I first came across AOE many years ago. I like to play God and so creating my own civilisation was just up my street! I like games where you can start from scratch, create people, towns, armies and then go to WAR! This I think describes AOE. I have since bought all the expansion packs and no matter which new games I have/play, I always go back to AOE BECAUSE you have plenty of random maps and therefore, more gaming longevity. You click on random civilisation (and there are plenty!), random map and you can play again, again and again....never playing the same map twice...or so it seems. I've bought other games of the same genre and they have a drop-down menu of maps and once you've played them, well, you've played them! We all like to play the campaigns and then we go onto playing as and when we want and AOE is great for this. Me and my entire family re-install this game time and time again - I'm hoping that they will bring out another expansion. I've played Age of Mythology but I prefer 'real' civilisations and 'real' weapons! Please give this game a try - you won't be disappointed!