Age of Empires: The Age of Kings Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 49 Ratings

  • Summary: Age of Empires: The Age of Kings boasts turn-based strategy gameplay – a first for the franchise – as players move from the Dark Ages through the Middle Ages with one goal in mind: domination of the known world. Command one of five different civilizations: the Britons, Franks, Mongols, Saracaracens, or Japanese; Control special 'hero' units such as Richard the Lionheart, Robin Hood, Joan of Arc and Genghis Khan, whose special 'hero' powers affect the entire battlefield; Lead over 45 different types of units into battle -- from bowmen and monks to hand cannoneers, mercenaries and samurai; Players' can construct and upgrade buildings to help their units learn new skills and create resources for their civilizations; Research over 50 different technologies like chemistry, ballistics, siege craft and spying to advance civilization into the next age; A new Combat Advisor offers advice on certain campaign strategies and provides an assessment of the battle's outcome; Multi-player scenarios allow up to four players to wirelessly battle each other; By gaining Empire Points, players can unlock maps and units to improve their Emperor Rank. [Majesco] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 38
  2. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. This really is a wonderful game that has been fitted perfectly to a new combat style and handheld gaming model, setting the bar pretty high for anyone attempting something similar in the future.
  2. Age of Kings' endless tactical calculations more than compensate for slightly fuzzy graphics and logical curiosities, and reward patient engagement with countless hours of empire-scale strategic combat.
  3. Missions are quite interesting, as you seek out holy relics or protect besieged cities. They can also be very difficult, and there were times when after an hour of desperately trying to wipe out the enemy my army would be decimated and my general slain, forcing me to start over with a fresh approach. Fortunately, the varied strategic choices can make a mission play out quite differently a second time.
  4. Much to its credit, Backbone Vancouver has done a masterful job in taking the complexity of Ensemble’s original and stripping it to its bare essentials for portable play. [Apr 2006, p.95]

See all 38 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 21
  2. Negative: 2 out of 21
  1. i love this game and i still play it the battles are awsome the campaign modes are fun to play and challenging and it is a great time killer i cannot think of any thing bad to say about it Collapse
  2. TheplayMaster
    8
    The play is really good, but there's many bugs. E.G the game freeze. If the bugs don't was there, i'll give the game 9.
  3. Dean
    6
    The Age of empires, age of kings for DS is not the best strategy game I ever played. There is no difficultly level to pick. Couple times, the game froze for some reason. If you save couple times or play for next 2 hours, the game will freeze. This only can mean one thing, the game is not worthy to buy. Strategy games for DS can never compete with those of PC. Age of empires 2, Age of Mythology and Age of Empires 3 have more features and story mode is logner. It allows you to pick difficulty level, and days are not included. Workers,army, buildings and production of your units takes one day, and same goes for advancing. All I have to say is " Don't buy the game, it is not worth of your time." You want to play real strategy games, buy Age of mythology or Age of Empires. These are better explained, and has better graphics. In age of mythology, you can use the god powers, produce myth units and do much more. These are the real strategy games, and it should be worth to play. Ask your self couple of questions: 1) Does your game freeze or do you have to restart your computer for some reason. 2) Are you having any technical problems. 3) How hard is the game 4) How many times do you have to play the level in order to beat it. I had the same problem with Star Wars Battle front 2. Levels are harder, some missions are impossible to beat, and I had some technical problems. Most of the games today suck. They make them harder, and mission are impossibleto beat . Making games more complicated loses their value. Simple games are more effective and more playable. For example, Super Mario is classical games and everyone loves it. There is no question asks, and I never had a single problem. Creating strategy games for DS, which has limited feature makes the game more frostrating. Some games doesn't work as good as those for computers. Some army units in the game are suppose to be affective, but they aren't. For example, last campaign in this game, anti-cavalry doesn't work well with the Saladins camels. I had to use 3 of them in order to kill the cavalry. If your unit has higher health , the unit can perform better. If you disagree with me, that is just fine. Playing this game is not worth my time neither should be yours. The created wanted to get quick rich with this game. He didn't think this games will have bunch of holes in it. If you want to play real strategy games, you should buy Age of Mythology. It was created couple years age, the game is well created. The best tutortial in any strategy game I ever played. The game will walk you through 3 different civilization and 9 different Gods( each civilization has 3 of them). After you beat 35 levels, then you can play online or start immediately. You can pick difficulty level and there won't be any disappointment. Most of the time, Microsoft game are well design. Expand
  4. DuncanB.
    0
    Good game but gets a zero from me because of the unacceptable number of bugs for a console release.

See all 21 User Reviews