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PC | Strategy | Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs

Boxart for Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs 11 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.50
  • SOUND: 4.00
  • CONTROL: 4.00
  • FUN FACTOR 4.25
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.8
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.2

Review: Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs

Review by The Watcher | 10/18/2006 | 13:50:48 PM PST

We All Must Make Sacrifices

Although the game engine is aging, it still manages to satisfy. There's an amazing amount of detail to be found in the game; everything from infantry units and coastal villages down to the smallest wooden crates is rendered to eye-popping detail and keeps Warchiefs ahead of the curve of most RTS games. Only a stellar triple-A release like Company of Heroes can keep pace.

The only problem lies in the hefty system requirements that are required to produce all this eye candy; if you don't have the rig necessary to run it at a high enough setting, you miss out on the true beauty of the game.

There are some other minor problems that hold down Warchiefs, but they're largely symptoms of its predecessor and not of this expansion; the music, while adequately bombastic, isn't anything spectacular, and there's a bit too much similarity between units of different factions.

If you're looking for untraditional RTS combat and resource management or crazy science fiction or fantasy themes look elsewhere. But if the classic RTS formula is right up your alley, Ensemble studios has proven with WarChief's that Age of Empires is all you need.


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