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Introduction & New Features

When the Age of Empires was first released in 1997, it hit the world by storm with its complex yet invigorating gameplay. Its sequel the Age of Kings had much of the same results winning many awards including game of the year honours from many acclaimed reviewers. Now the time has come for the release of the expansion pack to this best selling strategy game. Not only was this an expected move on the developer’s part to extend a great game, but they have also improved on many aspects of the original game. Gamers can now enjoy an even better game from the developer Ensemble Studios. And Microsoft will now have one more top-rated game title under their belt.

Many improvements have been made in this add-on from Microsoft & Ensemble Studios. The majority of the game’s weak points have been fixed or improved upon and there has been a lot of tweaking done to polish the game. Most of the aspects where gamers have requested a change have been addressed and enhanced. Five new civilizations for gamers to choose from have been created: The Aztecs, Huns, Spanish, Koreans and Mayans. Each culture will have new special units, attributes, technologies and buildings. This expansion pack also includes four all new historically based campaigns for gamers to play. The single player ingredient is a truly educational and enjoyable way to spend gaming hours.

Additionally, there are twenty-six new technologies to explore that will vastly improve gameplay. While there is already an existing technology tree with over one hundred nodes, improvements like thumb ring and theocracy are great research items that will respectively advance the offensive and counter opposing forces. Other features that this game improves upon are different map types, which include real-world maps. Classic battles can be re-played in many different areas of the world like Italy and Japan. The Conquerors also offers smarter villagers who gather resources automatically after building a structure. Gamers can also queue farms so that the peons will automatically build a new one after the current farm is exhausted. Another great feature in the game will give units the ability to garrison themselves inside Battering, Capped and Siege Rams. This will both increase the ram’s speed and attack damage. A last feature that is included in the Conquerors expansion pack is the ability for gamers to command their allied computer players. With the added implementations and smarter artificial intelligence, these elements add a significant bonus to gameplay.