It's a Microsoft game. Half a star. :-) Actually, despite it being published from Microsoft, this is a great game. You see, the game was made by Ensemble Studios. It was only published by Microsoft. So it's a good game.
Ok, forget all the Microsoft bashing. One of my friends' dad works at Microsoft, and he gives us free stuff from Microsoft (including Windows 95!). So, I'll stop bashing Microsnot, I mean, Microsoft. :-) This game is excellent. There are so many good things about it I don't know where to begin. Age of Empires is a real-time strategy game, whos depth and replayability make it great. Along with an excellent multiplayer (or so I've heard, I've yet to play it online) system, this game ranks very high on my list of best games.
Age of Empires allows you to play as seven different civilizations whose goal is to either:
Each civilization plays differently from the others. For example, the Egyptians get very few of the cavalry units and none of the siege weapons, but all of the boats. The Shang gets almost all of the cavalry and siege weapons, but gets few of the boats. If you play with a different civilization everytime, your strategies have to change.
Age of Empires comes with four campaigns. The first one is essentially a tutorial that teaches newbies how to play the games. The other three are all very good, each with a good storyline backing. Along with the games, Age of Empires also has an editor for scenarios and campaigns. This allows for many campaigns to be downloaded off the Internet, many of which I am playing and loving.
Age of Empires also has a random scenario generator, allowing you to be any civilization and you can set the rules. You can start off at the highest level, you can set how you win, how easy it is, etc. This is very well implemented.
You may be asking right now, "Well, what isn't good about this game?" The only thing that I've run into that's bad is the ending of campaigns. You finish the campaign, and all you get at the end is a congratulations message. Kind of a poor ending, but hey, everything should be focused on the gameplay, right?
One of the few good games that has come from Microsoft, Age of Empires has upped the level of real-time strategy games. Unfortunately, we'll now be bombarded by clones of Age of Empires, much like Warcraft 2. If you're a Microsoft hater but love real-time strategy games, Age of Empires may just change you're mind about Microsoft.