Mount your musket and polish your pike, it’s time to get medieval in Age of Empires III for N-Gage. This multiplayer real-time strategy explodes onto N-Gage after routing its enemies on the PC and Mac. To be fair, we weren't expecting great things from this game but once you start playing, you'll be of the same opinion as us that N-Gage as a platform has finally come of age with Age Of Empires III.
Age of Empires III is set during the siege of Malta by the Ottoman Turks, but don’t expect much in the way of historical accuracy. Instead of defending walled cities, there’s the usual business of generating settlers (Maltesers?), collecting resources, building houses or barracks and whaling the tar out of any red-coated enemies that happen to cross your path.
If you think the N-gage’s display would be too small for a decent RTS, think again. Age of Empires III (AoE3) does a great job of keeping the (landscape) action focused on your growing community, with hot-link buttons that let you leap straight into combat or browse a useful mini-map.
The interface is a little confused – it’s not always obvious whether you should select characters and modes with the centre key or the A button – but you’ll soon settle in to the process of supplying and building up your army. Combat is also on the chaotic side, thanks to tiny health bars that are almost impossible to distinguish when infantry and cavalry are getting stuck in.
It’s worth starting with gentle Campaign mode before tackling the quick-play Skirmish mode, where there are dozens of scenarios to choose from. Gameplay is fast and furious, especially when you’re up against the tough AI. Of course, AoE3 really comes into its own in multiplayer mode, with the N-gage Arena proving the perfect battleground for tackling human foes.
Age of Empires III balances sim and combat perfectly to deliver gameplay that’s sharper than finely-honed halberd and faster than a charging steed. Basically, it’s the RTS that we’ve all been waiting for.
Details
Price: £8
Rating: 12+
Size: 4MB
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