28.2.2007

This is by far the best game I've played on the DS (and indeed on any handheld). Though I only have 4 games for the DS, they are all critically acclaimed titles, however this one has provided me with the most depth, longevity, and most importantly fun!For any lover of strategy games, the often flat and uninvolved nature of handheld games can be a disappointment, especially if one spends a lot of time using handhelds. Thankfully, Age of Empires: The Age of Kings successfully delivers an engaging (though not overwhelming), lasting experience. While it plays out differently from the PC version, of which I am a veteran fan, any players of previous AoE games should be able to make themselves at home with the units,buildings and scenarios. Nostalgia points are scored by the use of the same sound effects from the PC game (which were always excellent).To the uninitiated in the world of AoE, this game still has plenty to deliver. 5 campaigns totalling over 25 scenarios, as well as the option of a standard skirmish game should provide hours of fun, as single scenarios can often take hours to complete. The 5 civilizations, special mercenary units and historical background (nothing long or heavy, don't worry) provide some variety and character, and the ability to save at any time or place is well suited to the nature of handheld gaming. While not ever frustratingly difficult, the AI provides an adequate challenge, and a good mind for strategy will be required if you want to achieve all the bonus goals laid out by the game.The tutorial campaign eases you gently into playing, though doesn't bore, and in no time you'll be confidently ordering about your troops. The touch screen layout is user friendly, and while the DS buttons can be effectively used, I'd still recommend the stylus. Multiplayer is there for those who want it, though there is no Wi-fi. While slightly disappointing, this is no great loss as the nature of the gameplay would not always lend itself to extended Wi-fi play.There are some drawbacks however. While none are game killing, they should be taken into account:- The action can become repetitive after extended periods of gameplay- Busy maps (multiple players with big civilizations) can cause the gameplay to get bogged down (i.e. turns will each take a long time).- The game can be occasionally be prone to freezing, and some other minor glitches are also present, such as battle animation not playing, or 2 units occupying the same square.None of these should stop you purchasing Age of Empires for the DS, as compared to many other titles, you really are getting value for your money. Overall it is an engaging, tactical, long-lasting game and I'd urge anyone who doesn't suffer from a critically short attention span to buy it.One last thing:***WARNING*** - There is a known fatal error in this game. There can be times where the game will freeze after selecting Save & Quit. DO NOT SHUT OFF THE DS. Doing so will result in fatal corruption of the card and failure to boot. Plug it in, leave it on, and do all you can (mash buttons, leave for hours) to get it to unfreeze. Advice from the developers is to MAKE SURE YOUR PROFILE NAME IS 4 OR MORE CHARACTERS LONG. It appears short names cause this problem. Most players also avoid the Save & Quit option entirely, just to be safe: Instead simply choose "Save", then once saved, turn the DS off.This is what happened to me, and I feel others should be warned in advance and spared the pain of having to buy another card.Now, go get this game!

13.10.2015

I've loved Age of Empires on the PC and although in terms of gameplay this is very different, its still brilliant fun and a refreshing change with the turn-based system allowing more time for strategy than the standard real-time.This is always my go-to game when I have free time and nothing to do, I've played this so often, in fact, that in skirmish mode with all AI opponents set to hard difficulty and having them all allied against me, I can still emerge victorious with a little patience. The AI, although not incredibly challenging is very diverse in its approach, typical skirmish gameplay has even the aggressive AI "personality", Attila,playing fairly conservatively in the early stages whereas having multiple AI's allied against you will cause the more defensive oriented AI, Turtle, aggressively rushing you trying for the quick win.The game does have its bugs however and although not game breaking, far from it in fact, they are something to be aware of:. The "Save and Quit" option often fails to work causing the game to crash, this has never bothered me but simply choosing "save" then turning off the DS gets around this issue.. Large scale games with large numbers of troops will cause the game to lag, sometimes heavily so.. On the map "Oasis" there is one square of the maps texture that can sometimes lose its detail resorting in a black square, this doesnt affect gameplay and the tile of the map behave perfectly normally however it is still worth noting.. Upon victory, in games with larger numbers of units, the game can crash upon attempting to load the post-game statistics screen, resulting in a black screen leaving no option other than turning the system off. This results in a loss of any points gained for purchasing extras.. Fairly frequently, any non-player controlled troops may stack on one tile, something that is not possible for the player but can cause accidental attack on the wrong troop/building if the player isnt observant. This can make besiegements of enemy towns difficult by having many times more troops occupying the town than should be possible (this glitch does however make it possible to attack a building with tropps garrisoned inside it where normally the troops would have to be defeated before attacking the building).. AI controlled units may travel through enemy/player units to attack them, usually troops can only pass through friendly units however if attacking an enemy unit some AI controlled troops may pass through thatvunit to attack, essentially bypassing the units own travel capacity.. AI players can randomly achieve infinite resources in skirmish games, the post-game statistics screen has an "economy" page showing each players resource levels and economy in the form of a line graph, sometimes an AI player will jave a vertical spike in their economy to the maximum amount without any drop, showing that at that point in the game that player randomy attained unlimited resources, rendering any attempt to starve that empires economy (eliminating its mines and farms) in order to reduce its building/training abilities, pointless.Deapite these problems I have found the game highly entertaining and would recommend it highly, the majority of the games bugs do not hinder gameplay and are barely noticeable, worth the time and money in my opinion.

15.11.2006

I can't compare this with the PC version as I've never played it.I bought this game because it looked interesting and boy has it delivered in spades. This is a mammoth game and quite challenging to say the least.First up you get a huge tutorial split into 6 parts where you play Joan of Arc and discover how to command an army, construct buildings such as mines, farms, castles, etc, learn strategies for earning an income. The tutorial is excellent and walks you through all you need to know - but don't expect to race through it because it is fairly tough (maybe if you've played the PC version it could be easier!)You can then chose to play through the pre-set campaigns available,

27.12.2006

I was stuck on a coach for two 6 hour stints over the Christmas period, and thought I should get myself something that I could sink my teeth into. This fit the bill perfectly; an old-fashioned turn-based strategy game that felt quite reminiscent of something I might've played on my old 486 or PII. Which may make it sound a bit rusty, but it's far from it.As was mentioned above, the campaigns are pretty big, with the tutorial alone taking up the lion's share of my trip. What they've managed to squeeze in here is superb, with just enough options for the different aspects of the game to give it a depth beyond anything else I've played on the DS to date.The graphics and sound are nice,

2.1.2007

Having played Age of Empires on the PC I was a little concerend on how well a port to the DS would turn out. I am delighted with the result, although the game play is different to the original.The biggest change is from real time to turn based play. It makes the game play more like Advanced Wars, which is no bad thing. Turn based play suits a portable games machine like the DS well as you can deal with distractions without the fear of a suprise attack.The tutorial covers all aspects of the game in a series of missions to ease you in to the game. You can then choose from the pre-set Campaigns or set up your own missions on a wide variety of maps available.My only compaint is due to the screen size.

30.10.2007

This is the first installment on a handheld console for Age of Empires and my God it's brilliant! Why? U ask. Well it's so damn addictive! Although it isn't as good as Advance Wars (due to no map designer and edit mode as well as some other things), it is still fantastic to have even if you have Advance Wars. If you didn't already know Age of Empires is a stratigical turn based game in which you control an ancient army and try to dominate the land by conquering the other armies. To this you need to build up towns, buildings, mines for money, mills for food and of course your army which can contain many different types of units which are unique in their own way.

13.11.2006

The title expalins it all.AOE DS is not like the PC version we all know. No longer is there the free play, but AOE DS has a turn based play, which allows the player to give a little more thinking time to the game. It still has some of the PC traits such as ageing up the empire to a different era and conducting research on loom, iron etc to improve your armies capabilities.Best way to describe the game is a historical advanced wars duel strike. If you like AW DS then you will like this.The down side to the game is that each of the play icons are quite intricate. When the icons are on adjacent squares then you cant make out which unit is which and end up scrolling the icons to see which square each is on.

8.1.2008

I bought this game a while ago for around £15 and pound-for-pound it is one of the best portable games I have ever played! Gameplay is brilliant: the single player campaigns can be very challenging (especially the Saladin/Richard campaigns) and the multiplayer is extremely fun, although I would recommend playing against other players (via WiFi or Hotseat mode) rather than the CPU as tactically the computer has very limited strategies in skirmish maps. While this game is by no means better/equal than the massive PC title of the same name, it is a worthy portable companion to one of gaming's best RTS franchises.

10.4.2007

I played the PC versions of AoE before and I totally love them. The turn based DS version has managed to keep most of the fun parts of the game. Although I must admit that I am also a big fan of turn-based strategy games like FF tactic, this AoE DS is much better in the sense that it lets you build things thus allows more flexibility and freedom. I really like this game but I cant believe there is such a big glitch (the save and quit thing). Of course I've never used save and quit cuz i dun want to destroy such a good game! if not for the flitch, I would have given it a 5 star.

9.1.2007

Unlike the PC version that runs in real time this game has a 'take in turns' gameplay. This works well most of the time but the AI slows on complexity. Also looking at the game from the the 3D perspective makes it dificult to clearly see all of the layout when several surrounding blocks are filled with differnt skill level troops. However, overall, these minor problems do not detract from a good way of killing time in waiting lounges where ever you may be. In essence a game of chess like strategy, worth the money, unlike some!

26.1.2007

If you have a little skill and a lot of patience this is the game for you . I sit there for hours playing yet it seems like I've only been on there a few minutes . Admittedly the Tutorial is trying in fact on the penultimate game I had done all the objectives and it would still not let me win , but you can bypass this and perhaps I'll try again later . You get quite a lot of the map on a such a small screen but you do need to be careful as I found out when walking straight into the oppositions castle - fatal !!

11.1.2007

Got my DS at Christmas with Mario Bros and Trauma center. Very good they are too but you can take them or leave them. Bought this on the off chance that it would deliver and it certainly did.I can't stop playing it and it now goes with me everywhere. Travelling to work is now a joy rather than a chore. This game is so enthralling and addictive and unlike Pc or other console strategy games you don't have to sit at home in front of a monitor to play it.Recommended!!!

1.6.2007

I love Age of Empires II for the PC (III is just awful) and I got this game for the DS, whilst it's quite different to the PC version (turn based being the main difference), I quickly got used to it and find it just as addicting as the PC game!There are the usual campaigns allowing you to play as Joan of Arc and others, as well the usual just playing a normal map game.If you love the PC game I'd highly recommend this.

26.9.2013

I bought this to pass time on flights, didn't know the first thing about such games but after the tutorial, was hooked, but am also now stuck. Keeps the grey matter working.

23.1.2016

Cheeky little DS game that'll sink a surprising amount of hours in.Nothing like the scale of a PC version of course but still a great little game for a handheld.

Age of Empires: The Age Of Kings (DS) - Reviews

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