Age of Empires Online

Age of Empires is back with a vengeance in a new online mode that stays true to its classic unchanged gameplay in spite of including many new features and requiring permanent Internet connection to play. All this comes with a facelift in their look and humor, breaking with the standard pattern of the series.

Again, this is a title that may divide. Ideally, this exclusively online playable episode in a series of the most popular RTS of all time is free. Basically, you can totally go through the game, reaching the maximum level (40 currently), participate in PvP games, complete quests, all without paying anything. The small difference with most other MMO based strategy is that with Age of Empires Online, the term macro rather than micro transactions.

In Age of Empires Online time we leap backwards, back to the era of ancient Egypt and classical Greece. Unlike other deliveries, we will not continue a campaign centered on a historical figure and we will engage them in real battles that occurred throughout history. However, this time, when we will choose a civilization in the capital of our empire, which will be as our main base of operations. This title drinks a lot of massively multiplayer role playing online, which jumps to the eye since good start. As if our rule were a character in these games will start at level one and we go on missions we go ordering to gain experience points and power up.

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Each level you go up will give us points that we invest in our main building in a tech tree that comes to represent the equivalent of the talent trees and abilities in other games. Here you can choose what kind of improvements we want and what kind types of units, buildings or vehicles we build. This is something we must bear in mind our strategy to streamline and customize it to our type of game. The points which we invest to recover payment of a few gold coins in order to redistribute them again.

Also consumable items are new in this episode that helps us to equip our skill bar and function similarly to the divine powers of Age of Mythology. We will get benefits such as invoking several special units for a limited time to fight with us or to weaken the rival units. Age of Empires Online is a game to be discovered slowly leaving. During the first few hours we will be teaching the controls, various types of units, the different objectives that have to be met, and so on., So that the uninitiated in the genre will not have any kind of trouble learning to play.

Villagers with an exclamation point that we see in our city or anywhere else we visit us will be responsible for the missions, as a rule you follow a weak story line for a little context and probably we ignore at their lack of interest real. Run in addition to experience points reward us by giving us pieces of equipment to improve our units and buildings, materials to build new things with the professions in which we specialize we wanted (we can only choose two), or new types of units and technologies .

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It is in these missions’ lies the real big gameplay that has made this saga, as each of them are like the screens of the campaigns of previous installments. We will be gathering resources and making improvements to create buildings and units to meet the objectives entrusted to us, which may vary from base to destroy a rival, to withstand a siege for a certain time or collect a certain amount of resources. They tend to be varied enough to not get bored and do not fall into monotony. The more we go along we go forward of age, allowing us to create more. For example, once we achieve the second age we can create farms will supply an endless supply of food, so we do not have to go hunting or looking for berries.

In addition, maps can find hidden treasures missions with various pieces of equipment and rewards that are often guarded by hostile enemies to which we must overcome to get them. This is achieved encouraged to explore every corner of the stage depth to find them all. The gameplay shines, keeping intact the essence to the point that anyone who has played one of the first games of the series know to get to the controls quickly, but at the same time leaves the impression of playing something new, thanks to new developments and all the customization options.

As for the multiplayer there are two aspects, player vs. player and cooperative. Some missions let us find a partner to perform co-op, which tends to make things easier and make them much more fun. Some also let us activate the elite level of difficulty, much harder but more rewarding if you get complete. On the other side of the coin, those who prefer to engage in warfare against other players will have to go to Sparta (city to be unlock your access by a specific mission). There, you can aim at fighting one on one or two against two, where the goal is clear: destroy the opponent.

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Although the road up to the maximum level (40) is very long and will take many hours of play, the title is currently very little content. In a saga that has us accustomed to handling a variety of different civilizations, makes you feel strange that there are only two output civilizations, Greeks and Egyptians. Currently there are two more announced, Persian and Celtic, and hopefully that will gradually increase their number, but that does not detract from the fact that its release is rather small.

As per the competitive multiplayer, its not quite superfluous, since there are few maps and we have only one type of gameplay with the only option to play in teams of two or individually. One thing to be clear is that while Age of Empires Online is free, we will be very limited if not buy a superior civilization or premium, as although we get epic gear cannot equip us, we cannot participate in games scored, we did some of the most powerful units of each army, and so on. Which will always start with a lot of downside in the long run. Hence , if you want to play with a minimum of possibilities, probably end up playing checkout sooner or later.

Probably the most shock and draw attention to this issue is its graphic part. The sobriety and realism of its predecessors has gone for an aesthetic of cartoons, with characters too caricatured both in design and animation. Without being a graphic marvel, the truth is that it is pleasing to the eye, since everything is very colorful and cheerful, but adds some humorous nuances that make it enjoyable dive. For example, when we see a villager carrying meat, we see that a steak will bring it up bigger than yours while dragging as you can to bring it to the nearest store. Or when a soldier dies, we'll leave flowers and a plaque at the site where he fell in battle.

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But this also ensures that the requirements for your PC can run it safely is quite low, so the majority can enjoy it without needing a computer upgrade. For sound, we could say something like, ring light, pleasant and cheerful, which marry perfectly with the atmosphere, but will go unnoticed and something we will forget them quickly when we stop playing.

Conclusions :

Age of Empires Online is a greatly suggested option for all strategy Games fans in general and off course fans of this series as well. Robot Entertainment and Gas Powered Games have survived the hard work they had to update the series to the times and have done a more than worthy. Perhaps many would have preferred a complete set of payment with you and armies come included, instead of having to buy them separately, but that goes for each value it. In this respect also did not do any good to be released with only two civilizations are available with so few options for competitive play, but will have to see how it evolves as they include more content. But indeed there is no doubt if I say that it is a lot of fun, friendly, engaging, and without leaving their roots get be fresh and new.