i played this game when it originally came out in 2003 (minus expansion pack). i thought it was pretty awesome back then. now i pretty much consider it to be an average RTS.

it’s a hybrid of age of empires + empire earth. it takes the historical aspect from AOE and the ability to advance through every age imaginable from EE. i really like the historical stuff.

but…depending on how you play a multiplayer game and how many ages you choose to allow, you might end up in an endless upgrading everything cycle. which boils down to how fast can you click around on various buildings and choose to upgrade a technology. not very fun. and things like that take too much away from the strategic gameplay. upgrades are obviously an aspect of about every RTS, but you shouldn’t have to spend the majority of the game doing them.

i like the idea of capturing and assimilating enemy cities…but since it takes time i wish they had included an option that let you simply destroy the city instead. capturing well defended cities takes a looooooong time.

the attrition damage, also a cool feature, yet it seemed way overpowered. i realize the supply wagons combat this…but it seemed like if a unit strayed away for about 30 seconds it was dead. ouch.

special units like the general don’t do anything that’s that cool. the spy bribe ability is annoying.

playing against a computer opponent in any modern age that allows nukes is a nightmare. luckily, nuke use can be disabled.

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