Age of Empires III

Age of Empires III was well received by critics and reviewers. The game received an average score of 86%, and is the seventy-first most popular personal computer game, according to Game Rankings.^[46] Age of Empires III was listed as the eighth best-selling PC game of 2005,^[47] and over two million copies of it had been sold by May 2007.^[3]

Reviewers had much to say about the new title in the Age of Empires franchise. GameSpot pointed out that “Age of Empires III has some very big shoes to fill,”^[48] and GameSpy remarked that it “may not redefine real-time strategy gaming, but it sets the bar so high that we will be comparing games to this for years.”^[49] IGN also commented on the game, saying “Age of Empires III is a superbly balanced and polished game,” and that “Discounting a few niggles in the interface, the whole presentation is rock solid.”^[40] Game Revolution complained that it is “as detailed as a history book, and about as much fun;”^[41] GameZone disagreed, and said it was “one purchase you will not come to regret.”^[43]

The game’s visuals were highly praised by all reviewers. In a preview, IGN said that “After seeing the screenshots, our jaws hit the floor at the amount of detail,”^[50] while in their review, 1UP.com described it as “one of the most beautiful games you will put on your computer for the foreseeable future;”^[44] GameSpy agreed, stating, “Age III’s graphics are unmatched in the strategy genre.”^[39] GameSpot also admired the graphics, but had a negative comment as well; they said, “Were it not for the awkward unit behavior…Age of Empires III would look truly amazing.”^[48] GameSpy awarded Age of Empires III the “Best Graphics” award at GameSpy’s “Game of the Year 2005,” mentioning that the graphics engine boasted “all the high-end technology you had normally find in first-person shooters.”^[51]

The in-game audio was also commented upon. GameZone praised the sound effects, saying that “you will feel the explosions of the cannon balls, the muskets firing their endless volleys, and the destruction of a building. It all sounds extremely realistic, and makes the game come that much more alive.”^[43] Eurogamer briefly said “AoE3…sounds fantastic,”^[42] while Game Revolution mentioned that “The ambient sounds, music and voice work all suit the colonial theme.”^[41] However, IGN was not as impressed, saying that the sound was “Good enough…but does not stand out.”^[40]

Reviewers were divided as to the single player campaign. GameSpot thought it was “standard for a real-time strategy game,” but also complained that it had “less-than-stellar voice work and awkward cutscenes;”^[48] GameSpy agreed that Age of Empires III’s campaign is not revolutionary, but thought that “the voice acting is great.”^[52] IGN praised the campaign’s story, in that it gave the player a “nice sense of purpose”; they thought “The 24-mission campaign is very well designed.”^[53] Eurogamer said the campaign lacked originality, in because though it was “well-written and imaginatively framed” it “offers exactly the same kind of challenges that RTS campaigns have been offering for years;”^[42] Game Revolution disliked the campaign more than the other reviewers. Comparing it to Age of Empires II’s campaign, they said: “The plot actually got worse. Age of Empires III…avoids all the interesting and prickly issues like genocide, epidemics and slavery, instead subbing in a wimpy tale of a family destined to protect the Holy Grail from a Satanic Cult.”^[41]

Imperial German Uhlans battling Imperial British battleships in a skirmish.

Age of Empires III’s multiplayer was highly lauded, and the home city was so as well. The topic of multiplayer was touched by GameZone, who said “this game demands multiplayer mode, and Ensemble Studios provided this for the players,”^[43] while at 1UP, the reviewer said similarly that “Multiplayer support has been significantly upgraded with a slick interface, support for clans and a number of other useful features.”^[44] VideoGamer stated: “The multiplayer mode is likely to entertain well beyond the campaign and will no doubt keep you busy;” GameSpy merged the topics of multiplayer and the home city, saying, “One nice side effect…is that, even if you get totally ass-whupped in a multiplayer game, you probably still earned a lot of experience to…develop your city.”^[52] GameSpy commented on the home city as well, saying “the ‘home city’ system creates long-term depth and strategy.”^[38]The only negative comment about the home city was made by EuroGamer: “Stop with the gifts!…You do not need to let me flick to a home city screen every few minutes so that I can select a free unit or resource windfall. I’m not some spoilt toddler that needs to be bribed with endless sweeties.”^[42]

The game was presented with two awards by GameSpy in 2005: ‘Real-time strategy game of the year’^[54] and ‘Best Graphics’.^[55] It was also given an ‘honorable mention’ in the ‘Best Music’ category.^[56] GameSpy was highly praising of the game overall, giving it 5 stars in its review,^[57] which was particularly positive about the graphics and multiplayer experience. The game was named 5th best game of 2005 by GameSpy.^[58]

Other awards,^[59] including an ‘Outstanding’ from GameZone,^[60] reflect the positive critical reception of the game.

Yahoo!’s report^[61] had many positive features. They praised the effort put into the graphics and physics but maintained that these are essentially eye-candy. They were disappointed by the traditional economics-based strategy of the game and believed that this, coupled with the lack of useful formation and tactics, meant that the game does not stand up to other modern real-time strategy games. Eurogamer shared these final thoughts and described the new homecity shipments, along with all the treasures scattered around the map, as silly and childish ways of trying to complement the game’s lack of strategy and tactical choices. Still, it recognized that Ensemble Studios was brave to implement “something quite different” from other real time strategy games, the homecity concept.^[42]

In December 2006, the Governor of Texas chose Age of Empires III as his “featured game of the month.”^[62] Age of Empires III was the 8th best-selling PC game of 2005 despite its late release, and has sold over 2 million copies to date.^[63][64]

Following the announcement of the game on January 4, 2005, a trial version was released on September 7, 2005. This contained a cut-down version of the game, introducing new features, such as two campaign scenarios, two random map scenarios (New England and Texas) and access to two civilizations (British and Spanish), and a variety of modifications.An updated demo version was made available with the game’s release on September 22, 2005.

The release of the game on September 22, 2005 saw two separate editions being made available. The standard edition included the game and manual, a collector’s edition version in a presentation box that includes the official soundtrack, extra documentation, a hardback book entitled Art of Empires that contains concept art and 3D renders from the game and a DVD entitled The Making of Age of Empires III.

The release of the game has been followed by a series of patches that have fixed minor bugs in the software or added new features.

Ensemble Studios has released^[32] an expansion for the game named Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs which was released on October 17, 2006. It contains 3 new native civilizations that can be completely controlled: The Iroquois Confederation, the Great Sioux Nation, and the Aztecs. New content for existing European civilizations, maps and gameplay additions (such as the revolution feature, in which players can revolt from their mother country and start an active military coup in the game) was added. Both the original game and the first expansion were made available in a single ‘gold’ edition on October 23 2007.

A second expansion pack, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, was announced on May 18, 2007 and features three Asian civilizations, the Japanese, Chinese, and Indians.^[34] It was released on October 23, 2007.

A Mac OS X port of the game was released on November 13, 2006 by MacSoft,followed by the first expansion on June 18, 2007.

Technical features

One of the most notable innovations of the game was the addition of the real physics engine, which animates battles as shown.

Age of Empires III builds on and introduces new features to the Age of Mythology engine. One new feature is the inclusion of the Havok physics simulation middleware engine on the Windows version and the similar PhysX engine on Mac OS X. This means that many events such as building destruction and tree falls will not be pre-created animations, but rather will be calculated according to the physics engine, in an innovation for the series. Other graphical features of the game include bloom lighting and support for pixel shader 3.0

The Age of Empires III Original Soundtrack features an original musical score composed by long-time Ensemble Studios musicians Stephen Rippy and Kevin McMullan whose previous work includes other titles in the Age of Empires series as well as Age of Mythology. It was released on November 11, 2005 by Sumthing Else Music Works. Stephen Rippy, Music and Sound Director at Ensemble Studios said, “Age of Empires III is a game with an epic topic - it covers the colonization of the Americas over a period of some three hundred years, so it needed to have an epic-sounding score to match. Using a full orchestra and choir as well as some more period-inspired instrumentation, the music follows the story of Morgan Black and his descendants as they battle the Circle of Ossus for a foothold in the New World.” The soundtrack also features a bonus DVD that includes fourteen tracks remixed in 5.1 surround, a behind-the-scenes video of the studio session, the Age of Empires III cinematic trailer, and five exclusive bonus tracks

There are few known glitches with the software, though one noticeable game play error has been found. The British civilization has the ability to select a home city shipment of two Monitors (mortar ships), and to also select a card which delivers a shipment of one Monitor. The “Admiralty” card increases the number of supportable ships-including the increase from two Monitors to three. If players earn two home city shipments they can select both the Monitor shipment cards, without the Admiralty card, and thus overcome the Monitor build limit. This issue is remedied with the War Chiefs Expansion.

The story-based campaign mode consists of related scenarios with preset objectives, such as destroying a given building. In Age of Empires III, the campaign follows the fictional Black family in a series of three “Acts”, which divide the story arc into three generations.

Instead of playing as one of the standard civilizations, the player takes command of a special civilization that is linked to the character or period that each Act portrays.

Buildings play a major role in gameplay, they are used for training civilian and military units, researching improvements, supporting population, providing structural defense or as resource providers.

The buildings portrayed in Age of Empires III resemble the architectural design of that era. All of the games in the series share a number of buildings, including the Town Center and Docks. The appearance and attributes of a building change as the player advances through the Ages, and some civilizations have their own unique buildings. The appearance of these buildings depends on the civilization, since, for instance, the Russian buildings look different from the French buildings; even though the appearance of a type of building may vary, its purpose does not.

There are certain architectural styles present in the game; architectural styles determine the appearance of in-game buildings. Each civilization is automatically assigned its architectural style. These three architectural styles are: the Western European, which consists of classical styled wooden buildings and is shared by the British, the French and the Dutch; the Eastern European, which consists of quite precarious wooden and straw structures and is shared by the Germans and the Russians, and the Mediterranean, which consists of buildings made of stucco cement and/or dry brick, which is shared by the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Ottomans

The units of Age of Empires III are based, as in previous iterations of the game, around military classes of the historic time period. The player controls a variety of civilian and military units, and uses them to expand and develop their civilization, as well as wage war against their opponents.

The base unit of a game is the Settler (villager). These civilian units are responsible for gathering resources (through hunting, foraging, woodcutting, mining, and gathering from farms, livestock, and plantations) and constructing buildings, in order to improve the economy of the civilization.

Military units are used for combat against other players. Infantry are the cheapest unit type and all are land based, using weapons ranging from clubs to early rifles. The heavier artillery classes also make use of ranged weapons, primarily cannon and mortars; however, there is also artillery armed with grenades. Mounted troops, are also present, and are armed with either hand weapons, such as swords, or ranged weapons, such as pistols. These units also have significant features, such as skirmishers which do bonus damage against infantry, and ranged cavalry does bonus damage against other cavalry.

Industrial Age railways quicken arrival of food, gold and wood resources. This can only be achieved through Industrial Age advancement. Available first as a travois, thereafter advancement leads to stagecoach, and finally appearing as the “Iron Horse”. Note that a trading post must be built on the trading site first.

A new unit introduced in Age of Empires III is the Explorer, which is chiefly responsible for scouting and gathering treasure; it is also capable of building Trading Posts, and has a special attack, to be used at the players command. This unit cannot be killed, but can be rendered unconscious, to be revived when friendly units are within range; also, a ransom may be paid in order to have him reappear at his town center. Some shipment cards may increase the explorer’s effectiveness in game play, for example by providing him with “war dogs” which can aid with scouting and combat.

In Age of Empires III, ships are available on some maps; this military class makes use of cannon or flaming arrows. Some seagoing units also have the capacity to collect resources, such as food and coin, while others can transport units. A few types can also create land-based units.

Mercenaries, hired troops, may aid the player in their campaigns in the New World. Mercenaries are not trained like standard units; most are shipped from the Home City in exchange for high amounts of coin (the exception being the Ottoman’s Spahi which require food), so that only economically powerful players can employ them. Most are powerful, but hiring them does not provide experience points, so mercenaries cannot effectively replace the player’s standard army, and can negatively affect a player’s economy if used excessively.

In most cases, a selection of Native American tribes populate game maps, and support their own brand of military units that can be trained once an alliance has been formed. Some native American military units use mêlée weapons, a few use indigenous ranged weapons, such as bows and arrows or atl-atls, while still others adopt ranged European gunpowder weapons. These units usually pertain to the infantry or cavalry classes, but, on maps with water, canoes are also available to the player through the dock. The French have certain facilities with their relation to the natives, so such alliances are more effective.

The innovative hot air balloon, which is used for scouting, can be sent using a card from the Home City, and being trained by the explorer. Balloons may be made as many times as necessary, but there is a timer, limiting when the next may be trained. The advanced hot air balloon may not be sent multiple times, but does not have a timer.

The number of units a player can control in a scenario is limited by a “population limit”, a common RTS game mechanic. Each unit that is produced increases the population count to a maximum of 200. Basic units such as settlers and infantry count as 1, but others, including most cavalry and mercenary infantry count as 2. More powerful units, especially artillery or mercenary cavalry, can count for a population as high as 7. Native warriors, explorers, tamed and grazing animals, hot air balloons, and warships do not count towards the population limit, but generally have a build limit, allowing the player to deploy only a certain number of those specific units at a time.

Age of Empires III is the first game in the series to introduce the Home City Concept.

The Home City functions as a second city, a powerhouse that is separated from the active game. It cannot be attacked or destroyed, although an Imperial Age upgrade called Blockade stops the player’s opponents from receiving Home City shipments. Similar to a role-playing game character,the Home City is persistent between games, meaning that upgrades gained through separate games can be applied and stay applied for as long as that particular city exists (cities only cease to exist when they are deleted by the player from the game menu). Multiple Home Cities can be created and maintained, although each Home City supports only one civilization.

The Home City is made up of five main buildings from which the player chooses their new shipment cards and customizations: The New World Trading Company, the Military Academy, the Cathedral, the Manufacturing Plant and the Harbor.

Players can also access the Home City during a match by clicking on the Home City button represented on the HUD as the nation’s flag. The Home City functions differently inside a game. Instead of customizing a Home City or choosing cards, a player can ship cards chosen before the game (and added to a deck).

During the course of a game, players gain XP (experience) by completing actions such as constructing buildings, training units, killing enemies, and collecting treasures. Whenever a certain amount of experience points are gained, the player can make use of a shipment from their respective Home City. Shipments slow down as the game goes on, since more XP is required with every consecutive shipment. This XP is also added directly to the home city and is collected over multiple games, allowing it to level up over time.

Players may gear their cards into three different combinations: Boom (economic combinations), Rush (military combinations), or Turtle (defensive combinations).

The first few cards chosen are automatically added to the player’s portfolio, where it may be copied onto a deck for use in a game. Later in the game, cards have to be manually chosen because of the limit of cards in one deck. Most cards are available to all civilizations, but some are unique to one.

If the Home City being played has more than one deck, the player must select which to use when the first shipment is sent. During a game, players keep this initial deck; this feature encourages players to build decks that are customized for the map being played on, or that counter other civilizations. The decks support 20 cards.

Customizations to the Home City change the visual aspects of the city, but do not affect gameplay. In customizing the Home City, players can add unique non-playable characters to the city (for example, a fruit vendor or a musician), change and upgrade the color schemes of buildings, or place objects and decorations throughout the city. A player gains a customization whenever the city gains a level.

Age of Empires III allows the player to play as eight different civilizations:^[13] Spanish, British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, German, and Ottoman, in increasing order of difficulty.^[14] Each of the eight civilizations has its own strengths and weaknesses and unique units available only to that civilization. Specific units for each civilization are designated Royal Guard units, receiving greater bonuses on the Guard upgrade in the Industrial Age, but at an increased price. The player can change the name of their Home City, the Explorer name, and is given a pre-named leader from part of the period (for example Napoleon Bonaparte for the French and Suleiman the Magnificent for the Ottoman Empire). Each civilization has unique shipments to aid its economy and military (for example, Germans have the only mercenary card available in the Colonial Age).