AOE III - My Review

[taggart6]

I can't stand EE2, and I love DoW, so I say there is no comparison, lol.

ditto...

DOW is more about constant action and quick battles where as EE2 is slower placed and is centered around building a tech tree and long drawn out battles.

Over all I consider them pretty different games, granted if you only had to select one, I would go with DOW. EE2 just gets too boring for me after a while and teh later epochs are uber unbalanced.

[Skywize]

And back on topic...
Can someone tell me more basic things about AOE III?
Like what/who do you start out with?
Can you play natives?
Is there any interaction with natives other than the historical rape/pillage thing?

I was a huge fan of 7 cities of gold (still can run that on my C64 emulator ), and in that game it was great fun to explore, discover things, interact with natives (convert/trade).
Ah yes, the RTS combat system of the 80s...you touch them they die

How's the music, the ambient sound, and destroying enemy towns/settlements? I hear you can't chip away at buildings with a spear anymore.

[Kamakazie]

Put quite basically, if you've ever played AoE 2, this is very much the same thing, but with a few extras like the trade outposts, treasures scattered across the map and the home city.

[Skywize]

Put quite basically, if you've ever played AoE 2, this is very much the same thing, but with a few extras like the trade outposts, treasures scattered across the map and the home city.

So no option to play natives then and change history?

[Kamakazie]

So no option to play natives then and change history?

I havent checked, but since part of the game is teaming up with the natives I'm going to guess not.

[idiotekniQues]

well aoe II conquerors was sick. even if this game didnt fix much of the stuff that aoeII needed improving on, it wouldnt matter to me, that game was such a good RTS.

[Skywize]

I havent checked, but since part of the game is teaming up with the natives I'm going to guess not.

That's a shame (if you're right).
I believe it was Conquest of the New World that let you play as a european nation as well as natives.
Quite a challenge to play from the perspective of the locals...

[Freddy_Kruger]

I wouldnt want to play as Native americans or even present day americans. I'd like to play the Canadians in 1814 though

But generally speaking flint locks aren't my thing. Soldiers in leotards and white wigs *shakes head*

[Spaceman Spiff]

I wouldnt want to play as Native americans or even present day americans

Says the world's most outspoken, diehard AMERICA'S ARMY player.

*roll eyes*

[Skywize]

Well I just finished the tutorial, basics and a skirmish.
It's all cute and stuff...BUT...
I could not find a way to repair buildings, apparently villagers forgot how to do that since AOK, IMHO that's a major downer.
You get 1 fort through shipment (can't build it any other way), and if the enemy nibbles away at it there is nothing you can do about it, nor can you replace it (unless you earn another card of the right type). I dunno about you guys but i like repairing stuff. Priests seem VERY limited they can heal units but you have to select the skill and manually use it it seems, in AOK that worked automatic. Can't convert buildings or troops.
I find everything a little too big, and I'm playing with very far zoom. In particular those trees, thems bigger than forts :P I liked the size of trees in AOE, the roman expansion, AOK, and the conquerers expansion (in short i find trees in all previous AOE games look better).
Natives are like buildings, you can place an outpost next to a village which enables you to create native warriors that fight for you, but on their own they don't do anything.

Isn't AOE supposed to be the historical RTS? Natives don't roam, don't hunt buffalo, don't scalp the white man, don't play any independent role. Natives should be like in 7 Cities of Gold. They should be friendly or hostile to varying degrees, you should be able to build up a relation with them by selling them useless junk and fire water which might persuade them to occasionally raid your enemies.
They "give" us their land, we give them disease.

I'm telling you the native aspect of this game is a MAJOR disappointment, they are as active as the trees. (actually, at least in the tutorial game, natives are 2-3 little buildings and occasionally 1 or 2 of them can be seen around the campfire).

I'm probably making too much of this, but if ES didn't want any redskins in their game why didn't they relocate AOE III to Mars?

Imagine AOE IV plays in africa and there are no black people in the game ... IMHO ES dropped the ball big time on this one...AOE III might just as well take place on the canary islands :P

[Kamakazie]

AoE isnt meant to be an accurate portrayal of past events man, calm down.

[spamjedi]

Says the world's most outspoken, diehard AMERICA'S ARMY player.

*roll eyes*

nice catch.

Lets us now hijack this thread and design Canada's Army! The possibilities are endless.

I liked AOE II, so maybe I'll like this one after all. Im not gonna run out and buy it though. Is there a demo?

[taggart6]

Imagine AOE IV plays in africa and there are no black people in the game ... IMHO ES dropped the ball big time on this one...AOE III might just as well take place on the canary islands :P

AOE IV doesn't care about black people!

[Timman_24]

nice catch.

Lets us now hijack this thread and design Canada's Army! The possibilities are endless.

I liked AOE II, so maybe I'll like this one after all. Im not gonna run out and buy it though. Is there a demo?

Canada's Army? No guns allowed? You can't have an army without guns...

[Transfurzz]

nice catch.

Lets us now hijack this thread and design Canada's Army! The possibilities are endless.

I liked AOE II, so maybe I'll like this one after all. Im not gonna run out and buy it though. Is there a demo?

Can I draw funny half-assed comics for cutscenes !!! I do a mean one about Darth Vader.