Age of Empires III
Domain Name Com's - : Age of Empires III
List Price: $29.99Our Price: $27.99 You Save: $2.00 ( 7%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years
Amazon Minimum Age: 144 months
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Microsoft
EAN: 0882224043281
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
Label: Microsoft
Manufacturer: Microsoft
Model: G10-00025
Platform: Windows XP
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: October 18, 2005
Sales Rank: 322
Studio: Microsoft
Features:- Start out playing as the British and begin with a solid economy, or lead the French into an easy alliance with Native Americans - 8 total civilizations to choose from
- Work with Native Americans to your tactical advantage, for the first time ever
- Develop your own Home City, and customize it make it wealthier and more powerful as you take over Europe
- Explore the New World and create colonies while seeking out new resources and making alliances with the Native Americans
- Recover buried treasure from the Caribbean, hunt bison on the Great Plains, compete for trade routes and fortify the coast of New England
Accessories:
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
It's the dawn of a new age in real-time strategy (RTS) games. A brave New World is rising--a hostile yet beautiful world, filled with innovative gameplay, new strategic scenarios, eye-searing graphics and much more. Welcome to a world called Age of Empires III.
Campaign
In this action adventure tale of historical fiction, players take on the role of Morgan Black and his family, struggling against the hostile wilderness and a mysterious cult that's crept in from Europe.
In a series of 24 scenarios divided into three acts, Morgan Black and his descendants help the Aztecs resist conquest by Spanish conquistadors, pit the French against the British in the French and Indian War and help Simon Bolivar lead revolutions in South America.
Multiplayer
Whether you're searching for a quick game or hoping to talk strategy with friends online, Age of Empires III's Multiplayer site is your community destination.
Here, you can play with persistent Home Cities that gain power and strategic options the more games you play, compete for a spot on dozens of ladders, help organize your clan or chat after a game -- all without leaving the multiplayer portal.
Fans of Age of Mythology's Quick Search can still look for games swiftly, while players looking for something specific can browse game lists to find the set of options that matches their tastes.
New Feature--Home Cities
 This revolutionary new feature to the RTS landscape is incorporated into all aspects of Age of Empires III -- from Campaign to Multiplayer -- and is unlike anything you've experienced before.
Much like the persistent character from a role-playing game that encourages you to keep playing, your Home City is an important support system to your efforts in the New World. During a game, your Home City can regularly send you supplies or military reinforcements.
You are the leader of your colony, but your success brings glory back to Mother Europe. The more games you play, and the better you do, the more powerful your Home City will become. Every few games, you gain the ability to both upgrade and customize your Home City:
- Upgrade your city by unlocking new types of soldiers or buildings, or improving those you already have.
- Broaden your tech tree in whatever direction most fits your play style--invest in warships, native alliances, cavalry, artillery or economy.
- Customize your Home City by changing the appearance of buildings, the weather or even the types of people who walk, work and perform in its streets.
- Throughout a game, as well as in between games, you can visit your Home City to watch its citizens go about their lives, get an opinion on how you're doing, plot your next move or just marvel at the beautiful sunset.
Full 3-D Graphics, Destructible Environments and More
 We first set out to reproduce the rich detail of Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. As we strove to make the fascinating Age of Empires III time period come alive, that goal quickly evolved: We at Ensemble Studios wanted to create the best-looking game ever. From the stunning water effects to the hundreds of units battling on-screen, you'll feel like you're a part of the action in the New World.
- Tone mapping--This photo imaging technique balances the colors in a scene on the fly. The end result is a rich, warm game where bright colors are vibrantly rendered alongside darker counterparts, such as shadows.
- Lighting and shadows--The sun is always shining in Age of Empires, so it's important that lighting and shadows be an awe-inspiring experience. Units and buildings cast shadows according to a real sun position, and even cast shadows on each other. High Dynamic Range rendering allows us to represent the shiny glints of sunlight that bounce off highly reflective surfaces.
- Bump and specular mapping--Water glistens like water. Metal shines like metal. These advanced techniques serve to provide an extra level of rendering detail heretofore unseen in real-time strategy (RTS) gaming.
- Water--We felt that portraying stunning, realistic water effects in the game was so important that we devoted a programmer to it full-time. You'll find the water rich with details like foam near the shore, accurately modeled water motion, flotsam in rivers and realistic water colors. Plus, reflections change with the viewing angle, the angle of sunlight and the motion of the water. The overall effect is breathtaking.
- Cliffs and Riverbeds--Instead of just stretching terrain, we built a system to attach geometry to the terrain map to allow for realistic overhangs and steep cliffs, from areas like the American Southwest. This effect is supported on random maps too.
Civilizations
British
Quick access to Settlers gives the British one of the strongest economies in the game. The ability to upgrade two key units -- the Musketeer and Hussar -- make the British military formidable in the late game. The British Home City emphasizes improvements to technology and naval warfare. | Dutch
Although Dutch Settlers are limited and costly, their civilization makes up for this economic disadvantage by building Banks and generating coin automatically. The Dutch Home City emphasizes upgrades to defense and economy. | French
Although the French economy starts slowly, the Coureur unit, a Villager with strong fighting skills, makes the French difficult to attack early. The French also have the strongest cavalry unit in the game -- the Cuirassier. Plus, the French are experts at allying with the Native Americans. | German
The Germans have fewer Settlers and therefore a slower economy. Fortunately, both the Settler Wagon and Uhlan cavalry spawn for free from the German Town Center. Plus, the Germans start with the ability to send Mercenaries from their Home City (long before other civilizations can). | Native American
European civilizations can learn new technologies and gain troops by forging alliances with the Native Americans. A British player who allies with the Iroquois is essentially playing as two civilizations: the British and the Iroquois. | Ottoman
For the Ottomans, Settlers spawn automatically from the Town Center. Building a Mosque and conducting research help keep that Settler production steady. Befitting their position straddling Europe and Asia, the Ottomans have more unique units than any other civilization. | Portuguese
Starting the game with two Town Centers, the Portuguese can quickly produce Settlers, control territory or support their allies. The Spyglass ability allows the Portuguese to easily spy on the enemy. The Portuguese also have a strong navy, strong light infantry and the best Dragoons in the game. | Russian
Starting the game with extra resources but fewer Settlers gives the Russians the flexibility of focusing on economy or an early raid. Russian infantry, individually weak, are trained in blocks at a faster rate, providing the Russians with the opportunity to overwhelm their enemy with greater numbers. | Spanish
The Spanish have a strong military, with both hand infantry and cavalry. Flexibility in early shipments from the Home City give the Spanish the option to attack early or set up for a strong, late economy. Spanish Home City improvements benefit soldiers, buildings and naval units. | |
Combat
Age of Empires III gives players an amazing amount of control over their side of the battlefield. 
- More to command -- Not only are you in command of large and diverse armies of infantry, cavalry and artillery, but also Native American warriors, mercenaries and tall ships.
- Multiple formations -- You can assign different formations to your army for different strengths and weaknesses, or have the game automatically choose the most appropriate formation. Examples include:
- Volley -- ranged infantry, like musketeers, take turns firing at enemies ahead of them.
- Charge -- your soldiers walk, then run into combat. Cavalry wield sabers, and musketeers fix bayonets. This formation does tremendous damage but makes your soldiers more prone to injury.
- Bombard -- your soldiers protect the cannons, while the cannons shell enemy ranks. Available only when you have artillery in your army.
- Battles are easier to follow -- You can still command individual units. But when the units fight in formation, you'll be able to tell exactly who is winning the fight.
- Real-time physics -- Infantry struck by cannon fire will be thrown like rag dolls, perhaps even over a cliff and into the water. Cannonballs bounce and ricochet.
- Detailed destructions -- Shingles, shutters and whole towers may fly off a building and interact with the terrain, such as crashing into nearby water. This next generation effect is done on the fly so that each building always has a unique destruction, no matter how many times you see it.
- Unique animations -- With hundreds of unique combat animations, you'll never see the same battle twice.
Product Description:
Age Of Empires 3 is the sequel to the critically-acclaimed strategy game. It introduces all-new gameplay elements, new civilizations to discover, random maps to conquer and a single-player campaign unlike any other. A.I. opponents are now well-developed characters with deep strategies, motivations, and personalities-and more than 4,000 audio taunts at their disposal New lighting and shadow effects, in a game world designed to have real physics and depth -- you'll almost feel like you're there The first 3D iteration of the series uses bump- and tone-mapping to render realistic water and shadows Havok engine's cause-and-effect physics bring battles to lurid life
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Personally I was heavily bored and disillusioned by Age of Mythology. It had very little replay value for me, especially when human infantry are basically useless against Myth units.
Age of Empires III, rather than acting as a sequel to Age of Empires II, acts as a sequel to Age of Mythology. The engine is pretty much exactly the same. Perhaps thinking the ancients too stupid to build big buildings, all the buildings here are maybe 3 or 4 times the size of buildings in Age of Mythology, ... Read More
Rating:  -
This game is great to show the economics, military strategy, resources and etc of civilization, plus its a LOT of fun. My son and I like to play chess, and this is very similar with lots of interaction and online LAN excitement .............. its really addictive, ...you can win !! its great
Rating: -
Age of Empires III deals with the European powers colonizing and fighting over the New World (North America, South America, and the Caribbean). Like past AoE games, this newest installment is relatively historically accurate. You can play as eight different nations, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I think this is a wonderful game. Being an avid AoE fan, I looked forward to buying it the moment it was announced. But before I bought it, I wondered if it would be worth while, whether ... Read More
Rating:  -
I am not a gamer in general but Age of Empires is an exception to the rule! I have played all previous versions. This addition is way better in graphic. However it needs a very advanced computer to be able to play without problems. You will need a good video card. Following scenario in AOE III I noticed virtual play area is relatively smaller than previous versions. I think if you liked other versions of AOE you will enjoy this one as well.
Rating: -
I've read a lot of reviews complaining about bugs and crashes. I haven't seen any of them, so if you're concerned about a buggy version, don't worry.
The game itself is similar to most RTS games, but instead of, say, upgrading all rifles, you upgrade individual units to a higher rank. For instance, musketeers can eventually be upgraded to redcoats, with higher damage, armor, etc... As with Age of Empires 2, not each race has access to every unit type, and each have unique units (some more than ... Read More
Browse for similar items by category:
|
