They took what worked so well in the first Age of Empires and made it even better.
Something small but really special about this game for many of us, it was the first time we heard Turkish-speaking units in a video game. Lines like “Tamam,” “Yaparım,” “Madenci,” “Usta” still echo in my head to this day.
I’ll admit, my RTS skills are pretty limited. If you’ve seen my gameplay videos, you know what I mean. Even so, Age of Empires II kept me completely entertained. It subtly guides you toward the right strategies, not through pop-ups or tutorials, but by letting you see which units are effective against others. At my skill level, battles usually devolve into chaos; I just let the units fight it out until one side is gone. But in AoE II, managing units and understanding their roles feels a lot easier than in most RTS games I’ve played recently.
I started with the tutorial campaign, which eases you in nicely: move units, attack a few enemies, build houses, and take on small skirmishes. The second campaign, though “the French one” changes things up. You start with a small group and your main goal is survival. Personally, I prefer games where you can properly build a base, grow an army, and go on the offensive, rather than constantly running for your life. One mission in particular had me searching for a good spot to establish a base, but resources were so scarce I had to restart several times. Eventually, the difficulty just became too much, and I got tired of the endless enemy waves. That’s not the game’s fault though, just my lack of RTS finesse.
On the technical side, the game runs beautifully. I played it on a Pentium III 500 with a Matrox Millennium G200 (8 MB), and it didn’t skip a beat. The visuals are sharp, the sound effects satisfying, and the music absolutely fantastic. Everything feels polished. Even the menu layout is intuitive, especially if you played the first game; everything feels instantly familiar.
Honestly, it’s hard to find anything bad to say about Age of Empires II. It’s been loved by millions since its release, and I’m sure there are still tons of people playing it today (probably the Definitive Edition). It deserves every bit of that love: it’s simply one of the best RTS games ever made.
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Hardware:
Compaq Garcia
Intel Pentium III 500Mhz
256MB SDRAM
Matrox Millennium G200 8MB
Creative Sound Live!
40GB HDD (IDE)
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Patches:
