Title: Age of Kings

Date: 03.08.2006

Genre: Turn-based Strategy

Platform: Nintendo DS

Developer: Mecca Electronics

Publisher: Mejesco

AoE DS is a turn based affair with unit building and upgrades, suffering from sluggish gameplay. Units are fairly generic with the exception of strike-first units, monks and heroes. Gameplay follows standard turn based rules, and is built around land and resource control as much as it is around having a balance of units and tactical options. Being able to unlock more powerful (albeit more expensive) units in campaign de-regulates the campaign levels - not to a great extent, though.

Game progression is slow paced, due to several issues. First, the cursor moves slowly, and there's no way to speed it up. The only way to scroll around the map quickly is with the stylus. Having to constantly tap the D-pad to speed things up gets tiring quickly. Second, the games AI can get bogged down and you can expect waits of a minute on some of the more crowded campaign maps.

Third is an issue with the game itself - turn based games are inherently slower than RTS, yet the game progression is built to drag on for quite some time, due to the need for return on investment of resources spent on research, buildings, and age upgrades. IMO this could have been sped up greatly to increase the pace of the game and make it more about unit tactics and action than slow-mo RTS. Also, it's difficult to take down fortified enemy buildings unless you're at least in the third age with siege unit access.

Graphics are average, with some cool 'historical' art scrolls, and it's possible to turn move/battle animations off. On the map, grouped units can become difficult to distinguish by sight. It's hard to see the movement squares when navigating through/onto buildings. Music is very repetitive and was quickly turned off, sound effects like unit responses are also very repetitive, but on a cluttered map sometimes the sound cues help.

So what's the saving grace of the game, so to speak? The campaign missions are all well designed and scripted, with bonus conditions that are often a decent workout to achieve. Despite the games problems, there's still some fun and challenge to be had. If you're the type of player that doesn't care about 'bonus conditions' or what not, you may still find the game a bore. However if you're a tactics fan who enjoys some well designed campaign maps that make you use your brain a bit, you'll still enjoy the game enough to want to play through the campaign despite the slow pace of the game.

I'm guessing the multiplayer mode is playable and maybe even fast paced under the right conditions (a small map, 25 day limit, start out in the 3rd or 4th age).

Finally, the game is buggy. With mission scripting, I paused during the enemy's turn in Escort to Chinon and the first enemy did a double-turn and attacked Joan instantly - I expect this bug crops up in other spots. Another bug with campaign mission select - if you exit from a saved game then restart as another hero, the top screen will show the hero of your saved game with their mission text (even though you're selecting other heroes missions). When you reload a game, none of your research bonuses apply for that day you loaded on (music is also turned on when loading regardless of settings). In crowded situations, there's often building flicker, and several times I've seen two enemy units bunch up on a Market building at the same time (one ranged, one melee). In addition, there are numerous reports of the first batch freezing up and being completely unloadable. These aren't out of the way bugs, but things you might encounter during normal play.

Age of Kings (DS) is recommended for hardcore players interested in a campaign challenge who can ignore the games numerous flaws.

Game Score

8.2

Reviewed By: Matthew Emirzian