What is Age of Empires II (+ Gold Edition)?

Ported by Westlake Interactive.

Build your civilization into a flourishing empire.

Grow a thriving market economy. Raise your armies. Forge alliances. Build wonders to stand the test of time. Lead your empire with cunning and might in this award-winning game of real-time strategy and action.

• The Age of Kings: Rome has fallen, and the world is up for grabs! Experience real-time evolution as you lead one of the most powerful civilizations of the Middle Ages to greatness. Decide whether to conquer the world through military might, commerce and diplomacy, or intrigue and regicide. There are many paths to power, but only one will reign supreme!
• The Conquerers: New heroes to discover and new worlds to conquer! The Conquerors expansion adds five new civilizations, four new campaigns, eleven new units, twenty-six new technlogies, real world maps, and much more. Experience the adventure of the Spanish Conquistadors as they enter the exotic lands of the Aztecs, or relive the destructive force of Attila's pillaging Huns.

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The time is nigh to brandish your long swords and defend your civilization against invading hordes. The second installment of Age of Empires is here, combining The Age of Kings and its expansion pack — The Conquerors — into one masterpiece of real-time strategy. After you vanquish the great civilizations of historynow including the Mayans, Koreans, Huns, and others — you can retrace the paths of great conquerors like Genghis Khan or legendary leaders like Joan of Arc.

Unlike the original version, AOE II has the power of the pixel, with masterfully rendered 2D sprites and lush backgrounds; it's both detailed and practical — the characters leave footprints and show up as outlines when obstructed (a godsend in times of combat). An even more impressive element is the game’s historical accuracy, as the buildings, people, and environments are true to the eras they represent. A history section is included to help you bone up on events portrayed In the game — a helpful strategy tool for cultures with limiting factors, such as the Aztecs’ tendencies toward infighting. Although all the Dark Ages characters generally look alike, hearing them speak in their civilization’s native tongue helps us forgive their generic appearance.

AOE II invites the casual gamer with a well-conceived tutorial game featuring the familiar story of Sir William Wallace (that guy in Braveheart). It's broken down into easy-to-understand sections, and the storyline and voice acting are engaging. For the expert, campaigns are highly customizable, with several difficulty settings and a map editor that allows you to, say, put the Celts in a palm-tree-ridden tundra. The game also offers variety in its objectives: You can create a wonder of the world, obtain relics, or simply force your enemies under your booted heel (our personal favorite).

Players of the original game will find AOE II’s artificial intelligence far superior. Your workers are smart enough so that after they’ve used up their resources they seek out new materials and keep working. And when gumption fails, the Find Idle Peasant function helps you keep your peons busy and your empire functioning smoothly. Sometimes military units become too aggressive, however, and in the heat of the chase they follow enemies blindly into certain death. We remedied this by changing their attack status, but in a frenzied battle, it’s easy to lose track of errant, bloodthirsty units. A smarter default state would help preempt such behavior.

AOE II rocked our world, but ifs not perfect: We experienced random application crashes and other bugginess in Mac OS 9. A patch (available at the company’s Web site) cured most of the problems, but the game continued to crash occasionally on quitting and after we won campaigns. However, this didn’t affect gameplay in any serious way. For gamers looking to the future, this game runs like a dream in Mac OS X. AOE II also plays well online (via GameRanger), adding even more value.

One warning: AOE II will consume hours of your life. You will play for so long that when you close your eyes, you’ll see arrows flying. In short, whether you’re an avid gamer or simply a dabbler, you must have this title.

Brown, Leslie, Osborn, Matt. (March 2002). Age of Empires II: Gold Edition. MacAddict. (pg. 48).

Download Age of Empires II (+ Gold Edition) for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 8.6 up to Mac OS 10.5

Compatibility notes

Architecture: PPC (233 MHz G3 or faster)

At least 64MB of RAM

Mac OS 8.6 - 9.2.2 / Mac OS X 10.0 - 10.5

 

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver