As the third continuation in the epic Microsoft Games Age of Empires series, Age Of Empires 3 lives up to the greatness of its predecessors, adding numerous new features that both rookie and veteran players will welcome. In Age Of Empires III, you begin with a settler, a hero, and a few military units, and you're set off against the world, racing through the colonial time period (and 5 different epochs) to conquer all in your path!

The Age Of Empires III graphics are pretty much what you would expect them to be for a game of its time and reputation. The water reflects objects, the grass has all the particles you could ask for, and the unit models are perfectly detailed. A great new addition to the series is the visualization and animation of structures breaking apart. If units attack a ship or building, pieces of it will fly off, and the building will remain deteriorated until it is repaired.

The background music is superb, it's soothing and not annoying like in so many other games. The rest of the sound is of a high quality too, units have individual voices, and none of them are inappropriate. The voice acting in the game is good, but not quite up to the standard of other games.

Finally, the most important aspect of the game... the gameplay! ge Of Empires III does much to improve the fun factor of the series; units no longer move their goods back to a storage area or town centre; all units harvest directly. This greatly speeds up the game and allows for greater mobility and control of troops. Farms can now support 10 farmers, and they never run out of food. This allows you to focus on more pertinent micromanaging and warfronts, rather than continually check back to the farms to make sure half your workers aren't standing around.

Microsoft have added a new feature to the Age of Empiure series, The Home City. This adds much value to the game. After obtaining a certain amount of experience (through killing enemy units, finding treasure, and completing game objectives), you are allowed to send cards to your colony. In campaign mode, you unlock cards for a civilization, allowing different units/upgrades to be sent to the colony.