Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings takes everything that worked in the first game and refines it into one of the greatest real-time strategy games ever made. This time you lead a civilization through a thousand years of the Middle Ages, from the Dark Age to the Imperial Age, with castles, knights, monks and trebuchets. Decades after its release, it’s still played competitively, which says a lot about how well it was designed.

Gameplay

The familiar loop is back: gather food, wood, gold and stone, build up your economy, advance through the ages and raise an army. But almost every part of the formula has been deepened:

• Thirteen distinct civilizations: Britons, Franks, Mongols, Japanese, Byzantines and others each have their own bonuses, technology trees and a unique unit, such as the Longbowman, Mangudai or Samurai.
• Four ages: The Dark, Feudal, Castle and Imperial Ages each unlock new units, buildings and upgrades, and timing your advances is central to the strategy.
• Castles and sieges: Castles train unique units and anchor your defences, while rams, mangonels and trebuchets are needed to break enemy walls.
• Monks and relics: Monks can heal and convert enemy units and collect relics that generate gold, adding a clever alternative strategy.
• Quality-of-life improvements: Production queues, formations, an idle villager button and smarter unit behaviour make the game far easier to control than its predecessor.
• Many ways to play: Historical campaigns, random maps, Regicide, King of the Hill, Wonder races, a scenario editor and multiplayer for up to eight players.

The campaigns follow figures such as William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Khan and Frederick Barbarossa, mixing history with varied mission objectives. Combined with the depth of the civilizations and an excellent soundtrack, it offers almost endless replay value.

Verdict

Age of Empires II is a masterpiece of the RTS genre. It improves on the original in every way, with more distinct civilizations, deeper strategy and far better controls, while keeping the same addictive rhythm of building and conquering. Its balance and replay value are so strong that it remains one of the most played classic strategy games today.