Considered to be one of the best real time strategy franchises of all time, the Age of Empires series has returned with its third installment. Putting the exceptional but slightly sidetracked Age of Mythology to the corner; Age of Empires III picks up right where Age of Kings left off. Ensemble Studios demonstrates once again that they know how to please their fans and present a polished title that is on par (if not better) than what they have delivered before. 

For some people who prefer the more technical and economy based strategy games, Age of Empires may fall under fire from them as it doesn’t feature thousands of units on screen at once, or bustling political forums. Age of Empires III is generally about building up an empire with the resources available around you and creating an army that can defend it to the last. Part of the charm of this series has been in how many different ways you can choose to set up your empire through where you choose to dedicate your resources, or the units you choose to place emphasis on. It’s not a revolutionary title by any means, but it’s infinitely enjoyable for those who appreciate its features.

Empires includes eight different civilizations that feature specific bonuses and units that are exclusive to each one. Given to us are the Spanish, British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russians, Germans and Ottoman. The bonuses exclusive to each civilizations can be extremely helpful, like the Ottomans ability to spawn villagers at no cost. In terms of the exclusive units, players will be able to decide for themselves which ones they think deliver the best advantages.

The hallmark of the series has been the ability to advance in age to develop more powerful weapons and technology. The series defining feature is here of course and its benefits remain the same. If you happen to advance before your enemy, you have placed yourself in a strong position with more advanced weaponry and tools. It’s not always as clear cut as that, because there are many other upgrades available through the buildings you have made, but they like the age advancements, cost resources. Balancing out your resources for use on unit making and upgrades is important and can cost victory if not planned out right.

Not surprisingly, there’s quite a bit of variety between the unit types. You have your Pike men, Janissaries, Minutemen, bowmen and cavalry types including Cossacks and Cavalry Archers. There’s quite a bit more than that to toy with and it’s not just the soldiers and siege weapons that can make a big difference in battles but the naval units as well. Transport ships and warships like Frigates seem to be more relevant in this game which may have a little to do with the time periods involved, since exploration and colonization was a key mission of many civilizations at the time. If you’ve seen it in the other Age of Empires titles, then most likely you will see it here too. A key thing to note is that simply having a massive group of units means nothing, upgrading their abilities and armor through your town facilities is equally as important as having a large force.

The most obvious difference when first playing that one will notice is the addition of home cities. Your home city is basically a hub that contains resources, upgrades and units you can call on if things aren’t going as smoothly as you’d like on the field. Some of them have to be unlocked of course. The individual items are called cards and the cards can be arranged into decks of 20 which can be called on from the game field. Card effects range from calling on additional units, or even more resources which may be scarce in the map you’re currently playing on. The concept is basically playing on history’s trend of colonies calling on their mother countries to provide support. It obviously doesn’t take as long as traveling across the sea, but there’s a small wait for the reinforcement supplies to arrive. The key with the cards and decks is to focus on using the effects that are in relation to your own civilizations weaknesses. This allows you to plug up the holes temporarily.

The single player campaign is well put together with a believable premise and often interesting sets of objectives. In a way, the single player trains and prepares players for the tactics and challenges they will face when they hit the internet and encounter human opponents. Don’t expect anything historically accurate here as the story can seem a bit far fetched in places. There are pirates, discovery, sea battles and most of all a bunch of men who think they deserve to be world rulers.

Ensemble Studios has put together an easily accessible online system for the game that also features home cities. The concept is pretty much the same although it’s tailored for online matches. The chat system is easy to use and getting into matches is as simple and effective as it has been in every iteration of the series so far. If a new patch is released, the game will automatically update for you, eliminating the hassle of finding appropriate download mirrors. Lag is dependent on your system and the stability of your internet connection. Considering the visuals of the game, its surprising the game runs as well as it does under the stress of internet play. The two main online modes are Supremacy and Deathmatch. Supremacy forces you to start with few resources, while Deathmatch is a far more brisk affair. Age of Empires III is at its best when played online and while the enemy AI of single player is quite competent, nothing beats flesh and blood.

Visually stunning is only one of the words that can used to describe Age of Empires 3, but why stop there? The texture detail and use of lighting is probably the best seen yet in a real time strategy game. Units looks amazing when zoomed out and still pretty good when zoomed in full. Bloom lighting is used appropriately and the water effects are beautiful. When buildings are being attacked, pieces of the structure will crumble down and when buildings explode, let’s just say that it’s never usually a simple sputter. It can all look pretty repetitive after awhile as the physics seem scripted, but it still makes for a more immersive experience than simply witnessing buildings sink into nothingness. For all its visual perks, there is a price to pay. To be playing Age of Empires 3 in all its visual glory, one will have to have a pretty beefy system. While the game is quite scalable to meet the playable needs of lower end systems, the experience just isn’t the same unless most of the eye candy is left on. Still without all of the icing, its still a well detailed strategy game. As for the audio side of things, Age of Empires 3 continues to garner solid comments. The voice acting gets its point across and while some of it seems overacted, it does more than enough to satisfy. The soundtrack and sound effects are wonderfully done and the Age of Empires theme is ever present. To get the best experience possible, hook up your surround sound, tweak your beefy system and confine yourself in a room for a good time.

Fans of the series will argue for quite awhile about which Age of Empires title reigns supreme, but Age of Empires 3 is definitely a winner. Its stunning graphics, addictive gameplay and small additions in all the right places make for a great strategy game. The market is still saturated with bland imitations and repetitive gameplay mechanics when it comes to strategy games, but Ensemble plays to its strengths and comes out with something that feels fresh but familiar at the same time.