

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (often shortened to The Age of Kings, "AoE II", or AoK) is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems, it was the second game in the Age of Empires series. An expansion, The Conquerors, was released in 2000. A PlayStation 2 version was released by Konami in 2001, and a Nintendo DS spinoff, Age of Empires: The Age of Kings was developed by Backbone Entertainment in 2006. The Sega Dreamcast port, by Konami, was canceled.

The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains thirteen playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and ultimately defeat their enemies. There are five historically-based campaigns, which constrict the player to specialized and story-backed conditions. There are three additional single player game modes, and multiplayer is supported. Despite using the same game engine and similar code to its predecessor, development of The Age of Kings took a year longer than expected, forcing Ensemble Studios to release Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome in 1998 instead. The design team focused on resolving significant issues in Age of Empires, but noted on release that some problems remained.

Reception of The Age of Kings was overwhelmingly positive, and the game scored highly on review aggregators. The significant number of new features was praised, as were the gameplay improvements. Some reviewers were critical of the presentation of units—they were seen as bland and uninteresting—while others considered The Age of Kings to be overly similar to its predecessor, Age of Empires. Three months after its release, two million copies of The Age of Kings had been shipped, and it topped sales charts in seven countries. The game won multiple awards and has had a significant impact on future games in its genre.

Contents

Gameplay

The Age of Kings focuses on building towns, gathering resources, creating armies, and destroying enemy units and buildings. Players conquer rival towns and empires as they advance their own civilization through four "Ages": the Dark Age, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age (The Middle Age), and the Imperial Age, reminiscent of the Renaissance—a 1000 year timeframe.[1] Progressing to a new Age unlocks new units, structures and technologies, but players must pay a sum of resources and construct certain buildings before advancing.

Players choose to play as one of 13 civilizations split into four architectural styles, West European, Central European, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern, that determine building appearance in-game. The civilizations have varying strengths and weaknesses with regards to economics, technology, and battle, and each has access to a different, very powerful "Unique Unit".[2][3] To add variety, each civilization has a set of soundbites in its native language that are uttered by units when selected and instructed to perform a task.[4]

Civilian units, called "villagers", are used to gather resources. These resources can be used to train units, construct buildings, and research technologies, among other things. The game offers four types of resources: food, wood, gold, and stone. Food is obtained by hunting animals, gathering berries, harvesting livestock, farming, and fishing. Wood is gathered by chopping down trees, gold is obtained from either gold mines, trade or having a relic in a monastery, and stone is collected from stone mines. Villagers require checkpoints, typically depository buildings, where they can store gathered resources.[5] Each civilization can purchase upgrades that increase the rate of gathering these resources. Players who construct a special building, the market, may acquire or sell resources for gold. Market prices fluctuate with every transaction.[6]

There are five campaigns in The Age of Kings, containing historically-based scenarios such as Genghis Khan's invasion of Eurasia, Barbarossa's Crusade, or Saladin's defence of the Holy Land. In the Joan of Arc and William Wallace campaigns, the player can control a unit based on its namesake; in others, players take orders from guiding spirits representative of the army's commander.[7]

Additional game modes are available to the player in The Age of Kings.[8] One mode, random map, generates a plain map, with players starting in the Dark Age with a Town Center, three villagers, and a scout unit. The game can be won through military conquest, by constructing a special building known as a Wonder, or by obtaining control of all relics on the map. Deathmatch mode allows players to begin with large amounts of resources, creating a focus on military dominance, while in the regicide mode each player is given a king unit, winning by killing all of the other monarchs.

Units

A Celtic player in the Feudal Age. Their Town Center is visible and has several farms surrounding it; villagers of both genders work there and elsewhere to gather resources. A scout on horseback is also at the ready. Military buildings such as the barracks, archery range, and stable are visible, as well as economic buildings — the market and mill. The south east corner of the screenshot shows the player's walls and a gate.

Every player has a limit to the number of units they can create—a population limit—but may not immediately use the entire potential population.[6] The population capacity, which can be capped at anywhere between 75 - 200, is based on the number of houses, Castles, or Town Centers—the main building in a player's town—which have been built. The Age of Kings introduced two significant new features for unit management: the idle villager button, which helps players identify villagers that have not been assigned a task, and the town bell, which sends all a player's villagers into their Town Center, Castle or tower for safety.[9]

The Age of Kings also includes five types of military units: infantry, archers, cavalry, siege weaponry, and naval units. Certain types of infantry, archers, and cavalry are "counter units" with special defenses against other types of unit. The three human classes of military generally follow a rock-paper-scissors model. For example, infantry are generally powerful against buildings but weak against cavalry, thus, the infantry counter units—spearmen and pikemen—have attack bonuses against cavalry.[10] The monk is a special kind of military unit that has the ability to convert enemy units to the player's team, and to heal allied units. Monks are also used to collect relics; relics give a player accumulative gold, the more relics he has captured, the faster the gold is put into the player's stockpile. Collecting all the relics on the map is one method by which a player can win a random map game, depending on the victory setting.[11]

Buildings

Buildings in The Age of Kings are either economic, military or defensive in nature. Buildings can research technologies and upgrades that increase economic, military or unit-based efficiency, as well as provide resources for the player. The most important economic building is the Town Center, where villagers are created, all types of resources can be stored, some technologies are researched, and the player can advance to the next Age. The Town Center can fire arrows at enemy units within range if villagers or archers are garrisoned while under attack.[12] Other economical buildings available include storage buildings for resources, farms and houses to support a higher population.

Military units are created at military buildings, such as barracks, archery ranges, stables, and docks (the docks may also produce several non-combat units). Military buildings can perform research to improve the abilities of military units, increasing their strength, defensive capabilities, or other attributes. The castle is a military building which can train a wide variety of units, including the civilisations 'Unique Unit', and fires arrows at enemy units within range, with garrisoned units firing extra arrows. It can only be built after a player has reached the Castle Age.

There are two main defensive buildings, the wall and the tower. The two types of walls, stone walls and the weaker palisades, are used to prevent access to an enclosed area whilst providing a solid line of defense. Gates can be installed in walls to allow allied units to access a defended area.[4] Towers are equipped with the ability to fire arrows at unfriendly units, and can be used in conjunction with the wall in defense mechanisms.

Multiplayer

The Age of Kings supports multiplayer over the Internet, or via a local area network (LAN). Up to eight players can take part in one game, with all of the single player game modes available. The MSN Gaming Zone supported the game until the service closed on June 19, 2006. Alternative services, such as GameSpy Arcade, were recommended as a replacement.[13] Currently Macintosh versions of the games seem to only be supported by the GameRanger client.

Development

Prior to the completion of Age of Empires, Ensemble Studios had signed a contract with Microsoft for a sequel. The design team chose to set The Age of Kings in the Middle Ages as a logical progression from the ancient era setting of Age of Empires. The design team was conscious of attempting to capture the broad appeal of the first game without making the game's design too similar. Nonetheless, they attempted to appeal to the vast demographic who played Age of Empires.[14]

The Age of Kings's design team intended to complete the game within a year by using code from the original and reusing the Genie game engine.[15] Several months into the process they found they would not be able to complete a game of the quality they sought in that time. Ensemble Studios informed Microsoft they would need another year and instead created Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, an easily-developed expansion pack of Age of Empires, as a compromise which could be released for Christmas 1998.[14] To help meet the next year's deadline, additional programmers, artists, and designers were employed.[16]

The original Age of Empires had been criticized for its artificial intelligence (AI). Because the original AI did not "cheat"[17] by attributing itself extra resources or using other techniques the human player could not, it was easier to defeat than in many other real-time strategy games. For The Age of Kings, Ensemble Studios attempted to develop a more powerful AI system that did not compromise by cheating. Industry veteran Mario Grimani led Ensemble Studios in the creation of the new system. To overcome another significant objection to Age of Empires—that of path finding—the team completely redesigned the game engine's movement system.[16] The team was less successful in resolving other issues; programmer Matt Pritchard complained following the release of Age of Empires that there was still no process by which patches could be issued. Extensive cheating in multiplayer games of Age of Empires came as a result of several bugs in the game, which resulted in Microsoft promising Ensemble Studios there would be a patch process for The Age of Kings. On release, there were several bugs that needed immediate attention, but the patch process was not yet ready. The first patch was released 11 months later.[18][19]

Ensemble Studios developed a new terrain system for The Age of Kings, with 3D presentation capabilities that were vastly superior to those of Age of Empires. Pritchard noted an improvement in the team's artistic abilities following their work on the past two games, and he is noted as saying that "AoK became a showcase for their improved talent".[16] However, he complained about the lack of an art asset management tool, while other departments gained new tools and automated procedures to assist in design and play testing.[16][18]

The Age of Kings saw the introduction of a triggers system for its scenario editor. The triggers allow messages to be displayed, or actions to take place, based on pre-set criteria or "events".[20] The scenario editor was also improved by the new AI system. The AI and trigger systems interacted regularly in the single player campaigns.[21]

The soundtrack for The Age of Kings was directed by Stephen Rippy, who has since taken that role for all games in the Age of Empires series. Music for the game was split into two categories. For "in game" music, Rippy's team took musical elements from a variety of cultures and combined them to create a mixed sound. "Pre-game" music was designed to be unique to the civilization in question. Campaigns based on historical figures would include "a theme that will at least be rooted in [the character's] culture".[22]

A demo of The Age of Kings was released on October 16, 1999.[23] It featured the learning campaign, a sample of a random map game, and the ability to play via the MSN Gaming Zone.[19] Much to Ensemble Studios' disappointment, numerous incomplete versions of the game were leaked. These were picked up by warez sites, and sold illegally throughout the Pacific Rim; warez versions of the game were even sold outside Microsoft's offices in Korea.[18]

Reception and legacy

 Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 92%[25]
Metacritic 92[24]
Review scores
Publication Score
Allgame 5/4.5 stars[26]
Computer and Video Games 9.0/10[27]
Edge 8/10[28]
Eurogamer 9/10[4]
GamePro 5/5 stars[9]
Game Revolution A-[29]
GameSpot 9.1/10[2]
GameSpy 89/100[30]
IGN 8.8/10[31]
PC Zone 9.0/10[32]

Reception of The Age of Kings was overwhelmingly positive. The game scored 92 out of 100 on both Game Rankings and Metacritic.[25][24]

According to Eurogamer's Geoff Richards, "the list of new features and improvements over the original game is over a page long".[4] GamePro's review similarly focused on "new additions to the genre itself" which it argued made The Age of Kings outstanding. These included the idle unit button and town bell.[9] GameSpy's Carlos Salgado was appreciative of other features; he praised the ability to create individual profiles for different players and to customize hotkeys.[30] Meanwhile, IGN appreciated the new abilities given to the villager unit—the review stated villagers "now play an important role not only in the collection of resources, but also in town defense and even in combat."[31]

Allgame's Michael L. House enjoyed the use of soundbites in civilizations' native languages, which he said was "very influential in developing an era-enhancing atmosphere".[26] Eurogamer said this feature "gives [villagers] a personality, rather than the standard "Acknowledged" grunt of military RTS games", also stating that the use of female villagers provided a good variety.[4] Game Revolution's review explained that by being set in a more recent epoch of human history, The Age of Kings was able to "add character to an otherwise impersonal style of gameplay".[29] Computer and Video Games approved of The Age of Kings' use of shorter, more focused campaigns, compared to its predecessor,[27] while Game Revolution noted that even in slower sections of the campaign, the historical narrative helped maintain player interest.[29] GameSpot said that with the screen full of units, "you can begin to imagine how their historical equivalents once prospered",[2] while GameSpy said The Age of Kings presents "realism rarely seen in the RTS genre".[30] IGN staff argued that while the strengths and weaknesses attributed to different civilizations made the game more realistic, the fact that they were still mostly the same prevented The Age of Kings from "delivering the same battlefield impact of Starcraft or Tiberian Sun".[31]

House also praised the gameplay interface, which he said "couldn't be simpler", as well as the advanced grouping and path-finding systems.[26] Nash Werner of GamePro said that the formation tools were wonderful, and complained only that they could not be assigned to naval units.[9] Computer and Video Games generally agreed, stating that "the controls are very user-friendly and well explained".[27] GameSpot's Greg Kasavin wrote that despite the game's improved graphics, "there's nothing foreign about its appearance" and that most game features will be "immediately recognizable if you've played a real-time strategy game before".[2] PC Zone agreed, but in a negative sense—it argued that The Age of Kings "is essentially an update of a two-year-old game".[32]

Richards was surprised by the quality of The Age of Kings' graphics, considering they were all bitmapped.[4] However, Allgame complained that units were sometimes difficult to tell apart, a point numerous reviewers agreed on.[2][32] It also called the sound of The Age of Kings as a negative, but not something significant enough to draw players away from the game's overall quality.[26] IGN stated that cutscenes were somewhat bland, but that overall the graphics added "an amazing amount of detail to the actual game".[31] Its main criticism was for the in-game speech used in campaigns; it rhetorically asked "why can't they just find a Frenchman to do a French accent?"[31] Alex Constantides of Computer and Video Games rated the graphics highly, saying that some in-game buildings are "so grand you'll even feel guilty about burning them to the ground".[27] Werner agreed; "the most noticeable graphical advancements", he wrote, were "the sheer size and scale of things".[9] Game Revolution stated "AOE2 is the best looking of the 2D RTS games out there right now".[29]

In January 2000, three months after its release, Microsoft announced that they had shipped two million copies of The Age of Kings. The game topped sales charts in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia and Korea.[33] It would spend the next two and a half years on top 20 sales lists.[34] The Age of Kings was top selling game in October 1999,[35] and the fourth highest selling game in 1999.[36]

The Age of Kings won GameSpot's Strategy Game of the Year in 1999,[37] and was a nominee for Game of the Year.[38] GamePower also named it Strategy Game of the Year, while PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World gave it Editor's Choice awards.[33] The Age of Kings won Strategy Game of the Year and Computer Game of the Year at the 2000 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awards. It was also nominated for Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering.[39] IGN ranked The Age of Kings the 53rd best game of all time in 2005,[40] and the 10th best PC game of all time in 2007.[41] GameFAQs users placed it 56th in a poll of the best games ever.[42]

The Age of Kings was highly influential on its genre. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, a 2001 game by LucasArts, shared The Age of Kings' game engine, and was heavily influenced by its mechanics.[43] Empire Earth's design was also similar to that of The Age of Kings; GameSpot said it "borrows most of that game's controls, interface features, and even some of its keyboard shortcuts".[44] Rick Goodman, designer of Age of Empires and The Rise of Rome, designed Empire Earth.[45] GameSpot's Scott Osborne argued that the gameplay of Cossacks: European Wars was heavily based on The Age of Kings.[46]

An expansion for The Age of Kings, The Conquerors, was released in 2000. It introduced numerous new game features, including five new civilizations. Two of these, the Aztecs and the Mayans, represented the New World. As well as three campaigns similar in concept to those in The Age of Kings, The Conquerors included a "Battles of the Conquerors" campaign which contained several unrelated battles such as those of Agincourt and Hastings. Age of Mythology, released in 2002, broke away from the historical trend and instead focused on Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. It shared many gameplay elements with The Age of Kings and was considered a spin-off of the main Age of Empires series.[47] The third historical game in the Age of Empires series, Age of Empires III, was released in 2005. The game portrayed the European colonization of the Americas. Aside from one significant feature, the home city, the game's design was similar to that of its predecessor.[48]

References

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  3. ^ Elliott Chin. "Unique Units". GameSpot. http://gamespot.com/gamespot/guides/aoe2_gg/p3_11.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-18. 
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External links

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Age of Empires series
Main series
Spin-offs
Nintendo DS remakes
Fan mods
v • d • e
Genie Engine games
Age of Empires series
Star Wars:
Galactic Battlegrounds series


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