The following is a review of the Gold Edition, for the PC. If anything I write didn't fit your version, please keep the aforementioned in mind. This is one of the classic releases, and it just so happens to have quite a bit of stuff for being so early. It takes you through the following different powers from the old ages: Egypt, Greece, Babylon and Yamato. Each with actual occurrences to experience. This, in general, takes a far more realistic and naturalistic approach than other big, known ones, then and now. There are of course liberties taken... somewhere before the ship that fires what may be spears lit on fire, and, well, even though we don't know everything about the past, especially that far back, I doubt that maritime vessels back then could be fitted with catapults. And if you think that credibility is a quality of dubious value for something that is in company with alternate realities and future scenarios, I challenge you to look at the sight of a hailstorm of flaming arrows, perhaps accompanied by large, thrown stones that are glowing red with heat, descend upon a building, and tell me honestly that it doesn't look cool. Granted, the graphics are now dated. Also, they do still do the job just fine, and there is an admirable range of movement, that I'm not sure was seen elsewhere at the time. There are nine fully animated and well-done cut-scenes, and they went for epic scale in them over what they could render best, as opposed to Command & Conquer. They have impressive detail, and that fog is well-rendered. One is shown right before you reach the main menu when you start the title, the remaining are placed right at the beginning and the end of each of the 4 campaigns. Every mission, the amount of which coming to about three dozen(!), in them is based on real-life events, with background and outcome staying fairly true to what is considered known, as far as I could tell. For example, you participate in the Battle of Troy, and, since the famous wooden horse may have been invented by Homer, it does not appear here. Outside of that, there are also plenty of options for playing this, and for spending literally countless hours, because simply put, this can be fun for an enormous amount of time, surpassing that of other in the same genre. You can try a Death Match, self-explanatory for those who know this type of VG. Random Map allows you to, through choosing the frequency of various things found herein, immediately generate levels. If you want further freedom, why not try the Scenario Builder? The already created efforts in Scenarios contain maybe ten kinds of objective-driven ones. In this, you can already heal, steal enemy structures or units, seafare, and last but not least, upgrade. In fact, that one's an important part. Deciding what to get and when, as all affect your abilities in a positive way, but at a price. That brings me to the resources. There are four to gather, those being wood, food, gold and stone. There is a direct way to get each, and the second and third have at least one additional one. They're all vital for purposes, such as researching and training. One can wonder if the Temple has something of a jab at the Catholic church, in particular before the Reformation. The many vehicles(as long as that it takes as a relative term... they usually have to do with horses, or less commonly, elephants) and men(armed with everything from bones through axes and swords to composite bows) allow for creative setups and tactics, depending on speed, range, their effective uses and how they can support one another. A couple of them are unique and only available to certain countries in this. This is not focused as strongly on fighting as others. That doesn't mean it isn't necessary or encouraged... they don't try to claim that there hasn't been innumerable wars throughout mankind's time. Quite the opposite. There are fair features, and surely about what you would find in others from the mid-nineties, but you don't have to think for long to come up with what would be good to add. A button to immediately take you to the area you've just been alerted to, as for example StarCraft has, is near the top of the list. Less need of hand-holding is, as well. Too often, your military or your workers, frankly, get stuck, trying to take the direct route to somewhere where it can't happen(did people not realize, in ancient times, that you can't walk across water that isn't shallow, and that you can't walk straight through mountains and trees?), and/or not moving out of the way when their colleagues need to pass. Beyond that, the AI tends to be great. The five difficulty settings help ensure that newcomers and veterans alike should be both comfortable and challenged. For any history buffs, this has a massive amount of design and culture, all throughout it. Right down to the color scheme, it's customized with specific and well-drawn art that fits with the era and region. Obviously, the Greek is toned down. Control and overview are mostly smooth and well-done. The music is easy to listen to, and fits the tone of neutral, non-threatening and 'real', so to speak. The audio in general is a positive, if it could have more variety. The sounds all come off right, the clash of metal weapons, the animals and the ambient material. On a final note, this actually has the responses from those you order around in an incomprehensible "language", rather than recognizable English, because let's face it, that would make little sense. I recommend this to any fan of RTS, or Real Time Strategy, games, and/or anyone who cares to learn or freshen up their knowledge of the old time periods presented here and their people in a way that doesn't involve opening a book. 8/10
8 Reviews
From long before "Et tu, Brute?"
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews28 November 2008
The Roman Empire, and The Rise of... uh, It. What a subject for an expansion pack to AOE, yes, indeed, so good and so grand that they decided to center it entirely around it. There are four campaigns, just like in its source. However, they are considerably shorter. They cover a great deal of the history, and include Hannibal and his elephants, Spartacus and his gladiator rebellion(and care to take a guess as to what their Wonder is? Come on, you can do it, it starts with a C, and ends with -um), and Caesar, who gets to veni, vidi *and* vici(yeah, I know the grammar is messed up, I technically speaking can't use them like that), and who you get to control multiple times, on horseback. While it isn't as long, and less connected and concentrated, this can certainly still make for a lot of time spent on it. Some of the missions are unique and memorable, like the one that Archimedes is in, and his inventions(dread those towers), and the one where you cross the Alps. The objectives are also sometimes very different from typical ones. The level design in general is rather nice, no complaints there. This picks up right after the end of the first in difficulty, though the five possible settings are there from before, and you can tell from the very beginning. The "look" is changed to fit, and more music is added, some of which is less tranquil(but doesn't ruin the easy-going mood)than the ones that still remain from the game itself. The sound is just about invariably a positive aspect, meanwhile, most of it *is* reused from...yeah. The LOD is still impressive. I didn't see any cut-scenes in this beyond the opening logos, that are exactly the same as last time around, although to be fair, there could be one right after them, it refuses to show that on my machine. That brings me to the fact that you can actually run this, and it's predecessor, on a relatively recently purchased computer, and it, at least for me, doesn't lag except for during loading, saving, and starting up the next track. There are new units in this, such as the immensely fitting, and tactically useful, Slinger, trained at the Barracks, who uses... that one should be obvious, to hurl rocks(and for that reason, of course, costs a little Stone) at enemies, and with his speed and range, he is useful against missile-firing opponents. On account of being able to get them so very early, before even constructing an Archery Range, the overall strategy is changed, if possibly only slightly(honestly, perhaps there are no real changes to that, on a larger scale, from what was put in this, in that area). Added are the Camel, that moves fast and carries a rider armed with a sword, and the Fire Galley, the accuracy and authenticity of which I can't quite confirm... how exactly would they keep the boat, itself, from catching the blaze and burn to the... uh, surface of the sea(yes, that would be as opposed to "the ground")? And did they have anything resembling a flamethrower that far back? Ah, I appear to have digressed. There are Upgrades and Research in this that hasn't seen the light of day until this, either. Under the aforementioned is, for example, the Tower Shield, improving the armor of the men, and the latter holds, for example, Martyrdom, instant Conversion, at the cost of the life of the Priest(and requiring something that was lazily implemented and comes off as being a last-minute thought). There are improvements made over the prior title, that this follows. Let me highlight two. The queue system, allowing you to have one building produce the same thing continually, so you don't have to manually tell it each and every time, letting it be somewhat automated and less in need of the awful and pervasive hand-holding that is among the worst, and limited amount of negative, things about these. The other is the arguably equally helpful double click feature, that simply put means that you can select all immediately visible, within the screen's range, military of a specific kind, or Villagers, by pressing twice on any of them in succession. Unfortunately, many things are not addressed, and if not watched closely, your people *will* get lost(if not as often as before), and not realize that no, they can not, as a matter of fact, cross the sea on foot, sail across where there, oh I don't know, *isn't water*, walk directly up or down mountains, or walk directly through objects. And catapults, even on your own side, are far too big a problem, as they have remarkably poor judgment(then again, who exactly *is* manning them, how much brain power can you expect from mere wood? Now, if anything should happen to me soon after I've submitted this review, please don't rule out that my furniture attacked me in a fit of revenge...thus effectively disproving my theory about their smarts), and mercilessly slaughter their allies, and I swear to you, if it were physically possible, they would manage to destroy even *themselves* with the(and the occasional...not) all-too-well-aimed shots. Oh, they'd *find* a way. The historically inspired... everything, is also present here. The multi-player is worth a lot, and may be the best this has to offer, albeit hardly enough to justify getting this beyond just the one that set off the franchise, or, for the critical who want it polished further, skipping them both and going straight to the sequel(some might go all the way to III... I am not one of them). The civilizations have abilities to help make them all interesting, and it won't be precisely the same if you play as another one, and plentiful hours can pass in entertainment in this, as well. I recommend this mainly to those who enjoyed the original enormously, and who want every incarnation of the series. Everyone else, consider if this is a must-have. 7/10
How far we've come
CuriosityKilledShawn16 August 2005
I got the demo of this game in Dec 1997 and for months me and my best friend did nothing but play it (yes, nothing but the demo). Some months later I actually saved up enough to buy the full game and at the time it seemed so cool and interesting. I'd never played anything like AoE (I had just gotten my first Windows PC round about then) and we were both totally addicted.
Today, it seems dated and dull. Weird isn't it? I have AoE2 and it is much better but that too already seems old hat compared with the screenshots of the forthcoming AoE3 (can't wait). Even with all the expansion packs available for this game it will never come close to the complexity of the second sequel or even Age of Mythology. Buy it if you can find it dead cheap tho.
Today, it seems dated and dull. Weird isn't it? I have AoE2 and it is much better but that too already seems old hat compared with the screenshots of the forthcoming AoE3 (can't wait). Even with all the expansion packs available for this game it will never come close to the complexity of the second sequel or even Age of Mythology. Buy it if you can find it dead cheap tho.
Fun, fun, and more fun
The_Light_Triton30 October 2005
Age of empires is probably Microsoft's best series of games next to halo. It's one of the first strategy games created.
You are an emperor of a small colony with one town centre, and 3 villagers. you must go from small camp living into a huge empire. of course, everyone else wants to as well, so you're gonna end up fighting. fight until you win. rule the world. win the game.
This game is just perfect. the details of the buildings are a little mixed, because the villagers are like giants to the buildings. but what makes a game good, is the fun you get from it.
10/10
You are an emperor of a small colony with one town centre, and 3 villagers. you must go from small camp living into a huge empire. of course, everyone else wants to as well, so you're gonna end up fighting. fight until you win. rule the world. win the game.
This game is just perfect. the details of the buildings are a little mixed, because the villagers are like giants to the buildings. but what makes a game good, is the fun you get from it.
10/10
A Solid Strategy Title
weslius4 June 2005
This game is quite good. It includes a variety of structures and units. You can play one of the campaigns, start a random map game, and even take your play online. There are all kinds of civilizations from the ancient world, from the Egyptians to the Greeks, even the Phoenicians! The game includes a scenario editor for making your own maps and you can even craft your own campaigns with hero units such as Alexander the Great.
Gameplay is simple. There are four resources. Wood, stone, gold, and food. You can use use wood and stone to construct buildings, such as houses. Gold, food, and wood are used for training combat units. Certain buildings can produce these units which you use to attack your enemies and destroy their cities. There is less of an emphasis on tactics and more on mass attacks, but it is fun nonetheless.
There are all kinds of conditions for victory, you could destroy all your enemies militarily, construct a wonder and defend it, and you can capture ruins or artifacts. Games can go on for hours, and if you want to play online, be sure to set aside a lot of time. If you like strategy games, you might want to pick up this classic.
Gameplay is simple. There are four resources. Wood, stone, gold, and food. You can use use wood and stone to construct buildings, such as houses. Gold, food, and wood are used for training combat units. Certain buildings can produce these units which you use to attack your enemies and destroy their cities. There is less of an emphasis on tactics and more on mass attacks, but it is fun nonetheless.
There are all kinds of conditions for victory, you could destroy all your enemies militarily, construct a wonder and defend it, and you can capture ruins or artifacts. Games can go on for hours, and if you want to play online, be sure to set aside a lot of time. If you like strategy games, you might want to pick up this classic.
What games should be like
ThunderKing622 November 2021
Instead, we have filthy games like Fortnite, Far Cry and Assassin's Creed rotting our youths minds.
AOE is a creative, intelligent, sophisticated game meant for the intelligent minded and to improve the mind's capabilities.
AOE was a fun game about create a civilization while defending it from the Jesuit Empire. Anytime you build a civilization, A Jesuit out of nowhere would and invade and destroy your territory. It was a war out there.
Sometimes You could establish 75% of land, then the Jesuits would find away to invade. Sometimes it was annoying nevertheless and fun game that was worth my valuable time.
AOE is a creative, intelligent, sophisticated game meant for the intelligent minded and to improve the mind's capabilities.
AOE was a fun game about create a civilization while defending it from the Jesuit Empire. Anytime you build a civilization, A Jesuit out of nowhere would and invade and destroy your territory. It was a war out there.
Sometimes You could establish 75% of land, then the Jesuits would find away to invade. Sometimes it was annoying nevertheless and fun game that was worth my valuable time.
The best Age of Empires game by Microsoft ever, it's so addicting to replay.
crosswalkx2 May 2019
I have played this game as a teenager and I enjoy this game to this day. I like this game so much I have a hard time stopping. This game by Ensemble Studios now defunct and Microsoft has made the best PC game ever. This game has a total of 55 campaigns if you have Rise of Rome expansion pack. The original was good but the expansion pack improves the game alot. I also like the soundtrack that was in the game. And I like the sandbox mode to create your scenario. With that said let me tell you about this bestselling PC game of all time.
You play this real time strategy game that takes place in ancient times. You can play as the Egyptians, Greeks, Babylonians, Yamatos, Romans. You have scenario campaigns with each objective, if you succeed you can review the chart and move on to the next game. But if you lose, you have to start all over. If you want the game to be challenging set it to hardest mode for it to be more enjoyable. The cgi motion capture cutscenes with the war introduction is amazing though it hasn't aged very well.
First of all you will usually start off with your villager units or army units only, you have to gather food from berry bushes, killed deer meat, fishing by boats, and farms which is the most important. You have to chop trees for wood, you have to mine stone rocks for stone, you also have to mine gold rocks for gold or trade food for gold. Don't trade wood or stone because you'll need it. Also make sure you build a granary, storage pit, market and government center, temple, docks, because it will allow you to upgrade your units.
You will have to build up your army and navy ships and believe me you're going to need them to fight enemy units. Now let me tell you the best units and worst units in this game.
Best units to use in this game.
Villagers: You'll need them to gather food, wood, stone, gold. Make sure you have them protected as they're weak to enemy units. Research Wheel, Architecture to speed them up, build walls and towers as it will protect them, also have them build farms as it will help you win the game.
Fishing boat: These boats will help you get food in the water that villagers can't reach, they are just as helpful as farmers but they become useless once there's no more food to fish.
Trade Boat: Only build them if you don't have a gold mine or run out, when you want to trade for gold, trade food for gold, don't trade wood or stone, also build your dock far away from the enemy dock for even more gold. But watch out for enemy ship arrows.
Transport ships: I highly recommend you build 2 or more of these as they help you transport your units and artifacts over water but don't let it get sunk or you'll lose units on the ship.
Swordsman, hoplites: You can take down cavalry with a group of swordsman but hoplites are much better at taking down cavalry and chariots easily. But watch out for ships arrows, archers, chariot and horse archers, also watch out for ballista and catapults or you'll lose them.
Archers, chariot, horse and elephant archers: These are your best units to use in this game, have a huge group of them about more than 6 will usually take down a swordsman or cavalry, they can shoot down enemy villagers or priests. I highly recommended chariot or horse archers since they can shoot and run away from enemies.
Cavalry, chariot, camels, war elephants: You can run down enemy villagers and kill them, you can also kill archers or destroy buildings, also I highly recommend you upgrade chariots to scythe chariots since they can do massive damage to buildings and so do war elephants, make sure you have a scout with you at all times so you can see better. Camel riders will kill cavalry easily.
Ballista, stone throwers, catapults: The Ballistas are the best siege weapons to use in this game having 4 or more which will help you take down cavalry, archers, swordsman, hoplites, war elephants, chariots. The catapults will destroy buildings and towers but there's a risk of friendly fire. But take care they can be destroyed easily, you'll need hoplites to protect them and priests to heal them.
Priests: These units are the best ever, they can convert enemy units and buildings to your side and in 4 or more groups they will take down enemy units including ships to your side, they can heal your units. But take care as they can get killed easily so you'll need to protect them at all times.
Scout ship, War Galley, Trireme, Catapult Trireme: The scout ships are your best unit to use on the water, you can upgrade them to war galley, and Triremes. The ships are used on the enemy ships and they can take down buildings including docks, towers, enemies on land, and buildings, but the catapult triremes are much better to use on buildings. But the downside to ships is you have to repair them which costs wood to fix. Also your ships cannot go on land so they become useless when you have to go further on land.
Towers, and Walls: This is definitely needed and it can protect your villagers, archers, priests, ballistas, catapults from enemy invasion. Make sure to build it quickly or the enemies will kill your units.
The worst units to use in this game.
Clubman, Axeman: You will often start off with them in the stone and tool age, they can take down other axeman and cavalry, but they are weak against archers, swordsman, hoplites, cavalry and they become obsolete in the bronze and iron age.
Slingers: Oh where to begin, these units are not that great because they cost 50 food and 10 stone, are you kidding me? Also you need over 6 of them to be useful but they get too expensive to make, they get killed easily by archers, cavalry. Unless you use a cheat to get stone. Skip these useless units, the archers and ballistas are far better units and Slingers become obsolete in the bronze and iron age. I recommend you skip slingers since they waste stone that can be used in repairing walls and towers.
Fire Galley: Really? This is a useless navy vessel as they're very vulnerable to ship arrows and by the time you attack the enemy ship you're badly damaged and will get sunk very quickly. Skip them as they waste wood.
Overall I recommend you get Age of Empires with the Rise of Rome expansion pack. You can play this on Windows XP, 7, I'm not sure about Windows 8 or 10. There is a remake to Age of Empires but nothing will compare with the original 1997 version. You'll also get to learn about ancient history. I wish that it had campaign with the Israelites including leading them out of Egypt with Moses, the Battle of Jericho, battling with the Assyrians, and the Siege of Jerusalem fighting Babylons based on the Old Testament times from the Bible. Overall this is a PC game you don't want to miss out on.
You play this real time strategy game that takes place in ancient times. You can play as the Egyptians, Greeks, Babylonians, Yamatos, Romans. You have scenario campaigns with each objective, if you succeed you can review the chart and move on to the next game. But if you lose, you have to start all over. If you want the game to be challenging set it to hardest mode for it to be more enjoyable. The cgi motion capture cutscenes with the war introduction is amazing though it hasn't aged very well.
First of all you will usually start off with your villager units or army units only, you have to gather food from berry bushes, killed deer meat, fishing by boats, and farms which is the most important. You have to chop trees for wood, you have to mine stone rocks for stone, you also have to mine gold rocks for gold or trade food for gold. Don't trade wood or stone because you'll need it. Also make sure you build a granary, storage pit, market and government center, temple, docks, because it will allow you to upgrade your units.
You will have to build up your army and navy ships and believe me you're going to need them to fight enemy units. Now let me tell you the best units and worst units in this game.
Best units to use in this game.
Villagers: You'll need them to gather food, wood, stone, gold. Make sure you have them protected as they're weak to enemy units. Research Wheel, Architecture to speed them up, build walls and towers as it will protect them, also have them build farms as it will help you win the game.
Fishing boat: These boats will help you get food in the water that villagers can't reach, they are just as helpful as farmers but they become useless once there's no more food to fish.
Trade Boat: Only build them if you don't have a gold mine or run out, when you want to trade for gold, trade food for gold, don't trade wood or stone, also build your dock far away from the enemy dock for even more gold. But watch out for enemy ship arrows.
Transport ships: I highly recommend you build 2 or more of these as they help you transport your units and artifacts over water but don't let it get sunk or you'll lose units on the ship.
Swordsman, hoplites: You can take down cavalry with a group of swordsman but hoplites are much better at taking down cavalry and chariots easily. But watch out for ships arrows, archers, chariot and horse archers, also watch out for ballista and catapults or you'll lose them.
Archers, chariot, horse and elephant archers: These are your best units to use in this game, have a huge group of them about more than 6 will usually take down a swordsman or cavalry, they can shoot down enemy villagers or priests. I highly recommended chariot or horse archers since they can shoot and run away from enemies.
Cavalry, chariot, camels, war elephants: You can run down enemy villagers and kill them, you can also kill archers or destroy buildings, also I highly recommend you upgrade chariots to scythe chariots since they can do massive damage to buildings and so do war elephants, make sure you have a scout with you at all times so you can see better. Camel riders will kill cavalry easily.
Ballista, stone throwers, catapults: The Ballistas are the best siege weapons to use in this game having 4 or more which will help you take down cavalry, archers, swordsman, hoplites, war elephants, chariots. The catapults will destroy buildings and towers but there's a risk of friendly fire. But take care they can be destroyed easily, you'll need hoplites to protect them and priests to heal them.
Priests: These units are the best ever, they can convert enemy units and buildings to your side and in 4 or more groups they will take down enemy units including ships to your side, they can heal your units. But take care as they can get killed easily so you'll need to protect them at all times.
Scout ship, War Galley, Trireme, Catapult Trireme: The scout ships are your best unit to use on the water, you can upgrade them to war galley, and Triremes. The ships are used on the enemy ships and they can take down buildings including docks, towers, enemies on land, and buildings, but the catapult triremes are much better to use on buildings. But the downside to ships is you have to repair them which costs wood to fix. Also your ships cannot go on land so they become useless when you have to go further on land.
Towers, and Walls: This is definitely needed and it can protect your villagers, archers, priests, ballistas, catapults from enemy invasion. Make sure to build it quickly or the enemies will kill your units.
The worst units to use in this game.
Clubman, Axeman: You will often start off with them in the stone and tool age, they can take down other axeman and cavalry, but they are weak against archers, swordsman, hoplites, cavalry and they become obsolete in the bronze and iron age.
Slingers: Oh where to begin, these units are not that great because they cost 50 food and 10 stone, are you kidding me? Also you need over 6 of them to be useful but they get too expensive to make, they get killed easily by archers, cavalry. Unless you use a cheat to get stone. Skip these useless units, the archers and ballistas are far better units and Slingers become obsolete in the bronze and iron age. I recommend you skip slingers since they waste stone that can be used in repairing walls and towers.
Fire Galley: Really? This is a useless navy vessel as they're very vulnerable to ship arrows and by the time you attack the enemy ship you're badly damaged and will get sunk very quickly. Skip them as they waste wood.
Overall I recommend you get Age of Empires with the Rise of Rome expansion pack. You can play this on Windows XP, 7, I'm not sure about Windows 8 or 10. There is a remake to Age of Empires but nothing will compare with the original 1997 version. You'll also get to learn about ancient history. I wish that it had campaign with the Israelites including leading them out of Egypt with Moses, the Battle of Jericho, battling with the Assyrians, and the Siege of Jerusalem fighting Babylons based on the Old Testament times from the Bible. Overall this is a PC game you don't want to miss out on.
Review of the opening sequence;
Blueghost21 February 2012
This is not a computer game review, but a review of the custscenes and specifically the opening sequences.
I've played tons of computer games. From Coleco to Atari, to the Commodore 64, to the first Apple and PC games. Each had a kind of tantalizing art that drew you into the world the game was trying to portray. In the 70s and early 80s the games were fairly prosaic and, at times, just plain poor.
The more advanced computer technology got, the more the game designers pushed the envelopes with the scope, scale and artistry of the games they were designing. This included the introductory sequences. For me, the epitome of intros was Ensemble Studios' "Age of Empires".
We open with a panoramic travelling vista, and crane down and move in on a ruin, replete with an ancient warrior, still clutching his shield and weapon, as if this were his last act before having his life taken from him in the heat of battle.
We then dissolve to an earlier time, where we see perhaps our lifeless soldier brought back from the dead to reenact his final engagement with several thousand of his best friends and enemies. Each side pours into one another with symbolic blood lust, stemming from the desire to show the other side what real men are made of.
We get glimpses of the preparation of battle, the opening stages of the battle, some of the battle itself in the form of a montage, only to end with a dissolve to the familiar skeleton we saw moments before the clash of armies on some forgotten plane laying outside some equally anonymous city of eons ago, now buried under time and sand.
To me, not only having been an avid player of the game, this opening sequence is really something to see. It gives us a narrative that is thought provoking and voyeuristic. We witness a slice of ancient history, albeit imaginary history, and are shown the long aftermath of that conflict that has been forgotten thousands of years hence.
What happened? What were these men like? Who were they? Why were they fighting? What happened afterwards? These are the feelings that should be running through you as you watch this marvelous, yet very brief, introductory sequence.
The game itself? I played it a great deal, but only because I was invited to join one of the many online clans. And I met many online friends there. But I was never a really huge fan of the game as such. A decent time waster.
But the state setting via the opening sequence? Superb.
I've played tons of computer games. From Coleco to Atari, to the Commodore 64, to the first Apple and PC games. Each had a kind of tantalizing art that drew you into the world the game was trying to portray. In the 70s and early 80s the games were fairly prosaic and, at times, just plain poor.
The more advanced computer technology got, the more the game designers pushed the envelopes with the scope, scale and artistry of the games they were designing. This included the introductory sequences. For me, the epitome of intros was Ensemble Studios' "Age of Empires".
We open with a panoramic travelling vista, and crane down and move in on a ruin, replete with an ancient warrior, still clutching his shield and weapon, as if this were his last act before having his life taken from him in the heat of battle.
We then dissolve to an earlier time, where we see perhaps our lifeless soldier brought back from the dead to reenact his final engagement with several thousand of his best friends and enemies. Each side pours into one another with symbolic blood lust, stemming from the desire to show the other side what real men are made of.
We get glimpses of the preparation of battle, the opening stages of the battle, some of the battle itself in the form of a montage, only to end with a dissolve to the familiar skeleton we saw moments before the clash of armies on some forgotten plane laying outside some equally anonymous city of eons ago, now buried under time and sand.
To me, not only having been an avid player of the game, this opening sequence is really something to see. It gives us a narrative that is thought provoking and voyeuristic. We witness a slice of ancient history, albeit imaginary history, and are shown the long aftermath of that conflict that has been forgotten thousands of years hence.
What happened? What were these men like? Who were they? Why were they fighting? What happened afterwards? These are the feelings that should be running through you as you watch this marvelous, yet very brief, introductory sequence.
The game itself? I played it a great deal, but only because I was invited to join one of the many online clans. And I met many online friends there. But I was never a really huge fan of the game as such. A decent time waster.
But the state setting via the opening sequence? Superb.
See also
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