Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

One of the titles that made history in the gaming industry is Age of Empires. Its sequel, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (AOE2) has received an HD remake, due to popular demand. Because an official expansion is looming on the horizon, even if the game is almost 16 years old, this would be a good moment to look back at the base game, especially for people who are not familiar with the game.

Unfortunately, a demo is not available for the HD re-release, but you can still find one for the original game, if you don't mind the low resolution. AOE2 works on modern systems without any problems and it can be installed quickly. The system requirements are modest, so even the HD version can be played without sacrificing too many resources.

For those who don't know, AOE2 is a real-time strategy game (RTS). You play it by moving units on a map, building structures and so on. Like other games from this genre, AOE2 it is focused on combat and conquest. Since the first title in this series, the key gameplay mechanic is advancing through the ages. You start with a small outpost in the dark ages, you explore to expand your borders, gather resources, conduct trade to boost your economy and evolve your settlement into a mighty empire. Everything is very well drawn and animated and even in the original non-HD version, the graphics are quite good.

AOE2 employs the same basic mechanic as many other RTS games. As previously suggested, you start from humble beginnings, with a town center and a few workers, which can be used to gather resources and build new structures. The gathered resources can be used to pay for new buildings, for research and for training units. There are four types of resources. Wood can be gathered by making the workers chop down trees, stone and gold can be gathered by sending them to mine. Finally, workers can gather food by foraging, hunting, fishing or farming.

There is a wide variety of units and structures to be created in AOE2. Buildings range from simple houses to large castles and you can train all sorts of troops, including swordsmen, archers, spearmen, knights and various artillery pieces, from mangonels to trebuchets. Also, you can choose from many civilizations when playing a single scenario or in multiplayer. Furthermore, it is possible to select an option to restrict players to units that are specific to their selected civilizations, which can make things very interesting.

Besides playing single games on a randomly generated map, alone or with another player, you can also play a series of historical campaigns, in which you will follow the story great leaders, such as William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, Frederick Barbarossa and others.