Age of Empires 2 Official Expansion: The Conquerors

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Wage war on an epic scale, in completely new civilizations - the Aztecs, Koreans, Huns, Spanish & Mayans
• Work with new units and technologies, running campaigns based on those of history's great military leaders like Attila The Hun and Montezuma
• The new linear campaigns comprise several amazing missions, and each culture has its own unique features and Wonders
• Recreate epic historical battles, and affect the outcome to your liking
• More advanced AI makes the computer a much more difficult opponent

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00004VP4M
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.8 x 2 inches ; 9.6 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: May 1, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (146 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,909 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Five new civilizations, new wonders, new unique units, new multiplayer options, and gameplay tweaks make The Conquerors more than your typical expansion pack. It's almost a full sequel. If you liked Age of Empires 2, you'll love The Conquerors.

Players can defend Spain as El Cid, rage across Europe as Attila the Hun, or fight to preserve an ancient way of life as Montezuma in new campaigns that extend the single-player experience. Plenty of toys are available to each civilization, including new technologies such as Chinese rocketry and British yeomen. But none of the new technologies or units unbalance the game. In fact, many of the units from AoE2 have been altered in response to gamer feedback so no one unit or civilization has an overwhelming advantage.

Those who hated micromanaging their towns in Age of Empires 2 will appreciate the adjustments made to villager artificial intelligence. You can order several villagers to work a group of farm plots, and they'll automatically divvy up the labor. You no longer have to manually assign one peon to each individual plot. The same applies to mines: tell a villager to build a mine, and he'll automatically start hauling ore once construction is complete.

If you weren't all that impressed with AoE2, this expansion pack won't change your mind. But if you're one of the millions who enjoyed the original game, you'll find that all the new goodies in The Conquerors will breathe more hours of fun into an old favorite. --Paul Sanguinetti

Pros:

• Adds plenty of new units, technology, and wonders
• Tweaks core AoE2 gameplay
• Features maps of France, Britain, Spain, and... Texas
• New King of the Hill and peaceful Wonder multiplayer games
• Jungle and snow terrain add variety

Cons:

• Armies of civilizations still very similar

Product Description

Age Of Empires II: The Conquerors takes you int the heart of warfare as you fight to buils a new civilization! Several new interfaces and features let you concentrate on tactics and resource management New multiplayer games like Wonder Race(see who builds a Wonder first) and Defend The Wonder Relive the time of the conquerors with this exciting strategy game!

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

170 of 185 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great expansion for a great game, July 10, 2000

By 

"guybrush1" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Age of Empires 2 Official Expansion: The Conquerors (CD-ROM)

the expansion pack features 5 new civ's, maya, aztecs, huns, koreans,and spanish.each with its own unique buildings type(imagine mayas and aztecs builduings, cool)There are 3 campaigns and one pack of scenarios named battles of the conquerors, the campaigns are atilla the hun where you get to conquer gaul and then maybe even the whole rome, in el cid you must join forces with moors and fight against castilla and fight against fanatical berber horsemen, and last but not least, in montezuma you get to fight off thje invaders that are much better armed and shielded, can they defeat them, or will they fall before the invaders, in addition to that the game will have 11 new units,conquistador,jaguar man,tarkan and 26 new technologies including a special technology for each civilisation. The villagers are now smarter,for example they'll start gathering wood after building a lumber camp, farm queing, you just give enough money to it, and villagers will build farms untill money run off.

Ram's are now transports, garrizon units inside it to increase speed and defend units inside. ship formations,you can also send commands to friendly computer players. and finally new temperature zones including tropics, and ice. That is a very interesting game...

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They made it again, September 17, 2000

By 

Gwilym - See all my reviews

This review is from: Age of Empires 2 Official Expansion: The Conquerors (CD-ROM)

The Age of Empire II expansion is, of course, basically the same game, so those of you who have played it will know the outlines. (and you'll know that it's one of the best games around). The biggest news are the addition of five new civs: the Spanish, the Huns, the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Koreans; all of them quite interesting. There are three new scenarios 1. Spanish scenario: You are El Cid, the famous spanish liberator, and your task is to drive out the Moors (moslem conquerors) from Spain. In addition, you are forced to occasionally fight a wicked spanish king as well...

2. Hun scenario As Attila the Hun, you lead your ravaging tribes from the steppes of Asia into Europe to attack the civilized world, especially the Roman Empire.

3. Aztec scenario As the Aztec emperor, you try to fight of the Spanish invaders, and defend your lake-city Tenochtitlan

In addition, the team behing AOE has added a number of famous battles, so that you can fight the battle of Hastings 1066 with William the Conqueror, you can discover America with the Vikings, etc. Aother great feature is the addtion of real world-maps, such as Britain, Italy, Texas and more. There is also a wider range of terrains, ranging from the rain-forests of the Americas to the snow and ice in Scandinavia.

All the old civilizations have got some new features as well, so that there is a definite feeling of a totally new game. As always, the historic detalis are accurate, which adds to the game.

If you have AOE II (the game won't run without it) and like it, I definitely recommend AOE Conquerors, it has everything one could have expected-

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Expansion Pack made Age of Empires UNCONQUERABLE, July 14, 2002

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Age of Empires 2 Official Expansion: The Conquerors (CD-ROM)

We were rather neutral at first about getting the Expansion Pack (The Conquerers) for our beloved Age of Empires. We networked our home office, and believe me, you can get through a lot of bad winter weather and no television if you are keen to play military strategy games. We just loved Empires, in my opinion, the best real-time strategy computer game there is.

But we were blown away by the Conquerers Expansion Pack. When we had installed it, we realized that this was NOW the most perfect RTS game, ever. The addition of five new civiliations, better maps, new technologies, improved AI and some really necessary upgrades made this pure playing pleasure.

Here's what I loved that was added to Age of Empires:

1. The new civilizations (civs to afficionados.)
a.The Koreans have war wagons (shoot arrows) and armored turtle boats. Their towers are inferior to none, making them as strong as the Teutons in some respects.
b. The Huns need no houses, and are the Mongols on mega-steroids. They are fast and vicious. The Tarkans (elite unit) are highly destructive to buildings.
c. The Spanish have Conquistadors, mounted hand cannoneers, there are Missionaries on muleback. They can build like no one else, and the villagers are strong defenders.
d. The Mayans and Aztec: New World, so no cavalry, but fast and have archers that rival the Chinese Chu-ko-Nu.

2. Each civ now gets one, or in some cases, two "unique technologies" such as the ability to build unique (elite) units in barracks as well as the castle (The Goths.)

3. The "scratch-your-rear and smoke a cigarette" villager syndrome has been, at least, partially cured. Villagers who've finished building an ore mine now go to work (duh!) mining instead of having to be ordered to do so. They still seem to take cigarette breaks now and then, but the AI does work to send a house builder who is done building a hut, on to cut down a nearby tree.

4. The farms now replant. Clicking on the field icon takes wood and stacks up the replanted fields. No more annoying rustle of exhausted fields demanding to be replanted while you are in the heat of battle. (That is, if you have cut sufficient wood.)

5. The new maps include a salt swamp (New World feature) with interesting marshes and sometimes hard-to-traverse areas. There is a Scandinavian map, sort of a variant on a Mongolian map, a bit of water and fish, but limited food. There is snow, and footprints appear in the snow, a delightful graphic touch. Turkeys were added in addition to sheep, for New World food supply.

Some civilizations were "rebalanced" to weaken a too-strong feature or pump up a weakness. In some respects, I think they overshot the mark. The Turks and Franks, in my opinion, were dumbed down too much. The turkeys on the New World maps are often plentiful, but the gobbling gets on my nerves after two minutes.

All in all, we think this game is about as perfect as computer games get and we've had hours of yelling, screaming, sulking, revenge, disbelief, followed by reconcilation and rematches. In short, just the thing to bolster your marriage.