AOE III - The White Man Cometh

Age of Empires III, the third entry into the Age of Empires game series (duh!) dropped a little gift for us on the internet, today. Or at least I became aware of it today. A demo has surfaced on the official site and I for one an very, very anxious to go home and give it a try. Where AOE focused on the empires of antiquity and AOE II focused on the medieval period, AOE III apparently focuses on the periods of colonial and imperial expansion - from Henry the Navigator through the Industrial Revolution.

I was a big fan of AOE, years and years ago when it dominated the field of historical real time strategy. I would watch my friend Chris as he sent dozens upon dozens of his War Gallies against the enemy's coastline, pummelling them into submission. While terribly fun, AOE II made this strategy far less plausible by adding little exploding ships that would sink a tightly clustered fleet to the bottom of the briney deep. Anyhow, AOE III is rendered in full 3-D and looks set you know your socks on your ass.



This screenshot doesn't tell you anything about the game. Yet, I found it to give me a tremendous sense of peace...