While I like this Army idea in theory, I often wanted a different mix of units than was offered. These Armies are also priced like groups of regular units, meaning that units can’t be purchased a few at a time as resources are made available, but instead they must be purchased as a package. And the Chinese have a very interesting recruiting method-units are not built in groups of same-type units, rather Chinese units are purchased in Armies, mixes of melee, ranged, and cavalry. For instance, Indian villager units cost Wood rather than Food to produce, a little detail that continues to confound me in the early game. The Asian Dynasties does play around a bit with costs and recruiting, however. I’m still learning the balances of the various empires and their appropriate tactics, but for the most part the new Asian units feel like remixes of previous empires, albeit with spiffy new graphics and animations. With 5 Wonders available to each empire, it’s also tricky to figure out which to build first, and I’m pretty sure I still haven’t figured how best to bring them into play.Įach of the empires also gets a slew of new units, all with the appropriate Asian feel. Many times I found myself having difficulty locating a good spot to throw up my Wonder, and I found myself with much more cramped bases than I had before. Regardless, each of these Wonders requires not only resource cost but quite a bit of space to build. Other powers are rechargeable super-powers, such as the ability to instantly heal the entire empires’ units. Some of the powers are passive, an increase in wealth or experience trickle, or perhaps a bonus to a particular type of unit. Each of these Wonders, in addition to allowing players to access later ages, also brings forth some interesting powers. Asian empires must build a Wonder to advance an age (with prices similar to age-up costs of previous empires). The Asian empires also age up a bit differently than previous AoE3 empires. The Consulate gives each of the Asian empires a nice bit of variability, allowing them to tailor themselves better to a given situation.
This resource is gathered by siphoning off the gather rates of the other resources, and can be used to purchase units from various European powers. In addition to the new Monk units, each Asian empire also gains the use of the new Consulate building, bringing with it a new resource, Export. Still, after the newness wears off, the Monks are not all that much different than their counterparts. The Japanese and elephant-riding Indian Monks were also powerful in their own right, but they weren’t nearly as entertaining to play. I didn’t so much care about the overall usefulness of these guys, I was instead entertained to no end to watch them kung-fu their way through their enemies. I was particularly fond of the Chinese Monk unit, with its ability to train Disciple units. These monk units have the basic exploration/trading post building abilities like their American and European counterparts, and they can also be upgraded through the use of the new Monastery building to help them remain useful throughout the ages of the game. Instead of an Explorer or War Chief unit, the Asian empires sport a religious Monk leader in their place. While all three new empires have their distinct traits, they do share some intriguing similarities new to Age of Empires 3. However, “more of a good thing” didn’t manage to win me over this time around.Īs the Asian Dynasties requires the original Age of Empires 3 to play, I’ll skip an overview of the nuts-and-bolts and dive right into the new content contained in the three new empires included in the expansion. Make no mistake, the Asian Dynasties is a solid addition to the Age of Empires 3 lineup, and is quite well done. Perhaps I’m just feeling a little tired of the Age of Empires franchise in general, perhaps I’ve just been wowed by some very impressive and innovative RTS games in the past few months.
While each of these empires play differently than those introduced previously in Age of Empires 3, I couldn’t help but feeling that much of this game was just “more of the same”. This time, the action moves across the Pacific to focus on three entirely new empires, Japan, China, and India. The Age of Empires franchise once again gets a little bigger with Ensemble Studio’s Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties.
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