Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

 PC
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 1409 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,278 out of 1409
  2. Mixed: 98 out of 1409
  3. Negative: 33 out of 1409
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  1. kloplos
    Mar 24, 2015
    9
    This is the game that defined its genre. Even now a decade and a half later, it is still among the best RTS games available. If you're a fan of RTS games, then this is a definite must-have.
  2. CineAutoctono
    Jul 24, 2017
    9
    "Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings" was an excellent game, I did not think I would play it but I played it and I liked it, empires, maps and campaigns and graphics were very good, and the music and The dialogues were spectacular.
  3. Wiebe
    Feb 26, 2020
    9
    Father of all RTS games? It is the game I played a lot as a kid, everyone I knew was playing it, it was the game of the time.
  4. Barnes1987
    Mar 6, 2017
    9
    One of the classic PC games. Endless hours have been spent on this game and with an HD remaster out now, endless more could be spent on it again. A must play game.
  5. Fikthenig
    Sep 22, 2017
    9
    I can agree with the rest of the reviewers that it is not only a great game but arguably one of the best games of all time. I found some parts to be extremely ingenious and other parts to be worked on. I loved the voice actors but the tutorial had LOTS of room for improvement. Graphics are ok for the 1990s but is not the main focus of the game. Gameplay can be challenging but this rivalsI can agree with the rest of the reviewers that it is not only a great game but arguably one of the best games of all time. I found some parts to be extremely ingenious and other parts to be worked on. I loved the voice actors but the tutorial had LOTS of room for improvement. Graphics are ok for the 1990s but is not the main focus of the game. Gameplay can be challenging but this rivals many other civilization games like Civilization or Tropico. The difference is its simple yet effective way of battling with other cities and decisions made in battle could cost you the war. Overall, I expect great things from Microsoft and its future updates on age of empires… Expand
  6. NZAnimeManga
    Apr 13, 2017
    9
    Brilliant RTS, and to my amazement, it is still being played. This game was my second childhood leap into PC gaming (after AoE 1), and boy, did this blow my little mind! Stellar game!
  7. dlcatalin
    Jul 12, 2020
    9
    I played this game over and over for years. Replayed the campaigns so many times, made my own scenarios. Loved it
  8. UncleEd
    Jul 1, 2019
    9
    Note: This is a review of Age of Empires 2 Age of Kings single player campaign. I am aware that the multiplayer is where Age of Empires is at its strongest and this review does not cover the multiplayer experience.

    Age of Empires was released at a time when RTS genre was considered one of the most popular ones. From Command and Conquer to Starcraft, from Dune to Warcraft, there was    Note: This is a review of Age of Empires 2 Age of Kings single player campaign. I am aware that the multiplayer is where Age of Empires is at its strongest and this review does not cover the multiplayer experience.

    Age of Empires was released at a time when RTS genre was considered one of the most popular ones. From Command and Conquer to Starcraft, from Dune to Warcraft, there was fierce competition. It was not hard for Age of Empires to build a fan base with major selling points such as bringing real history with real heroes into our PCs and a ton of nations to play with.

    The Age of Kings have campaigns that could make someone who has any interest in history salivate: William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Saladin, Ghenghis Khan and Barbarossa. William Wallace serves as a tutorial campaign and each campaign offers a pretty unique experience with a standalone storyline and units particular to that nation. The game requires good micromanagement skills with its more sophisticated economy system, at least compared to other games of that era. In the Age of Kings, you don’t harvest just one resource e.g. spice, tiberium, crystal… You need to make sure to harvest wood, food, stone and gold in a balanced fashion in order to succeed. Food comes from various sources. You can fish from the lakes, you can farm, hunt animals, collect fruits etc. Hunting animals would give you a food boost, but you will soon run out of animals. Farming could give you a steadier income of food, but you will have to spend wood to build farms. Each strategic decision has consequences. This applies to the whole game, whether it is economy, expanding your base, building armies or waging wars. Keeping in mind every nation / faction has their own strengths and weaknesses, on top of the more sophisticated economy and requirement to micromanage, it is safe to say that the Age of Kings is more on the difficult side, especially when compared to other popular real time strategy series of that time. On the other hand, micromanaging in Age of Kings for some reason (whether it is the music or the color palette) is often relaxing rather than stressful.

    The campaigns never get boring and there is even educational value with all the historically accurate information in your missions or cutscenes. My main criticism to the Age of Kings campaigns, however, is being too formulaic. My experience with the majority of the campaigns was the following. I start a campaign. Build my base (unless the hints suggest otherwise), enemy attacks my base, I lose the game. I restart, this time knowing when, from which direction and with which units the enemy will launch their attack and I prepare myself accordingly. More often than not, this involves collecting enough stones and building a castle to the other side of a crossing and walling up the other areas to my base. The sense of playing a linear formulaic experience was much stronger when I played the Age of Kings campaign, in comparison to titles such as C&C or Starcraft.

    That being said, my only major criticism is something that only applies to the single player campaign. Playing against a friend with more or less even skills, is where the Age of Kings shines. As a more complex RTS, Age of Kings in multiplayer would undeniably be one of the best RTS games ever made, assuming you do indeed have a suitable opponent who matches your skills.

    8.5/10    … Expand
  9. UkaAku
    Apr 25, 2018
    9
    From now on I still play this game sometimes, it is one of the best rts games ever made imo, played it also alot in my childhood.
  10. TalonTheInsane
    Sep 4, 2018
    9
    This game has kept me for many hours in front of the computer and it was totally worth it. If you are a fan of strategy games you have to play this masterpiece!
  11. MikaMikes
    Feb 5, 2019
    9
    It might not be the ultra competitive slugfest that some RTS games are, but it is easily the most fun and playable one around. After well over a decade, I still find myself coming back to this near masterpiece. The voices and soundbites are iconic to this day.
  12. silver-boy
    Jun 19, 2020
    9
    Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is an amazing historical RTS. So many good thing can be said about this game but the players will know this is a legend among it's genre and an indisputable wonderful classic.
  13. Rodrigo_
    Jun 22, 2020
    9
    A very good strategy game, I highly recommend it, especially to play with friends.
  14. storygamer
    Sep 24, 2020
    9
    There isn´t much to say in terms of Age Of Empires II: The Age Of Kings. It is the best RTS game to date and has its fanbase since 1999. Everything about this game is just perfect and iconic. An inspiration for all the real time strategy follow ups. A must have!
  15. WakyEggs
    Feb 27, 2021
    9
    Spend so many hours playing this game. Still remember learning to go online with a 56k to look at the official website for the things you could expect in the game when it would release. Timeless graphics and sounds. Also liked the map editor that came with it. Happy there is still an active online community.
  16. Zeyon88
    Apr 13, 2021
    9
    Story: 8/10 (Campaigns)
    The Way story is given: 18/20
    Gameplay: 28/30
    Design: 10/10
    Feelings left after playing: 19/20
    Playability(Bugs and optimization): 9/10

    AVARAGE: 92/100
  17. tufekciero
    Mar 12, 2021
    9
    ALTIN zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
  18. jorge1102
    Feb 24, 2022
    9
    20 years of strategy games

    There are many civilizations, various types of arms, and high tactical strategy
  19. krlwarkrl
    Jul 16, 2022
    9
    9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 point !
  20. Raziel72
    Aug 7, 2022
    9
    Игра хороша, в юношестве очень много в нее играл. Переход между эпохами очень интересен.
  21. SauceBox6
    Nov 26, 2022
    9
    10 - Masterpiece
    9 - Amazing
    8 - Great
    7 - Good
    6 - Okay
    5 - Mediocre
    4 - Bad
    3 - Awful
    2 - Painful
    1 - Unbearable
  22. ReviewsAreBS
    Feb 17, 2023
    9
    One of the greatest games of all time. Does pretty much everything right, though I like the campaign of AoM a lot more.
  23. VLG
    Aug 23, 2023
    9
    I spent many, many hours playing this game as a child. I was so young when i first played it that i didnt even know what i was supposed to do, and i just collected materials and builded a nice city lol Many years later, i would play online regularly, and discovered that i suck at the game, and then abandoned it.
  24. Keron_Heruman
    Aug 28, 2023
    9
    The best RTS game. I'm not fun of the genre but this game is fan and not boring late game as the most of RTS games
  25. tikend
    Oct 29, 2020
    8
    Very fun singleplayer and multiplayer, but as I've started with the expansion, the "basic" game limitations are degrading my experience.
  26. MeCritic
    Apr 1, 2013
    8
    I kinda feel like a pessimist, giving this an 8/10 while everyone else gave it 9 and 10, but I don't think it's that great. I like it. It has a good feel. And The Conquerors expansion is a great addition. The only problems I have with this game are the singleplayer campaign and the sound. The singleplayer campaign just isn't that interesting, I found. I prefer going on a randomly generatedI kinda feel like a pessimist, giving this an 8/10 while everyone else gave it 9 and 10, but I don't think it's that great. I like it. It has a good feel. And The Conquerors expansion is a great addition. The only problems I have with this game are the singleplayer campaign and the sound. The singleplayer campaign just isn't that interesting, I found. I prefer going on a randomly generated map and fighting bots. And as for the sound, well, the music is great. But the rest of the audio really isn't something I would expect from a game released in 1999. Another thing that brings this game down, for me, is that I'm not a very big RTS fan. Now, don't get me wrong. I really do like this game. And if it wasn't an RTS it would not work AT ALL. But if you like classic PC games, you need this.… Expand
  27. gracjanski
    Nov 6, 2018
    8
    The original Aoe was surely one of the best game in his time and yes I played it then. But today I dont have so much fun with it: The mission in the campaign are very difficult, they changed it a bit in the addon fortunately. The missions are very long, so that it feels like work and not fun. Somehow the game feels very slow. In addition it is frustrating, that the AI not gives up in theThe original Aoe was surely one of the best game in his time and yes I played it then. But today I dont have so much fun with it: The mission in the campaign are very difficult, they changed it a bit in the addon fortunately. The missions are very long, so that it feels like work and not fun. Somehow the game feels very slow. In addition it is frustrating, that the AI not gives up in the base game, although the AI has no chance to come back. In the addon it was changed also.
    The units are bothering you with bad pathfinding.
    The graphics is old of course, but anyway I like it still and it is detailed. There is only a problem, when you control to many units, because there is no overview and you cant zoom to distinguish the units. So it is a chaos.

    Of course there are some positive things: You play some historic characters and learn history. The storytelling of the campaign is interesting. The sound is good and the music fits. you can download the forgotten empire mod, that implement new people and improve the resolution.

    Result: I recommend this game for hardcore gamer to know, how old good games were. The addon improves the game a lot, but Rise of Nations und Age of Mythology are better in my view.    … Expand
  28. Plasmaneedle
    Oct 20, 2013
    8
    It isn't the most strategic or immersive RTS out there, but it is simple, addictive and a lot of fun to play. It may not be the best RTS but it does come close.
  29. angelss_13
    Apr 12, 2017
    8
    Un clásico de la estrategia en tiempo real. Excelente jugabilidad, buenos gráficos, buen apartado artístico, variabilidad de civilizaciones y un nivel estratégico modesto, pero adictivo. El único defecto serio que le encuentro es la IA (que en dificultad máxima se reduce a enviarte hordas de enemigos con un elemento estratégico del todo ausente) pero en su época era más que aceptable.
  30. CenkAlp
    Jan 3, 2018
    8
    Hikaye = 0
    Oynanış = 9
    Grafikler = 7
    Sesler = 9
    Keyif = 9
    Atmosfer = 8
    Süre = 6
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Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best PC Game of 1999
2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 1999
4
#4 Most Shared PC Game of 1999

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
92

Universal acclaim - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. GameZone
    81
    Simply an awesome game - great in historical imagery, solid in sound and game play, and a lot of fun to play. The Age of Kings deserves its title.
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  2. Game Over Online
    87
    It’s not a significant improvement as far as gameplay and graphics, but it does help further the claim of AOE as a solid gaming title and a quality multiplayer game. The originality may be gone, but the idea lives on.
    Read full review
  3. Eurogamer
    90
    I never got into the original game, yet I find AoE II enchanting. The sheer depth of the technology tree and evolution of the civilisation are always a surprise. I particularly like the intuitive logic that makes battles more tactical.
    Read full review
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