3/28/2023 0 Comments Age of empires ii golden edition![]() People Control: In a real-time strategy game, one of the questions is always, "how easy it is to control the people?" The click-and-click interface at the heart of Age of Empires works fairly well for individuals. (I've gone hunting for a specific building a number of times without finding it, largely because their look changes from age to age.) The only downside is that the onscreen menus aren't always intuitively arranged and the icons sometimes aren't clear enough to figure out what they are-until you mouseover. The UI is overall easy and intuitive and doesn't require remembering a bunch of different possibilities. This moves the unit (if you're clicking an open space) or allows the unit to interact with what you've clicked (e.g., if you'd chosen a villager then clicked on forest, he'd start cutting lumber) or allow a unit which has already selected the build action to build (e.g., if you'd selected an empty space after previously choosing something to build). Alternatively, after you've selected a villager or military unit, you can right-click on the map. You can click on one of those actions if you want to take it, sometimes requiring a second click afterward (e.g., after you click "build", you'll then get a choice of buildings). When you left-click on a unit, more info on that unit appears at the bottom left, and a number of specific actions appear just to the right of it (e.g., for a villager the "build" and "repair" actions appear, while for a building various technological advances will appear). The game centers on selecting units, then taking actions with them. It's at the bottom left of the screen where most of the actual UI is. The bottom right of the screen features a global map. Across the top are stats on resources and a couple of buttons. The top and bottom of the screen feature an overlay specific for your culture through which the rest of the UI is accessible. User Interface: The majority of the screen is taken up by that isomorphic overhead view of the local area. They're not as amazingly beautiful as some more recent games, but especially considering the era of the game, they're nice. Overall the graphics are pleasing, useful, and easy to distinguish. The cultural changes are less global, but there's enough to add a lot of richness to the game. A lot of attention has been paid to detail here, with variations in building based on both age (of which there are 4) and culture (of which there are 14). ![]() The game itself is done as an isomorphic 2.5D overhead view. I think this is mainly an issue of not holding up to modern standards. Graphics: There are a couple of cut-scenes, used as campaign prologs and epilogues, which frankly look bad. Overall, the components are good quality and generally make the game easier to play. It's all printed full color on coated card stock, and thus should hold up to Coke spills and other gaming dangers. It includes a full tech chart, which is highly useful for new players as well as charts for scoring, hot keys, unit attributes, and civilization attributes. Reference Sheet: This sheet is a cool quick-reference for playing Age of Empires. The book is printed in sepia tones, and thus the (too scarce) screenshots are a bit hard to make out due to lack of contrast. The book also has a very cool feature: it includes 2-4 pages detailing each of the cultures including in the book, with full information on its history and society (which is a running theme throughout the campaigns as well). It's also well put-together, with charts full of the tech trees of the various civilizations, building cost lists, and a complete index. ![]() It's quite readable and easy to learn the game from. Manual: The manual is a flip book, with the Age of Empires manual on one side and the Rise of Rome manual on the other. I haven't bothered to distinguish what's there because it's all presented as a cohesive whole once both the game and the supplement are installed.Īge of Empires' gold edition comes in a large computer game box which contains: manual, reference sheet, and CD. The expansion includes some new cultures, new troops, etc. This is a review of the gold edition of Age of Empires, which comes with the original game as well as the one expansion: The Rise of Rome. Age of Empires is the first offering in Ensemble Studios' quite successful Age of Empires series, all games of real-time strategy set against historic backgrounds. ![]()
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