Age of Empires: The Age of Kings
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| Age of Empires: The Age of Kings | |
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| Developer(s) | Backbone Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Majesco |
| Release date(s) |  February 14, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, wireless multiplayer, hotseat multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E10+ PEGI: 12+ OFLC: PG |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
| Media | Nintendo DS memory cards |
- This article is about the Nintendo DS game. For the PC game, see Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.
Age of Empires: The Age of Kings is a turn-based strategy game for the Nintendo DS. It was produced by Majesco and released February 14, 2006. The game allows the player to take command of one of five different historical civilizations: the Britons, the Franks, the Mongols, the Saracens, and the Japanese. The game has a single-player campaign and a scenario mode; it also has multiplayer wireless and hotseat modes.
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[edit] Gameplay
The gameplay is turn-based and similar to Advance Wars in movement and combat, but as a derivative of a real-time strategy (RTS) series, it incorporates several features more commonly associated with RTS games (particularly technology trees and resource/building management).
The playing field is divided into a grid. Units can only move and attack in the four cardinal directions. Ranged units are exceptions, as they can attack diagonally if the target is in range.
[edit] Units
Units are mainly divided into four main categories: Infantry, Cavalry, Archery/Ranged, and Siege Units, although some units do not fall into these categories. Normal units can only attack an immediately adjacent square, while ranged and some siege units can fire over several squares (depending on the unit's range and the terrain). Each unit has movement, attack, defence, range, and vision values. Some units also have bonuses against certain types of enemy units or other special abilities.
[edit] Unlockable units
By playing to earn "Empire Points," you can buy powerful units to use in-game in the Bonus Items Shop. Unlockable units are:
- Dopple-händers
- Knights of the Round
- Swiss Pikemen
There are as well differemt maps to obtain that allow you to have more choices on the empire map.
[edit] Heroes
Each of the five civilizations has a hero - an unusually strong and powerful unit. The Japanese hero is Minamoto Yoshitsune, Saladin belongs to the Saracens, Genghis Khan is the Mongols' hero, the Franks have Joan of Arc, and the Britons use King Richard the Lionheart. Each hero has unique special powers. Effects of the hero powers vary. Depending on the power, some effects include:
- increasing attack, defense, range, or movement of friendly units.
- weakening nearby enemies.
- healing the hero and/or friendly units.
- adding food or gold to the treasury.
- reducing the cost of research or units.
Some powers can only be used on certain conditions, such as the presence of adjacent units.
[edit] Ages
Four Ages exist through which the player may advance to improve and strengthen his or her nation: the Dark Age, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age, and the Imperial Age. Every age but the Dark Age has requirements: a specific number of Town Centers and a certain amount of research. Additionally, the player must pay in both food and gold to advance to the next Age.
Advancing in Age unlocks new subjects for research, makes additional buildings and units available, and upgrades existing units to their equivalent in the new Age.
[edit] Research
The player can pay for research to improve his or her civilization and move towards advancing to the next Age. Each research subject has two prerequisites: the player must have reached a certain Age, and also have built a specific type of building (the most basic research requires only a town center). No research subject requires another specific subject to be researched first, but a certain amount of research is required before the player can advance to the next Age.
[edit] Game types
There are multiple types of games in Age of Empires: The Age of Kings. They follow the same general rules.
[edit] Campaign
Age of Empires: The Age of Kings includes a campaign divided into five sections, one for each of the available civilizations. Each section of the campaign follows the story of one of that empire's most famous leaders (for example, Joan of Arc for the Franks), who serves as the Hero unit. The first section of the campaign, following Joan of Arc, is also a tutorial section and informs the player about the basics of the game as he or she plays.
The Campaign missions vary widely in characteristics; some contain fog of war while others do not; in some missions the player starts out with some buildings while in others the player may start without any (in some missions the player cannot build anything). Each mission also starts with the player in a different age and amount of subjects already researched. You must also complete the mission currently unlocked to play the other missions.
[edit] Empire Map
The Empire Map is a mode in which one human player selects a map and chooses the options. They play against a computer player and try to reach the selected victory condition.
[edit] Multiplayer
[edit] Wireless Link
Up to 4 players can play a game through a wireless connection. Computer players may be included.
[edit] Hot-Seat
Hot-Seat mode allows people who do not own the game to participate in multiplayer. It is played with one Nintendo DS, which is passed to the one whose turn it is.
[edit] Map elements
Several maps with different terrain distributions can be chosen for an Empire Map game. More can be unlocked using the "Empire Points" won. Terrain can affect the movement and battle of units. Each type of terrain has a movement cost that reduces how far a unit can move. Roads have the lowest movement cost. Terrain can affect sight and range bonuses, too.
On some map spaces there are objects. Goats add to the food treasury when units move onto them. Bags of gold add gold to the treasury when units move onto them. Relics can be picked up by monks, and gradually add gold to the treasury. Ruins are unpredictable. They can add to the treasury, automatically research a topic, give the player a free unit, or kill the unit that walked onto them when moved onto. Mills can be built on wheat stalks, and mines can be built on gold deposits.
[edit] Technical issues
Some players have experienced technical issues which may impair gameplay or even damage the data on the cartridge. The game data may become corrupted during a Save and Quit operation, preventing the cartridge from booting afterwards. The game may sometimes freeze after the end of a mission. Majesco released claims that they were investigating the issue but no official solution or replacements have ever become available, only workarounds.
Majesco has determined that using a short profile name (2-3 characters in length) may be causing some issues and has suggested users change their profile name to at least four characters as a temporary workaround.
[edit] Reception
Age of Empires: The Age of Kings was well received critically, generally earning high scores in reviews. IGN and EGM each gave it a Game of the Month award.
The game was also awarded the 'Best Game Design' Elan award in the inaugural CAEAA Awards, hosted on September 14, 2006 by William Shatner.
[edit] External links
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Age of Empires • Rise of Rome |
