Yeah. So I know this has over three hundred reviews already, and I likely won't add anything Earth shattering to any of those, but sometimes you run across something that you just have to write about. Age Of Empires II is just such a game.

Apparently, we've had this game for quite some time, but I didn't realize what it was. DOH! When I loaded it on my machine and watched the intro (full load) I just wanted to kick myself for not having done so sooner. I blame Nick, the Male Head of Household. He knows how much I adore anything Medieval.. maybe that's why he didn't tell me sooner.. he also knew how engrossed I'd get. heh.

So. I never played the first Age of Empires. I can't compare and contrast the two. What I can do, however, is tell you that this is one of the best games ever. Empires is a strategy game... real time. You start with a parcel of land and try to get your economy to where you can afford to start training your army. You have to juggle food, gold, stones, and wood resources.. then build like hell because someone is bound to be setting up to attack you.

The learning curve was not that bad for me, having never played this or it's predecessor. It has a fantastic tutorial campaign where you are with William Wallace defending Scotland against those nasty ol' Brits. It walks you through everything. Sometimes it feels a little slow in the tutorial, but it's worth going through.

After that you can go through any number of pre-set campaigns and play Joan of Arc, Barbarossa, Genghis Khan, or Saladin. Each has it's own unique charm to it. Personally, I like the Random Map option of play the best. You get to pick who you want to be and who your opponent is, how many folks you want to play against (or if you want to play against the computer) and all that good stuff. The typical options of a real-time strategy game.

Or, you can choose to play in Death Match mode. This is much like the random map but you have mega-supplies and go straight to army building and attacking the other guy. I may start playing in that mode a bit more. Great for those days you just feel a bloodlust comin' on. heh.

One thing I've not tried is the Custom Map thingy. I'm just not good at that kind of thing at all. If I get brave enough to jump in there, I'll come update this.

This game takes you from the Dark Ages into the Feudal Ages to the glorious Castle Age and then the Imperial Age.

The graphics are fantastic. You can't get real up close and personal with your knights, but you don't need to. The detail in the buildings (castles!) is great and really sets the mood for a good old fashioned seige.

The AI is almost too good. I was getting a bit frustrated at first and kept starting over because I like to build, damn it! But noooo.. my opponent goes right for the gusto and builds the army first and starts kickin my sorry behind. I finally learned to attack first and the cool castles will come... heh.

Sound-wise, you just can't find any better. The swords clashing and horses galloping... just awesome. On most games I turn the sound down after a bit because I get bored with it, not so this game... I have my speakers turned up for this. I just love the sounds. The light background music is even nice, changing depending on what civilization you are playing.. Scottish, Indian, etc...

One of my beefs with a lot of games is their complicated keyboard controls. Again, not a problem here. You can use the keyboard if you like but you don't have too. Everything is perfectly controllable from the mouse using the control panel on your screen. Yay!

Re-playability is not even a concern. Geeze, I think I'll still be playing this when I'm 80!

This game is an absolute must buy. Everything about it is just tooo perfect. A word of caution though, it is highly addicting and the first time you pop it in don't be surprised to find 10 hours have passed. You'll have many days like this. heh.