I do think that these tweaks feel a bit underwhelming when you compare the remastered version of the previous Age of Empire games. “That doesn’t mean the game looks bad but it feels like these tweaks are less impactful.” A few tweaks here and there make up for a great remastered version of the game. It’s amazing to see that these little graphical tweets can make a game feel a lot fresher than before. The definitive edition is a lot more brighter and colorful, worthy of a High-Definition tag! The textures and animations seem to be tweaked as well, zooming into the fray and seeing your troops crushing the enemies (or even grass), you do feel like you’re in the middle of the warzone.
There are of course different tweaks to the main story but the thing that immediately stood out for me was the graphics.
The definitive edition of Age of Empires 3 did some things to remaster the classic version of the game. There’s a lot of truth in these 3 little words… So sometimes, I do feel like “Less is more”. Nowadays, games are sometimes too complex and too difficult to jump-in-and-play that it makes it harder for me, a working father with almost no time to spare, to enjoy a quick RTS-game. The fact that this simplistic straightforward main goal has been kept, this in combination with the familiar interface and soundtrack from a couple of years ago, well, I was one happy kid. If all these conditions are fulfilled, it’s all about conquering the enemy’s terrain and become victorious. In Age of Empires, it’s all about gathering resources, building defenses, and gather an army as quickly as you can. It’s the same year where AOE 2 left off with the discovery of the New World and opened up the borders for other cultures. The main story is all about the European Colonization of America between the 1500s and the year 1850. “The fact that this simplistic straightforward main goal has been kept, …, well I was one happy kid!” This was the same for me, Age of Empires 3 couldn’t keep my attention like the first 2 but seeing this game for the second time in its remastered version, only 15 years later from the original, I might have formed my judgment a bit too quickly. Even though the game tried to step out its boundaries and tried to be fresh and new, it kind of backfired and a lot of players were going back to Age of Empires 2. That was until the black sheep of the family came along: Age of Empires 3. A lot of games came along, trying to outlive the AOE franchise but nothing could be further away from the truth. AOE 1 and AOE 2 set the foundation for different games in the RTS genre. But now, with the definitive/ remastered edition of AOE3, I’m excited to dive back in and see if we were too quick to pass this game on…Īge of Empires, a franchise that can claim the title of the first true RTS experience of myself and many others. Unfortunately, AOE 3 wasn’t what we expected, and moved on to better things.
With the announcement that AOE 3 was in the works, we were hyped and already thinking about those sleepless nights in the future. The building, forming up armies, making tactical choices, … there was no other game that could give us that same amount of joy that Age of Empires gave. Age of Empires was an amazing franchise back in the day! Years after release, a buddy of mine and myself would play the first and second one over and over.