This game is the best RTS game I've seen since Starcraft. When Starcraft came out it was all owwwww, ahhhh but after 2 and a half years of Starcraft I got REALLY board. The Big Game Hunters map has totally dominated b.net and it's terrible. So I seeked a new RTS game. At first I turned to Tiberian Sun. BIG MISTAKE! This game was great except one horrible, tiny detail. THE GAMEPLAY IS SOOOOO SLOW!!! After that I knew the game for me, AOE2. It sure is! This game has a ton of different aspects and options. It combines the gameplay of starcraft with the vast units and strategy of Tiberian Sun. This game is easy to learn, yet takes a very long time to master. With so many different races and options, you never know what you should do. The campains are great and are really awesome. The map editor is nothing new, but it gets the job done. It seems Microsoft really did try to copy Blizzard too though. With MSN gaming zone and the battle.net, they are both more or less the same. I do perfer b.net though because of it's shell. Overall this game is fun, takes a long time to master, will always provide a challenge, and has plenty of strategy involved. The new formations and ideas are great too. You can change your units formations, find workers that arn't working (kill him or ker, kill him or her, lol), and change the mini map to fit your current position.