With rumours always on overdrive when it comes to Nintendo and to Microsoft, we would once have never thought of seeing Microsoft’s key game on a Nintendo console; however, these thoughts have been killed by seeing the Age of Empires franchise move from the PC over to the Nintendo DS. Which it has managed to do with a level of skill that few RTS games have managed to do. Considering the vastness of Age of Empires II on the PC, it’s been shrunk masterfully onto the handheld platform, without compromising the main feeling behind the original Age of Empires II game.
If you are a fan of the franchise on the PC, be prepared for a bit of a shock. When you are playing the series on a PC, you are frantically moving the mouse across a vast map, attempting to mobilise several armies at the same time, in the attempt to defend your growing Empire against two enemies with next to no help from your “allies”. Yet, with Age of Empires: The Age of Kings DS, the gameplay has been completely transformed, and for the better on this entirely different platform. If you’re familiar with Advance Wars, then you’ll know what the gameplay is like.
In essence you can create your army, but it is all done individually, and you mobilise each of your units one by one, but the population limit is far smaller than the original 75 – 200 units you can on the PC version. This is a beneficial factor considering the map size on the DS version. Once you’ve completed all of your moves, you then “end your day” and it’s then time to watch the enemy move all of their units to try and counter what you have just done to them.
Sounds dull? Well, you’d be dead wrong. The pace of the game is very quick, considering it is turn based. Before you know it, you’ve just lost your game as you’ve gone over the time limit in certain campaigns. Speaking of which, the campaigns are very well done. They each have their own voice over and will teach you, step by step how to play the game and some of the new elements of the game that are entirely unique to DS version of the game.
The campaigns are enjoyable, once you’ve mastered the new basics of the game. Although you are still very restricted to what you can and can’t do by the mission set in front of you, this is very similar to the restrictions that existed on the PC equivalent. If you’re not great at this style of game, the campaigns may seem a little hard, if not impossible at times; however, even if you’re a master of this style of game, you should feel challenged. There is also a lot of replay value with the campaigns as they rarely turn out the same upon each playing session.
Once you’ve managed to complete the campaigns, which is easily a 20 hours plus job, there is the random game generator where there are no real objectives in the game except to destroy your enemies, normally in no time limit either. Which is always nice. Surprisingly the artificial intelligence is actually challenging and does not act in the predictable way that you come to expect from the RTS style games that we’ve been playing for ages.
As with all Age of Empire games, the map editor is a strong feature for those of you who want to battle on your own world, and with the new “day” system the style lends itself brilliantly to playing with your friends in the same room; however, the lack of WiFi is not cool for this game. Half of the fun of Age of Empires comes from playing it online; so I only hope for a new version of the game with WiFi included. With all of the GameShark cheats and people outraged at cheating included as well.
In terms of graphics for the rest of the game, they’re very vibrant and do justice to the PC version of the game, which is essentially the same sprites and textures, just shrunk to scale the DS. I have no real complaints about the graphics aside from the battle scenes. A degree of brilliance are the introduction screens, which I believe have been done incredibly well considering the fact they are voiced over as well as written in full.
With most voice acting in games, I tend to cringe as they are emotionless and however much people love voice acting, I almost always find it cringe worthy as the voice lacks interest in the subject and it’s just a bit bland. However, the voice acting in Age of Empires DS is of a reasonable quality, and if you don’t like it, you can always turn the sound off as it’s subtitled on the screen in front of you!
In terms of audio, the game has literally just taken the entire soundtrack from the PC and thrown it onto the DS version of the game, and it’s been done masterfully. The sounds are still as vibrant, and in time as they have always been. There is only one real instance where the quality drops a touch, and that’s within the battle scenes again. The audio sounds a touch more tinny than the PC version, there is also a lack of variation in terms of the battle sounds. Which did exist to an extent on the PC equivalent.
When it comes to actually battling in the game, you move your units into an attack, and you’ll “zoom in” upon your party and see them charging at the enemy, be that a building or another set of units. This wouldn’t be a problem, but they’ve tried to make the battle scenes 2.5D, so the DS doesn’t really manage to render the characters that well and it does suffer from a degree of pixel distortion. Yet this is only a minor flaw really, as it does not really deter from the game.
So as a conclusion, the game is a strong and enjoyable game if you are into the entire RTS scene, or if you enjoyed Advance Wars. However, if you are expecting a full “port” of the PC version, you will be disappointed.
Gameplay: 8/10
It has very solid gameplay, which is easy to pick up and simply enjoyable. For those familiar with the PC version, your old habits need not die on this version, which is a great bonus.
Graphics: 7/10
Although certain areas are a bit weak, battle scenes especially, the overall graphical presentation is a stellar addition to the Age of Empires franchise.
Presentation: 8/10
The game is presented remarkably well for a PC to DS conversion. It’s easy to navigate, easy to pick up and the colours are vibrant and playing the game is simply enjoyable owing to the familiarity of the game from the past.
Audio: 7/10
The audio is strong throughout in reality, although some of the voice acting scenes aren’t great, and the sound quality has decreased in certain areas from the PC equivalent, the overall affect has not been compromised.
Value: 9/10
The game is incredibly addictive and you’ll find yourself needing to charge the DS up as you’re playing the game, as you won’t want to put it down. Once you’ve completed the main campaigns, you’ve got the multiplayer to play, which adds an entire new dimension to the replay factor. It’s a new game each time until you’re fed up with it.
Final Score: 39/50
Worth the buy.
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