This game is a sequel to the ever popular "Age of Empires" or AOE as referred to by the players of the game. "Age of Kings" is very similar to AOE but has new features and new civilizations to conquer.

This new game has vast improvements from it's predecessor, like the ability to save multiplayer games. If you've ever been playing a game on the internet and had the other persons computer(s) disconnect on the verge of victory (after playing more than an hour), then you know what a valuable feature this is.

You can play either single player or multiplayer over a network or internet connection. And one of the new features is a Regicide game, which means you kill the other teams King to win. You can set the parameters of the game for speed of play, size of map, ease of difficulty, and players starting settings. You can lock teams so no one can switch sides on you (personally, I like it when they do that, it makes the game more challenging). You can also allow cheat codes although most people don't use this feature, and for good reasons, cheating is no fun.

There is a feature, like in the old game, that you can use to create your own scenarios and maps to play with others. And you can set up entire quests by combining scenarios together to make a full campaign.

Basic play is by point and click, and click and drag. It's very easy to learn how to play and there are tutorial campaigns to guide you through the learning process. You can set up gathering points for your military and villagers so that when they are created the automatically go to a designated area on the map.

Another new feature is garrisoning. You can garrison a certain amount of villagers or military in certain buildings and they can attack from within the building to defend it.

You gain power and learn new technologies as you progress and incorporate them into your military and building capabilities. Each new type of building opens up new technologies and so forth. You also advance by the Age you are in. You want to be the first to reach the Castle age so you can develop your most important military units ahead of the other players. There are 3 Age advancements in all (4 different Ages including the starting Age).

There are several types of military you can create. Ranging from foot soldiers to trebuchets, which are similar to catapults except they must be unpacked to attack and packed to move. There are several naval units as well. As stated before, the more technology you gain the more new types of units you acquire.

Multiplayer is the greatest feature of the game. You can play with up to 8 other people either on a network with TCP/IP or IPX-SPX compatible protocol or through the internet with TCP/IP. On a local area network the multiplayer games function real well, but across the internet you get a lot of lag and quite often one or more players get disconnected. This is what makes the new ability to save multiplayer games so nice.

I love this game and suggest it for anyone who likes real time strategy games, point and click games, or anyone who wants to have a little bit of fun with history.