Amazon.com: Age of Empires II, Gold Edition: PC: Video Games

114 Reviews

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(2)
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4.7 out of 5 stars (114 customer reviews)

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97 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely the best real time strategy (RTS) game ever!, March 3, 2002

By	Kenneth R. Wood (Sierra Vista, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

The Age of Kings (AoK) along with its expansion pack, AoK:TC (The Conquerors--which we now call "AoC" when both are installed) is a superb game for either "Multiplayers" who play on-line or "Singleplayers" who don't. If a game which has a historical aspect to it which resides in the 1,000 year realm of ancient history stated has appeal for you (which isn't all 'hoked_up' with fantasy creatures), you cannot go wrong with purchasing the "Gold pack". I've been playing AoK/AoC for more than 2 years now and it still holds fascination for me... and many others that I know. Just today I was teaching one of my 10 year old grandsons about the game when he was visiting. We'll get him the Gold pack. My son introduced me to the game in Dec. '99.

Yes, in order to play AoC which epitomizes the development of the game, you need to install from both disks, first installing AoK, then removing it and installing the AoK:TC disk which you leave in the tray (it must be in there when you want to play). You can then go online to either Microsoft's or Ensemble Studios' websites for the game, Age of Kings: The Conquerors, and download the 1.0c patch which fixes any minor 'bugs' discovered and rectifies a few civilization "balancing issues" which have come up. Thus buying the Gold pack is a real good deal for anyone getting the game now as it cost me more than twice as much to have bought AoK & then AoK:TC, as they came out.

There are so many ways to play this game that it almost boggles the mind, but preferred game modes are "Conquest" followed by "Deathmatch" in popularity amongst "Agers". If you really want to learn to play the game using the various "strategies" for the 18 civilizations which Agers have developed, it's a good idea to join a good Ager gaming clan such as Tonto Clan, which caters to both Multi- and Singleplayers. You can find Tonto Clan by doing a websearch for "tontoclan1", or look for "Tonto Empire". The clan celebrates its 2nd birthday the 13th of March, 2002, so you know they aren't fly-by-nighters. And that's a good place to ask any questions one might have about the game.

A final thought: "Real Time Strategy" is a bit of a misnomer, oxymoron, in computer games as "twitch-and-bang" on the keyboard doesn't really give a person time to think, only act and react. But an aspect of AoC that makes it come closer to being enabled as a true strategy and tactics game is that you have the "Pause key" which when playing Singleplayer you can use to pause the game in progress in order to "think on it" a bit and decide what next you want to do. This brings yet another dimension to the game that most don't have.

There are other RTS 'historically based war games' which have come out since "Age", but it is surprising how many people will try them and then just keep coming back.... to AoC. And, for my money the next RTS slated to come along that might be as good or possibly better isn't projected to hit the market until Spring (if then) of 2003.

Ken aka tonto_real

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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good strategy game, March 22, 2003

By A Customer

I'm a fan of both Age of Empires 1 and 2. Age of Kings is a fitting improvement of the first game. The timeframe is medieval and the civilizations and technologies are appropriately tailored to that era. Graphics-wise, the game is as attractive as the first, probably more so. The buildings are proportioned better, so that a castle looks big compared to the peasants who built it. The sound effects are decent, as is the music. There some interesting maps available, and the new scenarios (Joan of Arc, William Wallace, El Cid, etc.) should keep you occupied for a while. Also, there are other game options, such as Regicide, Defend the Wonder, and Wonder Race. The AI is smart, but not unbeatable. You can now find idle villagers much easier, can queue things, units can be garrisoned, and combat units can be placed in various stances and formations. However, the game still suffers from some of the problems the first game had. For example, there is a great deal of micromanagement required. Fishing ships, instead of looking for more fish, will just sit in the water unless directed toward a fishing spot. Computer opponents tend to quickly team up against you, unless you put them on separate teams and check "allied victory" at the beginning of the game. Diplomacy is still a rather weak part of gameplay. Also, it seems that computer opponents sometimes don't quite understand the objectives of some games (such as holding a wonder for a period of time), and thus will not pose much of a challenge. Despite these shortcomings, the game has a lot to offer. It also comes with an editor that allows you to tailor much of the gameplay to your liking. I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes real-time strategy games, or enjoyed the first Age of Empires game.

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good all around, much improved over the first AoE..., May 30, 2003

By	IAF_67 (USA) - See all my reviews

The improvements in game play in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors is one area of this game that has been largely improved. Everything from the actions of your units (especially non-combat ones such as villagers or fishing ships) to the organization of your military units has been refined to provide a much better gameplay experience.

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors also provides some new civilizations. They are the Aztecs, the Huns, Koreans, Mayans, and Spanish. Like the civilizations that came with the original Age of Empires II, these civilizations all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. For instance, since the horse was not native to the Americas, the Mayans and Aztecs cannot create Stable units.

Since the Mayans and Aztecs have also been added to the game, it would naturally make sense to add new maps to the game as well. Tropical terrain is one of the many new additions, as well as Winter terrain. There are also maps from the real world, which basically let you fight it out with an enemy on a location such as Britain, France, etc. However, there is one small complaint on the real world maps -- you can't adjust their size, which makes sense, because it's the real world, right? However, it does kind of get annoying, especially when you have to hunt down the LAST enemy villager over a larger area than you would normally have to. Still, it is nice to be able to see battles occurring where they actually happened.

Another nice feature of this game is the ability to command allied computer players. Short on food? Just ask for it! Most of the time they will give it to you, unless they either don't have a market (which is necessary to give tribute), or they simply don't have the resources to spare, which generally happens when you repeatedly ask for resources over a short period of time. You can also command your allies to do anything from build a Navy to stop building villagers.

Speaking of villagers, they are also smarter than they were before. Remember before, when you would create a mining camp right next to a bunch of gold, and your villagers would just stand there and look at it? Not any more, now all of the villagers that were involved in building the mining camp (or town center, mill, etc.) will begin to collect resources after they have completed the building of whatever it is you have just created. Also, after they have finished, say, collecting all the gold that a given mine has to offer, they will begin to go towards another mine (if they can see it, which occurs if you have the All Visible option turned on). This is an obvious help, especially when you have other things to attend to, such as holding off an enemy that's at your gates.

Overall, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors is very much improved from the original Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. It is light years ahead of the original Age of Empires due to its many new improvements. If you bought Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings but never got the expansion, I would highly recommend picking it up. For those people who never bought anything in the Age of Empires II series, I would highly recommend picking up the Gold Edition of Age of Empires II.