My AOEIII review

There's no word yet as to whether a Mac version of Age of Empires III will be coming to the Mac, but given the fact that all the previous games from Ensemble have been ported to the Mac, there's a good chance it will. That's a bright side to the story.

Then again....like draconum mentioned, it's by Microsoft so it's up for grabs. Certainly possible.
 
draconum said:
Considering it's made my Microsoft, I dought it'll be coming out on a mac anytime soon.


Chris

So? Did you know that Halo: Combat Evolved for the PC originally was made for the Mac, then they ported it to PC. They didn't release it out for Mac until a while later.
 
Well, I'm on Act III Scene 1 (or Chapter 1). The first 2 Acts was really fun. The Chapter 1 Act III is the demo version part. I remember that from the demo of the AOEIII. I'll smoke that part so easily. I already got half the map conquered. Can't wait for Chapter 2.

Each Act has a lot of chapter for you to complete before moving on to the next Act. From what I can see so far, there are 3 Acts. After that, I think there's another story using a different character or civilization. So far, it's been really fun. I got one final exam out of the way and two more this Thursday and Friday. Right now, I'm just playing AOEIII to see if I can beat the first 3 Acts. The hardest part for me is the part where you have to get the miners to blow up 3 ice bridge. Once those bridges collapse, the Russians won't be able to come through with their big cannons. These are HUGE ass cannons too. You are allowed 10 to go through, and any more, you lost the game. I only allowed 3 to pass me because I was learning on what to do. Not bad though. I got troops at all three points where the bridge were. That way, I can protect the miners and at the same time, kill the Russian transports and their cannons. Lost a lot of men in the process.

You know what else I love about this game? Every time I start it, the opening Microsoft Games intro blows me away. The bass is incredible and sound like one of those THX or DTS sound demo at the theaters. It's like, pshhhhwooooooooooorrrrrrrrewwwwwww. Walls are shaking. Then the Nvidia effects come one. So cool..

Ok, back to more playing.
 
Had to bump this up.

Finally beat the whole game. All 3 Acts. The entire game is like one big movie. Seriously, they can truly make a movie out of this. Wow, simply incredible. Great plot. You get really involved with the game so much, that it's like you're part of it or watching a movie. At the end, a concluding movie clip that wraps it all up and the end credits. I breathed a sigh of relief. Truly a remarkable game. Here's the story:

Apparently, there's this Fountain of Youth hidden in the Americas somewhere long, long time ago. Is it real or is it just myth? The ancient ancestors before the colonial times set out to find this mysterious treasure from Europe to the Americas (South America, Cuba, all over the US trying to find this thing), the so-called Fountain of Youth. There were factions who want it too, for their own selfish gain of course. Betrayal, friendship, untimely allies are all part of this great adventure. Wow. You start from way back then and work through generations trying to uncover the truth until it is over. It was so neat to see the original explorers, then there children, their children's children, generation after generation trying to find this treasure. Great story line and even battled alongside George Washington as we got caught up with the revolutionary war. At the very end, what did they find? Well, it was a good ending...and felt really warm inside for the first time ever when it comes to game playing.

There were some really hard parts to the game, especially traveling through the blizzard. Died over and over again. I started out with like 20 people, then had only 2 survive at the end of that scene.
 
wow it does sound really neat. the storyline and everything is great!! i'll die if i don't get it this christmas lol...do u have any idea how much time it actually took u 2 beat it? i hope it isn't a real quick storyline like some games are, although i'm sure the'll have an expansion
 
I played on Hard mode. There are 3 total Acts. Each Act, have like 5-10 scenes or chapters you play. So it's like having 30 levels to go through before beating it.

I'm planning to play it on moderate difficulty next time (too hard on hard). It's really fun. There are cheats available too:

give me liberty or give me coin---->10,000 coins
medium rare please--------------->10,000 food
<censored>---------------------->10,000 wood

There are more, but those are the primary ones for resources. Yes, I used them. I cheated. But when you're playing on hard mode, there are tons of enemy rushing at you for all different angles. I was overwhemled at the same time trying to protect the allies in the campaign. The AI is much better than AOEII. I just wanted to see the ending and get a glimpse of the whole game quickly. God bless cheat codes. Now I know what to expect. It took me about a week of playing every single day for many hours before finally beating it. My eyes are sore and red, but satisfied.

The storylines are like cinemas and tons of them. There's like a big one for each Act and another storyline for every chapter (beginning and end). So it's pretty involoved. It's like reading your history book in class, but watching and playing it at the same time. Some of the Indian tribes are your allies while others side with the French or someone else. You travel all over the western hemisphere in search for this Fountain of Youth or perhaps more? ooooooo, suspense.

If you like the AOEII games, this game will be a lot of fun for you. I love the sound effects. You can hear the music change when you engage in a big battle. Really pumps you up. Note, it is better if you have different fronts to engage the enemy. It confuses them. Im always attacking with one huge army from one side. They will get you good. If you split them up, one from the east and one from the west, it breaks up their army giving you a fighting change. Enemy cannons are very powerful. They can blow like 5-8 of your men right off the ground!!!

The villagers carry rifles with them too in case if they have to defend themselves. There are no castles in this game. It's more later in time than AOEII. There are 5 ages to advance through starting with Nomad. Then you go up through the Town Center. THere is a new feature called the Home Town. It is basically your home base from whatever country you represent. If you choose the British, your Home Town is in Britain somewhere in Europe. They have supplies that can be shipped to you in the New World (N. America, S. America, or wherever you are exploring) depending on how much experience points you wrack up.

Whew, that's an intro to gameplay. It's a good game.
 
yea i REALLY like the idea of a hometown. most people in AOEII use there starting town as there "main base" and what not. or at least i do. usually i was 2 lazy in AOEII 2 use special tactics and sometimes even just barge in with 100 or so men going head 2 head with the enemy. often loosing many people if i had just used some tactics. hows the tools menu and all that stuff, like the view of the map, different tools u can use 2 help u keep track of stuff etc.?
 
The map and all the in-game panel that you look at for info. took some time to get use to. It's basically very similar to AOEII. It has a rounded map shaped like a globe. The buldings you select is shown there on the bottom of the screen as usual and such. Your HomeTown experience points are there keeping count. Everytime you kill someone or finish a task, you get experience points added which can go towards resources from your Hometown. The more you have, the better. So kill lots of people and survive. I think they add up to the next scene, can't remember. The same strategy are implemented wiith the troops like in AOEII. I like the widespread stance because the enemy canons can't take out as much of my guys than if the guys were standing close together. It's all very similar to AOEII so it won't be like a total shock.

The graphics showing the water and the swamp is most impressive. Simply incredible. The tiny details like the duck and it's duckings swimming in the water is so awesome. You can see the giant killer whale deeper in the ocean and the shadow of it as it lurks upwards. So cool. The canons can also destory trees nearby too so if you rely on trees a lot for wood, then try not to blow up guys that are too close to the trees. It also does damage to buildings nearby too.
 
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