I really enjoy playing real-time strategy games with my friends because you don't have to wait to take turns and the game play is more accurate. Some of the games I have played include Command & Conquer, Warcraft II, Total Annihilation, and Starcraft. To be honest, I didn't see much difference in the game play in Age of Empires II that I haven't already seen in the other games.

Sure, the AI players appear to be more intelligent, and tend to focus their attacks on key strategic defenses, etc. But the game play of the AI's is as predictable as in all the other real-time strategy games. It is very frustrating to watch columns of enemy troops march through an ally's city without the ally attacking them. And I have yet to have an AI ally come to my aid. More often than not, the ally AI keeps sending the message 'Everyone attack now' over and over again, but I can't figure out where they are attacking. And watching enemy ships clog the shore so that they can fire futile shots at your units makes me wince.

People will probably argue that the number of different civilizations and units to choose from is what makes this game unique from its peers. I, on the other hand, think it is more like playing a game that is a combination of any real-time strategy game and Civilization. Just because there is a lot of selection in what civilizations you can play doesn't make this game the best of all real-time strategy games. Additionally, even though I will admit that the enhanced graphics are nice, I believe that Total Annihilation did a much better job.

Therefore, I have to give this game an average rating. The amount of choices for the players makes the game interesting, but I don't feel that Age of Empires II presents anything new to the serious real-time strategy player.