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Age of Empires III is definitely a golden-oldie now, and thankfully, due to platforms like Steam, is still playable on current PC systems. Gather resources, build your base, build your armies and wipe out the enemies. A formula that has worked time and time again for the Warcraft series, Command & Conquer, and is still repeated in strategy games today, but there is something about the classic era of RTS games that makes them stand out against their modern counterparts, which is kind of fitting for a game series that is based across the ages.
War Chiefs is a fairly basic expansion to Age of Empires III, adding in the story based on the American-Indians, or Native Americans, during the time of the colonisation of the Americas. Whilst a few units differ, this really does feel like more of a mission pack expansion more than anything else. The gameplay is practically the same, but you get to influence behaviours of your units by getting villagers to dance around the campfire, which, depending on what you select, can help you gather resources quicker, raise attack, and more. However, I found this feature rather insignificant in the single player campaign and instead just felt like I was playing through a side-story.
The Asian Dynasties, however, does feel like it adds a bit more to the game, featuring three new factions: The Japanese; The Chinese; And the Indians, each with their own short stories. The units differ and a new system of allying with other nations via an embassy that allows you to spend resources in trade for their units, adds a nice little touch to the game.
The main gameplay is again very similar to the original base game but the differing units allows for a bit of exploration of the expansion. What is disappointing, as mentioned, is that the campaigns are very short and the expansion's single player element is over very quickly.
I did, however, try to play online via the matchmaking mode, and again, as per my attempts on the base game, failed to find a willing player to try out the multiplayer aspects of the expansions. However, in giving this game credit where it's due, it is over a decade old and there are many current multiplayer games that will obviously take precedence of this.
All in all, with the expansions included in the AoEIII complete pack, which is often in deals or Steam Sales, there isn't a lot to complain about. This is a worthy game in any RTS fan's collection and I have enjoyed over 40 hours playing this.
Overall, I believe, for the single player experience alone, this game, including it's expansions, deserves a 7/10
War Chiefs is a fairly basic expansion to Age of Empires III, adding in the story based on the American-Indians, or Native Americans, during the time of the colonisation of the Americas. Whilst a few units differ, this really does feel like more of a mission pack expansion more than anything else. The gameplay is practically the same, but you get to influence behaviours of your units by getting villagers to dance around the campfire, which, depending on what you select, can help you gather resources quicker, raise attack, and more. However, I found this feature rather insignificant in the single player campaign and instead just felt like I was playing through a side-story.
The Asian Dynasties, however, does feel like it adds a bit more to the game, featuring three new factions: The Japanese; The Chinese; And the Indians, each with their own short stories. The units differ and a new system of allying with other nations via an embassy that allows you to spend resources in trade for their units, adds a nice little touch to the game.
The main gameplay is again very similar to the original base game but the differing units allows for a bit of exploration of the expansion. What is disappointing, as mentioned, is that the campaigns are very short and the expansion's single player element is over very quickly.
I did, however, try to play online via the matchmaking mode, and again, as per my attempts on the base game, failed to find a willing player to try out the multiplayer aspects of the expansions. However, in giving this game credit where it's due, it is over a decade old and there are many current multiplayer games that will obviously take precedence of this.
All in all, with the expansions included in the AoEIII complete pack, which is often in deals or Steam Sales, there isn't a lot to complain about. This is a worthy game in any RTS fan's collection and I have enjoyed over 40 hours playing this.
Overall, I believe, for the single player experience alone, this game, including it's expansions, deserves a 7/10
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Age of Empires III is definitely a golden-oldie now, and thankfully, due to platforms like Steam, is still playable on current PC systems. Gather resources, build your base, build your armies and wipe out the enemies. A formula that has worked time and time again for the Warcraft series, Command & Conquer, and is still repeated in strategy games today, but there is something about the classic era of RTS games that makes them stand out against their modern counterparts, which is kind of fitting for a game series that is based across the ages.
War Chiefs is a fairly basic expansion to Age of Empires III, adding in the story based on the American-Indians, or Native Americans, during the time of the colonisation of the Americas. Whilst a few units differ, this really does feel like more of a mission pack expansion more than anything else. The gameplay is practically the same, but you get to influence behaviours of your units by getting villagers to dance around the campfire, which, depending on what you select, can help you gather resources quicker, raise attack, and more. However, I found this feature rather insignificant in the single player campaign and instead just felt like I was playing through a side-story.
The Asian Dynasties, however, does feel like it adds a bit more to the game, featuring three new factions: The Japanese; The Chinese; And the Indians, each with their own short stories. The units differ and a new system of allying with other nations via an embassy that allows you to spend resources in trade for their units, adds a nice little touch to the game.
The main gameplay is again very similar to the original base game but the differing units allows for a bit of exploration of the expansion. What is disappointing, as mentioned, is that the campaigns are very short and the expansion's single player element is over very quickly.
I did, however, try to play online via the matchmaking mode, and again, as per my attempts on the base game, failed to find a willing player to try out the multiplayer aspects of the expansions. However, in giving this game credit where it's due, it is over a decade old and there are many current multiplayer games that will obviously take precedence of this.
All in all, with the expansions included in the AoEIII complete pack, which is often in deals or Steam Sales, there isn't a lot to complain about. This is a worthy game in any RTS fan's collection and I have enjoyed over 40 hours playing this.
Overall, I believe, for the single player experience alone, this game, including it's expansions, deserves a 7/10
War Chiefs is a fairly basic expansion to Age of Empires III, adding in the story based on the American-Indians, or Native Americans, during the time of the colonisation of the Americas. Whilst a few units differ, this really does feel like more of a mission pack expansion more than anything else. The gameplay is practically the same, but you get to influence behaviours of your units by getting villagers to dance around the campfire, which, depending on what you select, can help you gather resources quicker, raise attack, and more. However, I found this feature rather insignificant in the single player campaign and instead just felt like I was playing through a side-story.
The Asian Dynasties, however, does feel like it adds a bit more to the game, featuring three new factions: The Japanese; The Chinese; And the Indians, each with their own short stories. The units differ and a new system of allying with other nations via an embassy that allows you to spend resources in trade for their units, adds a nice little touch to the game.
The main gameplay is again very similar to the original base game but the differing units allows for a bit of exploration of the expansion. What is disappointing, as mentioned, is that the campaigns are very short and the expansion's single player element is over very quickly.
I did, however, try to play online via the matchmaking mode, and again, as per my attempts on the base game, failed to find a willing player to try out the multiplayer aspects of the expansions. However, in giving this game credit where it's due, it is over a decade old and there are many current multiplayer games that will obviously take precedence of this.
All in all, with the expansions included in the AoEIII complete pack, which is often in deals or Steam Sales, there isn't a lot to complain about. This is a worthy game in any RTS fan's collection and I have enjoyed over 40 hours playing this.
Overall, I believe, for the single player experience alone, this game, including it's expansions, deserves a 7/10