Everything about Age Of Empires totally explained
Age of Empires is a series of
computer video games developed by
Ensemble Studios and published by
Microsoft Game Studios. The first title of the series was
Age of Empires, released in 1997. Since then, seven titles and three spin-offs have been released. The titles are historical
real-time strategy games, and their gameplay revolves around two main game modes:
random map, and
campaign.
The games are set amidst historical events. The initial two games focused on events in
Europe and
Asia Minor, spanning from the
Stone Age to the
Classical period; one game explored the formation and expansion of the
Roman Empire. The next two games also centered on Europe, but were set in the
Middle Ages and the
Spanish conquest of Mexico. The subsequent three games explored the
early modern period, when
Europe was colonizing the Americas and several
Asian nations were on the rise. A
spin-off game, Age of Mythology, was set in the same period as the original
Age of Empires, but focused on fictional elements of
Greek,
Egyptian, and
Norse mythology.
The
Age of Empires series has been a commercial success, selling over 15 million copies. The popularity and quality of the games has earned Ensemble Studios a strong reputation in real-time strategy gaming. Ensemble collaborated with
Big Huge Games on . Critics have credited part of the success of the series to its
historical theme and fair play; the
artificial intelligence (AI) players fight with less "cheating" than in many of the series' competitors.
Common gameplay elements
The
Age of Empires games belong to the
real-time strategy genre, with the exception of the
turn-based for the
Nintendo DS. The series features two recurring modes of play: "
random map," and "
campaign." "Random map" is described by lead designer Greg Street as a "hallmark" of the series. A variation on random map is "death match," where players begin with large amounts of resources and fight until only one side remains. A "campaign" is a series of interrelated missions with a specific storyline. Earlier games in the series included several campaigns; however,
Age of Mythology was an exception to this trend, with one campaign.
The missions in a campaign generally follow a historical setting and focus, yet don't strive for absolute historical accuracy. The series' sporadic faithfulness to history has earned it criticism; critics have generally panned the notion of unhistorical skirmishes such as "Japanese vs. Vikings, Franks vs. Persians, and Britons vs. Chinese," none of whom ever fought. It was one of the first history-based real-time strategy games made, utilizing the
Genie game engine.
GameSpot described it as a mix of
Civilization and . The game gives players a choice of 12 civilizations to develop from the Stone Age to the
Iron Age. The expansion pack,
The Rise of Rome, published by
Microsoft on
October 31,
1998, introduced new features and civilizations, such as the
Romans. Although the two games had contained many
software bugs,
patches resolved many of the problems.
Although some reviews were highly negative,
Age of Empires received a positive reception in general; its
Game Rankings and
Metacritic scores are 87% and 83%, respectively. The
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named the
Age of Empires the 1998 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year." For several years, the game remained high on the sales charts, with over three million units sold by 2000.
The Rise of Rome wasn't as popular: it had only sold one million units in 2000,
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, released on
September 30,
1999, used the Genie game engine, and had gameplay similar to its predecessor.
Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages, from the
Dark Ages to the
Imperial Age. It allows players to choose one of 13 civilizations, from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Microsoft published the expansion,
The Conquerors, on
August 24,
2000. It added new units and five new civilizations, including the
Mesoamericans. The expansion also introduced the concept of technologies that were only available to certain civilizations.
The Age of Kings was a bigger critical success than the first two games; its Game Rankings and Metacritic scores were 92% and 91%, respectively. Microsoft shipped out more than two million copies to retailers, and the game received numerous awards and accolades.
The Conquerors also received positive ratings; Game Rankings and Metacritic both scored it at 88%.
The Age of Kings and
The Conquerors won the 2000 and 2001 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, respectively.
Age of Empires III, released
October 18,
2005, used a new game engine:
Havok. The game is set in the period between
1421 and 1850, and players can choose one of eight European nations. The game introduced a large number of features, such as
home cities. Described by Ensemble Studios as "an important support system to your efforts in the New World," home cities helped provide the player with resources, equipment, troops, and upgrades. They could be used across multiple games, and upgraded after each battle; it was compared to a
role-playing game character by Ensemble Studios. The first expansion to
Age of Empires III,
The WarChiefs, was released
October 17,
2006. Most gameplay changes in the expansion pack were small, but it introduced three new civilizations, with a focus on
Native Americans. Most notable was the introduction of the unit. The second expansion,
The Asian Dynasties, went on sale
October 23,
2007. It was a jointly developed product;
Big Huge Games helped Ensemble Studios develop the game, with
Brian Reynolds joining
Bruce Shelley as lead designer. The game expanded the
Age of Empires III universe into Asia, and introduced three new civilizations. Reception towards
Age of Empires III was good; Game Rankings scored it 82%, and Metacritic at 81%. It sold more than two million copies, and won the
GameSpy "real-time strategy game of the year" award.
The WarChiefs failed to equal the success of its predecessor; it had lower scores on both Game Rankings and Metacritic.
The Asian Dynasties received poorer reviews than
The WarChiefs; it scored 80% on Game Rankings and Metacritic.
Several
collectors' editions of
Age of Empires III included a
hardcover artbook. The last page of the artbook has a pictorial depiction of the series; the
Roman numerals below each panel range from I to V, indicating the series would include an
Age of Empires IV and
Age of Empires V. Ensemble Studios employee Sandy Peterson said the image "was total speculation on [their] part."
Spin-off games
Age of Mythology focused on mythology rather than history. It shared several elements of gameplay with the main series, and was considered a part of the series, despite its different focus. The campaign in
Age of Mythology tells the story of an
Atlantean,
Arkantos, and his quest to find why his people are out of favor with
Poseidon and the Greek gods. Microsoft published the game on
October 30,
2002, and its expansion,
The Titans, on
October 21,
2003.
The Titans featured the Atlanteans as a new civilization. Its campaign is shorter than previous expansions, and centers on
Kastor, son of Arkantos, who falls for the lies of the
titans and frees them from
Erebus.
Age of Mythology sold more than one million units in four months. It scored 89% on Game Rankings and Metacritic.
The Titans failed to equal the sales success of
Age of Mythology, although critics rated it highly.
Backbone Entertainment developed a version of
Age of Empires: The Age of Kings as a
turn-based game for the
Nintendo DS.
Majesco published the game on
February 14,
2006. It is similar to other turn-based games, such as
Advance Wars, but with a gameplay based on its
PC . It supported multiplayer games over the
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Age of Empires: The Age of Kings scored 80% on Game Rankings and Metacritic.
Konami brought a game of the same title to the
PlayStation 2 at around the same time as the DS version, but the game had little promotion, and sold poorly.
Development
Historical elements
The
development phases of the
Age of Empires games were similar in several ways. Due to the games being based on historical events, the team often had to do large amounts of research. At the
Games Convention Developers Conference in 2007, Shelley continued with this thought and explained that the success of the series laid in "making a game which appealed to both the casual and hardcore gamer." Ensemble Studios developed
Age of Mythology in a different way than the previous two games. The team had worried they "couldn't get away" with a third historical-based game, and chose mythology as the setting after they'd discussed several options.
Artificial intelligence
The
artificial intelligence (AI) used in the
Age of Empires series has been developed and improved regularly by designers. AI specialist Dave Pottinger noted the development team gave the AI in the original game a very high priority, and spent over a year working on it. He said the AI in the game relies on tactics and strategies to win, instead of "cheating" by giving bonus resources to itself, or tweaking its units to be stronger than normal. Pottinger later noted that the
Age of Empires series team took great pride in their AI playing a "fair game." They also gave the AI for
The Conquerors a high priority, the result being the "smart villager" feature, which was highly popular in subsequent games of the series. After building a structure that stores or produces resources, smart villagers would proceed to collect resources related to the structure, such as crops from farms or
ore from stones.
The Titans lets players use an AI
debugger when creating custom scenarios; players can change the settings of computer players and make them act according to certain patterns. More basic changes to the AI had previously been available in the series' first two games.
Music
Stephen Rippy has been the series' music director since the first game. He has had occasional help from his brother, David Rippy, as well as Kevin McMullan. He created the original music in
Age of Empires with sounds of instruments from the periods in the game. Rippy said sound development on
The Age of Kings was easier, since there was knowledge of the instruments used in the Middle Ages. Therefore, they were able to reproduce the tunes for the soundtrack of the game. In
Age of Mythology, an orchestral instrumentation was used, instead. According to McMullan, the team also collected large numbers of audio recordings from
zoos, and created "a massive sound library of [their] own material." The music of
Age of Empires III was similar to
The Age of Kings, in which the team used more historical instruments; Rippy noted the team used instruments such as "
bagpipes and field
drums" to give it a realistic feel. Both studios had roles in testing the game before its release.
Reception and legacy
Further Information
Get more info on 'Age Of Empires'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://age_of_empires.totallyexplained.com">Age of Empires Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
