If there's one thing I'm thankful of, it's that I graduated from college before this game came out! I doubt that would have even graduated if I was playing 4+ hours of AOK a day, on top of the 5 hours of Street Fighter. =P Anyhow, back then I had played Warcraft, Starcraft, and Command and Conquer, and I never grew fond of any of those games.

I don't know what it is... maybe I feel more connected to, or at least can relate more to the types of civilizations used in AOK. It was harder for me in Starcraft to understand, or even remember, what types of units countered other units, what units each military building created, or what technologies buildings had to offer. In AOK, everything is taken from history, so it all makes sense. Sure, maybe transforming your siege tanks into an intimidating plasma cannon is really, really cool, but it's just as fun to shower a bunch of poor enemy infantry with trebuchet (read catapult) fire. =)

Anyways, I enjoy playing this game very much, but only in multiplayer mode! On occasion, I don't have any friends to play with, so I engage in some battles with computer opponents. For me, it's either way too easy, or way too hard. Maybe I'm just not experienced enough to get the most out of the game, but for me, multiplayer is the way to go.

At work, the guys and I make it a point to play one game during lunch, *every* day. Because of this, one of the features I like is the Time Limit game. Basically, whoever has the most points at the end of the time limit, wins! After all, most people nowadays simply don't have the time to finish a game that can drag on for several hours (and they can in AOK, trust me). The Time Limit game gives one a sense of closure, which is very important to gamers. I always feel guilty picking up a game, playing it for a little while, and then putting away the game without completing it. But if I'm not working one weekend, I'll definitely play a good 5+ hour battle with friends or co-workers! =)

Now back to the game itself... I like the amount of balance between civilizations. Each civ has its own set of limitations, meaning that it can't build a particular military unit, or research a certain technology. For example, cavalry excel at destroying siege weapons such as catapults and battering rams, so you need to team said weapons with pikemen, who are excellent at killing cavalry troops. In addition, on the naval side of things, fire boats will wreak havoc on a fleet of galleons, so back the latter up with a bunch of demolition boats! So as you can see, some of the game's fun originates from figuring out which units work best against others, and what your opponents strategies are. Although it may seem tedious playing the same people each day, there's actually a side benefit -- you have to continually change your attack methods.

The whole game isn't just fighting, however! In a standard (random map) battle, you have to balance your economy as well! You have to use food resources to create villagers, but you need villagers to farm for food, chop wood, and mine for gold and stone! With these resources, you can build structures, create your military units, and research technologies that make your military more powerful, your villagers more efficient, and your defenses stronger. As you can see, without a flourishing economy, you can't have an intimidating offense/defense, and without an offense/defense, you won't be able to maintain the economy. It's a delicate balance, and that's what makes the game so fun!

Oh, and I almost forgot about advancing through the "ages": Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and Imperial Age. This is the most important part, people!!! Without advancing, you won't be able to research any of the technologies I've mentioned thus far. The bottom line? If you don't advance, you will lose, plain and simple!

If this all of this research doesn't appeal to you, and you just want to go out and kill people, that option is available, too! You can play the Deathmatch scenario, which starts you off with (literally) tons of resources. In addition, you can either start any game at any age, which makes all technologies available, or you can start at the "Post-Imperial" Age, which starts you will all technologies pre-researched!!!

Finally, let's talk about the sound, the graphics, and the controls. Each civilization's characters have a unique set of sampled voices, and they sound very good! Though I'm no expert on Japanese, everything that they say when responding to commands is accurate. War sounds, such as clanging iron and trebuchet fire sound extremely realistic. One additional, very useful feature is the use of sound effects to signal various occurring events. When a unit is under attack, you'll hear an alert. If a building is completed or a farm is exhausted, you'll hear its respective sound. It allows you to quickly and efficiently respond to all kinds of events.

The graphics? Well, they're nice and detailed, but very simple. Personally, I'd play the game even if it was like the 2D "graphics mode" games written on the Apple II+. There's just so much more to the game than graphics.

The Controls are also well done. If you're a novice, you will undoubtedly use the point and click method to build units and structures. But as you feel the need to become more competitive (against the computer and friends), you'll be compelled to use the hotkey method. Hotkeys allow you to build in a fraction of the time needed when pointing and clicking! In addition, you can group troops by number, and automatically switch the screen's center of view to groups by using hotkeys. It's a very efficient control model for these types of games, and make life so much easier!

So overall, this game is fantastic! At 39.99 from Buy.com, it's a steal, too! I guarantee that you'll love every minute playing Age of Empires II: Age of Kings.