Back In Time is a sporadically updated feature in which we take a look at games of yester-years to see how well they perform against the blockbusters of today. We also see how today’s advancements could be used to benefit the title and importantly if it’s still worth picking up. This time we are taking a look back at the recently defunct Ensemble Studios’ real time classic that was Age of Empires.
The real time strategy genre has become more obscure and convoluted over the years. The genre has progressed from casual pick up and play resource management with small battles into a hardcore only tech tree and rock-paper-scissors knowledge based affair. Although obviously certain units are better against others and the tech trees are big although simple, in this game, but this transition has definitely changed the genre.
That’s why it was nice to go back to a simpler time. Age of Empires had an easy to understand tech tree with enough hidden secrets to keep it fresh for a while. The drawback with this is that the gigantic battle that normally happens towards the end of the scenario will always feature Siege Weaponry along with Heavy Cavalry. It’s just a shame that the game didn’t have enough depth to sustain variations on battles. At least these are the effects for random battles.
It’s weird to see this fairly simple game throw out epic two hour battles and these games are extended by a frankly bizarre choice of mode. The basic mode will normally result in them building a wonder and subsequently winning after ten minutes. So Conquest is the mode to play on but this means you’ll have to kill or destroy everything. Which is a serious mission when you’re playing on massive maps and I’m talking about just finding the last few villagers. It’s not fun to search and it artificially extends play times and that’s why we loved Age of Empires 2 option to allow the AI to quit if it isn’t looking great.
The campaign might be worth a play through but where Age of Empires really excels is multiplayer over a network. Allied or enemies, these matches prove to be brilliant even if for nostalgic reasons only. Annoying niggles aside Age of Empires is still worth a quick look at if your not really interested in the genre. It will showcase a simpler side of the genre along with the lowest minimum specifications you could wish for.
Just make sure if you do go back to this pick up the expansion pack, Rise of Rome. Not only does this add a few more units but it also allows you to queue up unit creation which is an incredibly useful tool. Still Age of Empires is worth replaying if you have a few people to play along with and it’s incredibly cheap to get both the original, expansion and second game for under a fiver.
Verdict: Thumbs In The Middle
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