xbig69benzx's Full Review: Age Of Empires II: Conqueror 2.0 for Windows, Mac
One might think that with all of the latest technology available for the creation of computer games, all of the talent working in the design and manufacture of video games, and the number of years that have passed since 1999, that a ten-year-old game would be no longer worth playing. Well, Age of Empires II: The Conquerers has withstood the test of time. It should; it's based upon real history and spans the time of the dark ages, all the way to the feudal, castle, and imperial age(s).
Age of Empires: The Conquerers might have been displaced by a new real-timestrategy game(s) with more clout, and more fluff, but not more depth of gameplay. I am happy to report that Age of Empires still reigns the king of the real-time-strategy games ten years after its original release, and I don't think there is a finer game out there for players of all ages [though I think that this game might acutally appeal more to older and more mature game-players].
Perhaps real-time-strategy game produces have run out of new ideas? Or maybe with all of the new eye-candy we have to work with these days, the programmers become lost in the details, leaving much to be desired in the way of a plot or depth of game play. Age of Empires II: The Conquerers has nonesuch caveats. There is no lack of novelty to the game even after playing it for hundreds of hours!Fortunately, Age of Empires II: The Conquerers still answers the "war" call of the "wild" strategy-game-fan[atic]. One can become lost for hours playing this darn game, even ten years after it's original release date.
Often imitated, but never duplicated, Age of Empires II: The Conquerers Expansion Pack is difficult to beat when it comes to long-term-ability to maintain the interest of the strategy game fan[atic]. Nothing even comes close to the multiplayer-strategy-action , depth of the gameplay, and novel plot of Age of Empires II: The Conquerers [often abbreviated AoC].
When Microsoft & Ensemble Studios have already released the best game ever, it's literally impossible to improve upon. This is painfully evident in Microsoft's later releases of the Age "series". It's difficult to make a game better than what many would call the best strategy game of all time.
A fraction of the "success formula" that made AoC such a great game, was that Ensemble Studios (who produced the game for Microsoft) didn't completely redesign the game from the ground up. This seems to be at least part of the reason that AoC is such a high quality, timeless piece of software for PC. Suprisingly, even the latest releases of the Microsoft OS (Vista), are even able to flawlessly play this sweet slice of software history.
Nevertheless, since the AoC was evolutionary, and not revolutionary, there was much time that was spent making considerable improvements to the depth of the gameplay. This is very apparent, and after ten-years of playing the game, one would be hard pressed to find any major flaws in the software itself or the game play [not even minor flaws].
There are many "campaigns" in AoC which are available for the single player crowd and those just learning to play the game. The tutorials are really helpful for those just learning how to play, and for the most part substitute for the owners manual. This makes it very easy for someone just picking up the game, or never having played the game ever, to ease into things and understand how one is supposed to interact with the very user-friendly and easy-to-use graphical interface.
By modern standards, the graphics are not spectacular, but at the time they were absolutely fabulous, and they are still more than adequate to maintain the player's interest. I would say that they have nicely withstood the test of time, and the interface soon feels like home to the gameplayer and offers many keyboard shortcuts which help ease the significant demands that would otherwise be placed upon the mouse.
Age of Empires II: The Conquerers offers plenty of exciting maps, multiple gameplay modes and settings which allow for a lot of flexibility and continuing novelty, and many real-world locations. There are a number of exciting units with unique attributes, and a multitude of "real" historic civilizations; all of the greatest and most famous civilizations of all time: English, Celts, Saracens, Persians, Franks, Aztecs, Chinese, Koreans, Vikings, Huns, Goths, etc. Historic war-machines such as the rock-hurling trebuchet, battles-at-sea; one must really see this game and experience it to even know what one is missing.
There really are too many awesome things that can be said about Age of Empires: The Conquerers in one review; therefore it is imperative that one pick up a copy of this wonderful game and experience all of the thrill and excitement first-hand, before the game becomes a piece of history.
Wage war on an epic scale, in completely new civilizations - the Aztecs, Koreans, Huns, Spanish & Mayans Work with new units and technologies, running...More at Amazon Marketplace
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