Although Microsoft may not be too good at writing operating systems, they certainly know how to write good games.

This is one of the better god games - i.e. you take control of a group of people and lead them through time. You tell your people what to build - huts to castles, and you can train warriors of many different types to kill your enemies.

The graphics and sound are quite good - not brilliant but they do the job well enough. The gameplay is the main thing though, and boy does Age of Empires have that in spades.

Give it a try - you`ve gt nothing to lose!