Age of Empires Series

The Age of Empires series consists of real-time strategy video games developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. There are currently nine games in the series, five expansion packs, two DS remakes, and two board game remakes.

Games
* Age of Empires
 * Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
 * Age of Mythology
 * Age of Empires III
 * Age of Empires Online

Expansion Packs

 * Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome


 * Age of Empires II: The Conquerors


 * Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs


 * Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties


 * Age of Mythology: The Titans

Nintendo DS Remakes

 * Age of Empires: The Age of Kings
 * Age of Empires: Mythologies

Boardgame Remakes

 * Age of Mythology: The Boardgame
 * Glenn Drover's Empires: The Age of Discovery

Common gameplay elements
The Age of Empires games belong to the real-time strategy genre, with the exception of the turn-based "Age of Empires: The Age of Kings and Age of Empires: Mythologies for the Nintendo DS. The series features two recurring modes of play: "random map," and "campaign." "Random map" is described by lead designer Greg Street as a "hallmark" of the series.[3] In this mode, the player selects a civilization and plays on a randomly created map, most of which are based, at least loosely, on a real-world geographic area.[3] A variation on random map is "deathmatch," where players begin with large amounts of resources and fight until only one side remains. A "campaign" is a series of interrelated missions with a specific storyline.[4] Earlier games in the series included several campaigns; however, Age of Mythology'' was an exception to this trend, with one campaign.[5] Games in the series also offered multiplayer game options, via LAN and modem connection. Age of Empires, The Age of Kings, and their expansions, also offered online play via the Microsoft Gaming Zone (the Zone), though this ended on June 19, 2006.[6] Age of Mythology, Age of Empires III, and their expansions, offered online gameplay via Ensemble Studios Online (ESO), a system similar to MSN's Zone.com and Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net.[7] [8] ''

The missions in a campaign generally follow a historical setting and focus, but do not strive for absolute historical accuracy.[9] For example, while Germany in the early modern period—when Age of Empires III was set—was largely Protestant, the design of the German church building is Catholic.[9] However, in The WarChiefs, the design team did take great care to ensure they portrayed Native Americans as accurately as possible, and relied on expert historians for assistance.[9] Age of Empires games use historical figures and units that are relatively well-known, but also include several "strange or exotic military unit[s]," to make the games more interesting.[10] This effort, however, was not extended to The Asian Dynasties.

Historical elements
The development phases of the Age of Empires games were similar in several ways. Due to the games being based on historical events, the team often had to do large amounts of research.[68] However, the research was not in depth; it "was not ... a good idea for most entertainment products" according to Age of Empires designer Bruce Shelley.[68] Shelley also said that Ensemble Studios took most of the reference material from children's sections at libraries. He pointed out the goal was for the players of the game to have fun, "not [its] designers or researchers."[68] At the Games Convention Developers Conference in 2007, Shelley continued with this thought and explained that the success of the series laid in "making a game which appealed to both the casual and hardcore gamer."[69] Shelley also remarked the Age of Empires games were not about history in itself, but rather "about the human experience;"[69] they focused not simply on what humans had done but on what they could do in the future such as "going into space."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GC07_68-2">[69] Ensemble Studios developed Age of Mythology in a different way than the previous two games. The team had worried they "couldn't get away" with a third historical-based game, and chose mythology as the setting after they had discussed several options.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CVGRoA_69-0">[70]

Artificial intelligence
The artificial intelligence (AI) used in the Age of Empires series has been developed and improved regularly by designers. AI specialist Dave Pottinger noted the development team gave the AI in the original game a very high priority, and spent over a year working on it. He said the AI in the game relies on tactics and strategies to win, instead of "cheating" by giving bonus resources to itself, or tweaking its units to be stronger than normal.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Dave_1-1">[2] Pottinger later noted that the Age of Empires series team took great pride in their AI playing a "fair game".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-70">[71]

Age of Empires allows players to choose to play either along specialized, story-backed conditions or as individual battles against the AI (and other players). Choosing to battle against the AI — rather than following the storyline — allows the AI to adapt to players' strategies. The AI eventually overcomes players' strategies and easily destroys their villages after several games. For instance, in Age of Empires III, this is referred to as playing a "Skirmish." However Empires III allows players to refine their strategies further against the AI by "Building a Deck," which allows players to replace "Home City" shipments with improved alternatives.

In Age of Empires II: The Conquerors the AI was given a high priority, the result being the "smart villager" feature, which was highly popular in subsequent games of the series. After building a structure that stores or produces resources, smart villagers would proceed to collect resources related to the structure, such as crops from farms or ore from stones.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-71">[72]

Age of Mythology: The Titans lets players use an AI debugger when creating custom scenarios; players can change the settings of computer players and make them act according to certain patterns.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-72">[73]

More basic changes to the AI had previously been available in the series' first two games.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-73">[74]

Graphics and visuals
The graphics and visuals of Age of Empires improved with each successive release. From the original release to the second, Age of Empires II: Age of Kings, noteworthy improvements gained praise from several critics.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpot_citation_74-0">[75] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Allgame_citation_75-0">[76] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GR_citation_76-0">[77] With the release of Age of Mythology the praise continued,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGN_citation_77-0">[78] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpot_citation_74-1">[75] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GR_continues_78-0">[79] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PC_Gamer_citation_79-0">[80] and the fourth release, Age of Empires III, garnered even more.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGN_review_80-0">[81] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1Up_review_81-0">[82] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpyreview_82-0">[83]

GameSpot praised the improved graphics<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpot_citation_74-2">[75] in the second release, Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. Eurogamer welcomed its introduction of female villagers<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Eurogamer_citation_83-0">[84] as compared with the original unisex version. Allgame praised the advanced grouping and path-finding systems in the second release.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Allgame_citation_75-1">[76] Despite the improved graphics, Allgame complained that units in Age of Empires II: Age of Kings were at times difficult to distinguish from one another,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Allgame_citation_75-2">[76] a point numerous reviewers agreed on.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpot_citation_74-3">[75] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-84">[85] Nevertheless, Game Revolution wrote that the second release was "the best looking of the 2D RTS games out there right now."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GR_citation_76-1">[77]

The graphics continued to improve in Age of Mythology and was praised by a majority of reviewers. IGN ranked the graphics in this third release, "a joy to watch ... awesome."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGN_citation_77-1">[78] GameSpot assented, also rating the graphics a 9 out of 10.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpot_citation_74-4">[75] Game Revolution agreed,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GR_continues_78-1">[79] and PC Gamer stated the that the graphics in the third release "are packed with detail."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PC_Gamer_citation_79-1">[80]

The trend in improved graphics continued well into the next release, Age of Empires III, much to the delight of reviewers. IGN stated, "After seeing the screenshots, our jaws hit the floor at the amount of detail."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGN_review_80-1">[81] 1UP.com described Age of Empires III as "one of the most beautiful games you will put on your computer for the foreseeable future."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1Up_review_81-1">[82] GameSpy agreed, stating, "Age III's graphics are unmatched in the strategy genre."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GameSpyreview_82-1">[83] Age of Empires III builds on and introduces new features to the prior release, Age of Mythology, such as the inclusion of the award-winning<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-85">[86] Havok physics simulation middleware<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-86">[87] game engine for the Windows version and PhysX for the Mac OS X. The innovative result is that pre-created animations are avoided; instead events are calculated according to the physics engine. Consequently views of events like building destruction and tree felling are not pre-recorded. GameSpot also admired the graphics in the fourth release but complained about "the awkward unit behavior."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-87">[88] Other graphical features of the game include bloom lighting and support for pixel shader 3.0.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-88">[89]

GameSpy awarded Age of Empires III the "Best Graphics" award at GameSpy's "Game of the Year 2005."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-89">[90]

Music
Stephen Rippy has been the series' music director since the first game. He has had occasional help from his brother, David Rippy, as well as Kevin McMullan.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-m4g_90-0">[91] He created the original music in Age of Empires with sounds of instruments from the periods in the game.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoEH_91-0">[92] These sounds came from actual instruments, and their digital samples.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoEH_91-1">[92] The tunes were the result of extensive research on the cultures, styles, and instruments used.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoEH_91-2">[92] Rippy said sound development on The Age of Kings was easy, since there was knowledge of the instruments used in the Middle Ages. Therefore, they were able to reproduce the tunes for the soundtrack of the game.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-92">[93] In Age of Mythology, an orchestral instrumentation was used, instead. According to McMullan, the team also collected large numbers of audio recordings from zoos, and created "a massive sound library of [their] own material."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-93">[94] The music of Age of Empires III was similar to The Age of Kings, in which the team used more historical instruments; Rippy noted the team used instruments such as "bagpipes and field drums" to give it a realistic feel.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-m4g_90-1">[91]

Collaboration
Ensemble Studios worked together with Big Huge Games to develop The Asian Dynasties, Age of Empires III's second expansion. This was the first joint venture for both teams. The reason for them doing so was compatible schedules: Ensemble Studios was busy with other projects while Big Huge Games' real-time strategy team had few projects at that time. Big Huge Games did most of the work, but Ensemble Studios designers Greg Street and Sandy Petersen joined in the brainstorming, and had control over the final product.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-94">[95] Both studios had roles in testing the game before its release.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-95">[96]

Reception and legacy
The Age of Empires series has been a commercial success. As of 2008, five of its games have each sold more than one million copies. According to Gamasutra, Age of Empires had sold more than three million copies, and The Rise of Rome sold one million copies as of 2000.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoESales_17-2">[18] Around the same time, Microsoft announced that they shipped over two million copies of The Age of Kings.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoKSales_24-1">[25] In 2003, Microsoft announced the sales of one million copies for Age of Mythology.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoMSales_58-1">[59] By 2004—prior to the release of Age of Empires III—the Age of Empires franchise had sold over 15 million copies.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-101">[102] On May 18, 2007, Ensemble Studios announced that two million copies of Age of Empires III had been sold.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoE3sales_36-1">[37] Games in the series have consistently scored highly on video game review aggregator websites Game Rankings and Metacritic, which collect data from numerous review websites. As noted in the table to the right, the highest rating game is Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, receiving a 92% score from both sites.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoKGR_22-2">[23] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AoKMC_23-2">[24]