Cheap Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties Expansion Pack

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This is a solid expansion to the AGE OF EMPIRES III, the one you will play for hours at end. Although the 3rd installment of AoE was the weakest of the series (I personally enjoyed much more AGE OF EMPIRES II), I have to admit that I was really pleased by this expansion and cannot complain but about minor things.

After the lukewarm WARCHIEFS, which introduced Native American civilizations, this expansion introduces three major Asian civilizations (Japanese, Chinese, and Indian) with their corresponding campaigns.

The Japanese campaign takes place during the Shogunate civil wars. The Chinese campaign (trying to avoid any...political shoals) is on the fictional discovery of the New World by the Chinese (I would have preferred it to be about the unification of China under the Qin dynasty but, then again, that would make it quite similar to the Japanese campaign). Finally, the Indian campaign is centered on the uprooting of the British East-India Trading Company.

All three campaigns follow a scenario that will surprise you at many points (and frustrate you in some others). Nevertheless, keep in mind that this is an RTS game so don't expect a JAMES CLAVELL novel plot twists.

The graphics are just a notch better than WARCHIEFS, the interface has received only minor retouching strokes and one can rely on finding, once more, the known exceptional gameplay. Not only are the new units carefully balanced, they can be seamlessly incorporated with the previous AGE OF EMPIRES III units. Stacking Samurai infantry against Highlanders anyone? (yes, only one can survive in the end...)

My only complain is the music: AoE's are of the games that are played for endless hours. So music is important not to be tiresome. This being the ASIAN DYNASTIES expansion, I felt that the game developers missed the chance of introducing some new and distinctly Japanese, Chinese and Indian tunes. Well, one can always bring his own music I guess...

One of the best expansions this year.

RECOMMENDED.

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Well i dont want to spoil anyone by giving out too many details about China, India and Japan. ill just say that 3 new nations are unique, fun and easy to play with. All have specific only to them cards, wonders, military units. The artists at Big Huge Games did a great job of capturing the unique building structures for the new factions too. They all share similar economic tree but have elemets that distinct them like Japan can't hunt but has Cherry Orchard, and its houses serve as shrines that attract wild animals and generate 3 different resources one ata time. India cant kill cows from lifestock but uses them to gather Export, a new resource which you can spend to buy some units from Consulate where you ally with European nations. Each new side has own strategy it can implement. India relies heavily on Elephants, China on its Banner Army. Its very fun, voice acting of villagers is excellent and amuzing as always so its really a joy to listen villagers speak back on new languages. Graphics are passable, they are a bit oldy compared to some other rts games on the market but the gameplay is what counts. Its a rare and generous package of new visuals, new gameplay, and absolutely crucial improvements to the core game. If you weren't an Age III fan before Asian Dynasties, get ready to be one now. A good title for fans, worth buying for those hoping for a reinvigoration of the series.

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This expansion pack adds extra challenges with newer maps like the Silk Road map which allows for capturing trading posts instead of building them and further adding the option for a "monopoly win" of the routes. Other maps have treasures and guardians in the sea as well as on land. You can now earn up to having 25 experience cards in a deck as you progress in experience and they have done away with that lame customization of a home city which never made much sense. The experience cards for the new civilizations are also more diverse and innovative than the standard ones in Age III. For loyal players of the series you may get a sense that Age of Mythology was the influence for many of the new features, and a happy marriage at that.

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I enjoy all of the Age of Empires games and this one is another great expansion with new gameplay. You get to learn new ways to build your army and new ways to fight which keeps it interesting. The best fun is playing head to head with my husband. We are very competitive.

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I'd had Age of Empires III and the Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs Expansion Pack for some time, and I enjoyed them quite a bit, so I decided to give this one a shot. I figured that, if nothing else, it would at least give me some variety in skirmish and multiplayer. What I got was adequate, but not particularly great.

The core game has always relied on giving each nation a gimmick, but the nations in this game are pretty much nothing but gimmicks. In War Chiefs each of the tribes had a theme which gave them certain strengths and weaknesses, but they all had the same core gameplay, which was little different from the European powers. With this expansion, the developers seem to have focused on shoveling in as much "unique" content for each nation as they can, which becomes monumentally distracting, as all this additional content is, indeed, additional to core gameplay. None of these nations share units, and most of the units they have are useless. For example: I thought to play as the Indians because, hey, elephant cavalry. I spent five minutes figuring out how their economy worked before I even tried to really get going, and when I did I discovered that elephants are effectively a separate, extremely expensive unit type, and I couldn't figure out a way to integrate them into my army. Similarly, the Chinese army building mechanic is infuriating, and the strength of the unique infantry for each nation means that I pretty much never build cavalry. Also, it must be stated that the Japanese are horrendously overpowered: I've never even been threatened with defeat in any game playing them.

Given that, if you liked the core game, you'll probably have some fun with this. I did. You have to treat it as being somewhat silly to have it be really enjoyable, as some of the mechanics are hilariously ahistorical or unrealistic but still deeply rooted in the common culture. So, yeah. Don't buy the core game on the strength of this expansion, but if you like the game, this is probably worth a shot.