But to be fair to Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, its single-player campaign is much more well-rounded compared to the previous entries. For context, I’ve put in hundreds of hours into Age of Empires II and its Definitive Edition, and I’ve never finished a single-player campaign. The single-player campaign is something that many people simply ignored in Age of Empires and Age of Empires II. And while the single-player mode has some interesting features, I don’t think it has enough to make the game truly stand out in 2020.
Rather, Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition‘s focus is very much on the single-player scenarios rather than faction and gameplay balance.
AGE OF EMPIRES III DEFINITIVE EDITION COMPARISON PC
It made sense at the time of release – single player games were more popular in 2005, so it may have helped draw new players in at a time where PC games were struggling to sell.Įven though some work has gone into improving the multiplayer in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition – there are new maps, integrated leaderboards and crossplay is available between the Steam and Microsoft Store versions of the game – it still suffers from not being the focus. Age of Empires III, on the other hand, focused instead on a heftier single-player campaign. With both games’ Definitive Edition releases, that core multiplayer gameplay shines, and their playerbases have evolved to reach a new generation. The problem with real-time strategy games is that they generally don’t work well on console for the most part, they are uniquely configured to require a mouse and keyboard.īoth Age of Empires I and especially II have a thriving multiplayer scene that has endured to this day thanks to their focus on the core mechanics. It was the early 2000s and, as the console market was booming, the PC gaming market was in a downturn. Reviewing Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, a game that was originally released in 2005, creates a dilemma do I review the game on its original merits, or do I review the remaster on its improvements? In truth, I need to do a little of both – and that means giving some context to Age of Empires III’s original release, and why it has always felt like the runt of the litter to me.Īge of Empires III suffered from being developed in a time when real-time strategy games were in a bit of a decline. Replaying Age of Empires III in 2020 feels rather strange.