Age of Empires III Definitive Edition - Review
The New World beckons. Blood, Ice and Steel. Fire and Shadow. The End of a Dynasty. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was The New World founded.
Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition reminds you of the power of the series right from the moment you hit play. The opening cinematic prepares you for the world you are able to enter, The New World. Something that stands out as positive, was the message from the developers when you start the game. A message admitting to shortcomings in the original release in terms of accuracy, an apology for it, as well as an acknowledgement of their rectification of these issues in sitting down with Native Peoples and thanking them for their patience in helping with the game. New voice actors, changes in appearance to be more accurate and less stereotypical. Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition makes the changes that are required.
A small touch is HUD options given to you early on. There are three types on offer. The Default, Definitive and Classic. Classic and Default are very similar and allow for people more familiar with previous AoE games to have a HUD layout that seems more familiar. The Definitive Layout is probably the most visually accessible option, with the most important information very obvious in your face, whilst areas you probably don’t need to see constantly are kept neatly out of immediate view. A small touch, but one that you can easily experiment with, and find the specific layout that works best for you. A handy little addition.
Visually the game is impressive. There is a clear visual upgrade from the original to this version. Character models are smoother, particularly in the main hero characters where there is enough facial detail now that you can actually see their face, rather than a blurred mess that RTS games tend to take liberty with. Each unit is easily distinguishable from others and appear to have a bit of love put in them. The game also runs incredibly well despite these visual improvements. Whilst I probably didn’t push it to the limits hard enough, there was easily sections with 60+ units on screen, as well as flame effects, buildings on fire, arrows flying across the screen, and it didn’t break down once. The game runs very, very well.
The series that is generally well known for its multiplayer ability offers a tremendous amount of solo play to warrant anyone picking the game up. 3 campaigns are instantly available for you. Depending on your skill level you can easily expect close to 15 hours of gameplay alone from just these three campaigns. This is somewhat padded out with the typical timed defence missions, but they are very few and far between.
What really took my notice early is the sound. This has a very, very impressive sound design. You can distinguish the different sounds of the units in a cluster of noise. The explosions of mortars, the clash of swords, the fire and reloading of crossbows. Each sound rings true individually lending itself to the chaotic nature of what is happening. The music builds and crescendos, keeping you tense and really pulling you in for an immersive experience.
However, I also have a gripe with two points in regards to the sound. One point being a lack of sound at the end of missions, the other people the amount of chatter. Whilst moving your units around the map, the characters like to say something. I don’t mind that, it’s a good audio indicator that the game is responding to the clicking. The problem is that there is about 2 different voice lines for each Empire’s units. 6 hours in and I was very over it. Whilst it may not seem like much, this constant repeating of the same lines becomes jarring in larger scale fights. I want to hear the battle. I want to hear the music. I do not want to hear someone speak over the top of every other sound every time I click something. This isn’t a huge thing, but the game could benefit from a timer on these voice lines. Maybe once every 10 seconds or so.
And then once everything is done. Once you’ve completed your main objective, the game goes silent. You get your victory message, in complete silence. No special end of mission screen, and no sound. Everything just stops. It doesn’t need much but allowing the music to continue at this point would ideally be a better option than complete silence until your next input. These are not game-breaking issues. They also shouldn’t alter whether you pick this game up or not. But they are something to be aware of. However what needs to really be acknowledged is the new voice work. It is fantastic. The characters sound authentic. They sound real. Particularly with the Aztec and Native Americans. As noted earlier the developers talked about the liberties they took with the original version and boy have they fixed that.
And that’s the selling point. The Definitive edition isn’t a brand-new game. Or a ground up remake. It’s a polished overhaul of the original. Visually it’s far more impressive than it’s original. There is some gameplay tweaks that make the game a little more accessible too, for people who aren’t particularly good with RTS games (that would be me.) If you never picked up the original, then I would definitely recommend giving this version a shot. The visual, sound and gameplay aspects of the two are night and day, and it makes for a tremendously entertaining experience. If you had the original, would I recommend picking up this version? One hundred and ten percent. This is a souped-up version. It plays smoothly, loads quick, looks and sounds impressive and has just enough tweaks to make some sections feel brand new through dialogue and model changes alone.
But wait, there is something new here, the Art of War Challenges and the Historical Battles, as well as 2 new civilizations to play as. The Incas and the Swedes. The Art of War Challenges have you watch a cinematic explaining the basics of the game, and the challenge being set. These could almost be seen as tutorials for the game, whilst the timed aspect for medals you can acquire from them, gives you a challenge to try and improve. If it’s your first time playing an RTS, or it’s been a while, I’d heavily recommend giving this game mode a shot first. My only critique here, is that there doesn’t appear to be a competitive leader board available. Speed running communities will likely have their own leaderboards for this, but if it was implemented within the game, it would likely encourage a wider competitive space.
The other new game is the Historical Battles. These are challenging battles, with 3 difficulty options based on real historical battles. The first available is the 1516 liberation of Algiers by Oruc Reis and his three brothers from Spanish Occupation. These are tough but enjoyable, and really add extra play to the game. If you’re looking to challenge yourself beyond the Art of War challenges, then definitely give these Historical Battles a shot. You may even learn about a conflict you hadn’t heard of before.
The multiplayer feature looks promising as well. The games are searchable by specific region which is a big plus, and there is dedicated servers for most of the world, including Australia SE Asia, Brazil, East and West Coast US and West India , which for people who play these games for the multiplayer aspect allows people to be getting to play on servers with low ping. There are areas that I believe could have been addressed. The lack of sound at the end of missions, and the over-chatter when moving units around, as mentioned previously, as well as a lack of competitive leaderboards in the Art of War game mode. These gripes, however, are nothing that should really deter you from giving this game a go.
All in all, Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition is the only version of this game to pick up. It has options to cater to both RTS veterans and newbies alike. Visually impressive, this dark horse of the series has been given the platform and the direction in needed and is easily worth picking up. Whilst not ground-breaking Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition truly holds up.
The Score
7.5
Review code provided by Xbox
The Pros
+Heavily improved visuals and sound that all run smoothly
+Gameplay accessibility tweaks, as well as new civilizations and Game Modes
+Altered for authenticity Native People’s and Voice Actors
The Cons
-Lack of End of Mission screen/sound
-Too much character chatter; causing a disjointed feeling in the middle of large fights
-Art of War mode lacks competitive leaderboards
