Return to the Age of Empires

Age of Empires 2

*****

Microsoft

PC

$99 (available next month)

Review: Peter Eley

We last saw Age of Empires with its add-on pack The Rise of Rome, which took the game forward from pre-Christian civilisations such as the Assyrians and Egyptians.

Although Rome fell around 1600 years ago, it was in many senses a modern society. It had a highly developed political system, superb roads, piped water, organised sport between Christians and lions, not to mention a mean line in after-match entertainment.

But too many orgies took their toll and the Barbarians from the north sacked the empire, throwing the world into the Dark Ages. It is against this dramatic backdrop that Age of Empires 2 is set.

Let's establish one thing straight away: this is a superb game. It is much more than a token sequel and is packed with new features that take what was already a great game much further.

It's a bigger game all round - in the size and number of units and buildings, in map size and in historical scope. There is much more graphical detail than in AOE and this has allowed developers to differentiate between races, which all have specific units and buildings.

For example, Vikings have berserkers and longboats, the Mongols have their fearsome Mangudai cavalry, while the British have their longbowmen - a simple technology which gave them military superiority for a couple of centuries.

Maps are huge compared with AOE, where it took a village three minutes to walk across a large map. It takes nine minutes in AOE2.

To people them adequately, the population limit has been upped from 50 to 200, although older systems will whirr and clank at these levels - especially as the minimum resolution is now 800x600 rather than the 640x480 of AOE.

The game takes place over 1000 years from the start of the Dark Ages through to the Middle Ages, when legendary characters such as Genghis Khan, Frederic Barbarossa, Braveheart and Joan of Arc were around.

One of the weaknesses of AOE was its limited campaign structure compared with its great real-time strategy rival, the Command and Conquer series. This is much better in AOE2, with absorbing campaigns set around some of the main historical characters.

But there is still the good old random map generator, which gives the game unlimited replayability.

Another weakness of AOE was limited economic and diplomacy options. This has been put right in AOE2, and trading and tribute are important, especially in multiplayer games.

There are lots of other good things, too many to mention. Of note are the extensive historical notes, much-improved unit control options such as formations and patrol mode, a smarter artificial intelligence and new ways to win, such as becoming richer than your neighbour.

Required: Pentium166, 32Mb Ram.

* Send your comments e-mail to peter_eley@herald.co.nz

* All games are given a star rating of one to five.