Despite the enthusiasm of Western journalists, the reissue of the third number part of the classic Age of Empires has become, perhaps, the most optional remaster of the season. If the first two games of the franchise really needed restoration, then the third one looked decent and was played in 2005 at the time of release on F95zone– and after 15 years its updated version has not improved significantly.

Introduction:

However, the grumbling can be reserved for a more serious occasion. In the Steam service , they ask 435 rubles for a fresh remaster, which even in our difficult times cannot be called a large amount. Well, Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition itself still deserves the attention of fans of the genre, despite a number of controversial points.   

Let’s go over the list of promises of the development team right away. The list was surprisingly long, but in the end it raised a lot of questions. Yes, the picture has become, no doubt, prettier. The models have added details, and the zoom function of the game camera has become more flexible: not the level of Total War , but you can also evaluate the battle panorama from a height, and take a close look at your musketeers. 4K support and the latest version of DirectX are all great and well worth a hug. But here’s the promised new version of the Havoc physics engineis in no hurry to impress the player’s imagination. Like fifteen years ago, the buildings are crumbling beautifully, and the wretched soldiers scatter from the cannonballs with knocked down pins. No changes are simply not visible, although for RTS it is not so easy to do something especially cool with physics: the genre is not the same.

But for the rewritten plot videos, the creators of the remaster should be thanked. The game has a huge number of scenes on the engine, and the camera often tries to take a larger plan. In the previous version, the rude models of heroes and villains had to be looked at without much pleasure. In the remaster, the picture remains pretty even in such moments.   

In the remake, according to the developers, the soundtrack and soundtrack were cleaned up, but in order to catch the difference in the sound of the old and new versions, you need to be a certified specialist in this matter. The game sounded great before, it still sounds great today. The music in Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition is really cool, it is plentiful and varied. All these epic motives are in a good way reminiscent of Hollywood maestros like Hans Zimmer or Alan Silvestri.  

We also failed to find any improvements in the behavior of artificial intelligence. That your fighters, that the enemy soldiers constantly demonstrate biblical patience: they are burning their barracks nearby, but the soldiers will not react until bullets fly at them. A more or less major skirmish takes place according to the usual RTS rules of twenty years ago: two squads will mingle into a roaring crowd and the one with the most bayonets and sabers will win. Although a skilled tactician will be able to prove himself in such a meat grinder: he will take the wounded to the rear in time and personally indicate priority targets for the shooters. But you will not be able to detect any improvement in AI – everything is exactly the same as it was in 2005. 

On the positive side of the remaster, two additions to the main game are neatly collected under one cover: The Warchiefs and  Asian Dynasties . We are not talking about some tiny DLC with a couple of new models, but about large-scale content additions on the theme of Indian tribes of the era of the conquest of America and passions in samurai Japan, imperial China and India, where British colonists are trying to subjugate the contemporaries of Captain Nemo. In the old days, such additions for sale were packed in separate beautiful boxes. 

Added to the remaster and two new nations, there are now as many as 16 pieces. We will leave the question of the appearance of the Incas open, but Sweden was definitely not enough in the indicated era. In the 17th century, Sweden was one of the strongest players in the military-political arena. Indeed, in real history, it was this country that was among the very first to carry out a successful army reform, writing off medieval traditions and methods as unnecessary. Well, in the game we will get two new factions with their own architecture and special units. HuniePop 2 could never boast of a significant difference between the armies of different nations, so it remained at the time of the release of the third remaster.

True fans of the series and the genre as a whole will surely appreciate the two new game modes. “Historical Battles” will provide an opportunity to participate in battles from the history books, and not from the exuberant fantasy of screenwriters, as in campaigns. And the Art of War mode offers different challenges for mastering the hotel mechanics of the gameplay: from the development of the early economy to sea battles.

Conclusion:

It should also be noted one nice nuance for the most picky fans. In the new version of Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition, you can customize the interface to your liking. Allowed to include a classic, familiar, albeit slightly cumbersome. Or activate the modern version, the one that we are used to seeing in the strategies of the last five years.