Posted 13 August 2006 - 08:25 AM
I have played all the games in the Age of Empires series quite a bit (though admittedly I still suck, and perhaps didn't do too much in the original). I really love them, mainly because there is a strong economic aspect with a range of resources, as opposed to say Command and Conquer. Also the ability to amass a gigantic army if you didn't play a rush game, which I found was the restrictive element in Warcraft that I didn't like. A 90 or 100 population cap just doesn't cut it for me, with micromanagement being key. I'm much more of a macromanagement person.
In my opinion Age 2 is still the high point of the series. The graphics were crisp and had detail, though 2D; the gameplay was fairly fast, and the online presence was just great. Deathmatch, Custom Scenarios, Random Map, all were popular. With the newer games it just seems to be RM non-stop.
Age of Mythology was fun, but felt a bit slow and I didn't particularly like the fixed Town Centre aspect. Age of Empires 3 is quite good too, but once again doesn't quite capture my attention as Age of Kings did. I can't say I find the improvements all that significant - basically it's a new age Age of Empires with Home Cities and shipments, and many people say that shipments aren't necessarily a good thing for the game.