Age of Empires: Definitive Edition - Windows [Digital]

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is a remaster and updated version of the original Age of Empires PC game that came out on October 15, 1997 and the expansion pack Rise of Rome PC game that came out on October 31 1998. I thought I would warn you that in order to download and play Age of Empires: Definitive Edition you need to go to Microsoft website and set up and activate an account with Microsoft so that you have a password with Microsoft to use and activate the game’s digital code you bought. Another thing I don't like is every time you click on a selection to try to go into the Main Menu in the game your redirected to a page where Microsoft tells you about upcoming features for the game and they want to go click on the page to go over to Microsoft website. Why can't you just go straight into the selection you pick on the Main Menu instead of being redirected to another page every single time? Some parts of the remastered and updated version of Age of Empires is really well done so far. The graphics are really nice and the game now has a zoom feature where you can now use the middle mouse button to zoom in and out. You can go into the game Settings and go to Zoom Detail and change the zoom feature at X1, X2, or X4. Unfortunately my computer has a computer monitor that can only go to 2K resolution (2000 pixels) (1920x1080) so I can only zoom at X2. I cannot zoom at X4 because I don’t have a computer monitor that can go into 4K resolution (4,000 pixels). I'm finding out that technology is changing so often and so fast that it is almost impossible to stay caught up with anything in technology anymore. It seems like you buy something today and it is obsolete tomorrow. The game sounds are real nice too. The sounds of different animals and the sounds of military units clashing in battle is just amazing. I also love the game’s music that plays in the background. It was nicely remastered by a great orchestra playing the music. I also like how you learn a lot about ancient history because Age of Empires: Definitive Edition goes into great detail describing different ancient time periods and different ancient civilizations you play. The game has 12 different ancient civilizations to choose from in different ancient time periods. I think this game has a great learning tool to learn all about ancient history. Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is far from perfect. There are a few things that bother me about Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. For instance you cannot put a Desktop Icon on your computer monitor screen and you have to play the game from an Icon setup on your computer Taskbar. Also you cannot rotate around on any of the game maps. There is no rotation button. You cannot change the graphics in the game either. There are no Graphics Options In the game’s Settings to change the Video Resolution, Bit Depth, or Refresh Rate. You’re sort of stuck at whatever graphics your computer is set up for. Another thing I have noticed from what I have played so far in the game is that you cannot set up your military units in any kind of military formation. You end up setting up and sending a ragtag group of military units to fight against the enemy. The path finding in the game is just horrible. For instance I played missions in the game where all my military units and villagers just sort of stood around and didn't do anything but just stand there when being attacked. Enemy soldiers would attack my camp, village, town or city on the map and go around and destroy everything in their path. They would end up killing all my villagers and the soldiers I left to guard my home base would do nothing but just stand around and watch. It was very frustrating because usually I'm at a different location on the map fighting enemy soldiers while my home base is getting completely destroyed by the enemy. I can't be everywhere on the map all at once trying to control everything. I had villagers that wouldn't even react or run away when enemy soldiers approached them and would just end up getting killed. Microsoft programmers need to do a better job programming the game so it plays out better than it is now. The game needs better path finding so I can have my military units set up in military formations and have my villagers react and move better in the game. I hate to bring this up but In Age of Empires III you could set up military formations and villagers and military units would react to anything in that game and Age of Empires III came out almost 13 years ago (October 2005). Right now I feel the path finding in Age of Empires III is a lot better than in Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. There are no health bars over enemy units when you fight them so you can’t tell when their unit’s health goes down. In Age of Empires III you had health bars over enemy units you were fighting so you could tell right away how soon you could take the enemy units down. You could also rotate around on the maps in Age of Empires III. Plus with Age of Empires III you could set up a Desktop Icon for the game on your main computer screen. You also have Graphic Options in Age of Empires III to change the graphics. You would think that since Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is a lot newer game than Age of Empires III that this game would already have all these features. We're in the year 2018 now. Why can’t this newer game have all those features built into the game already? I hope Microsoft addresses all these issues in the future. I would also recommend when you go into game Settings do not check off any the boxes under Accessibility Settings (Menus, Chat, Game) because a narrator voice will come on and will voice everything out loud you do in the game including going through the game’s Main Menu. It get very annoying after a while. Right now I refer to the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition game has a work in process that with future patches and updates will only get better over time. For the price of $19.99 for Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, I would say it is one of the best priced video games in the market right now for the amount of content you get in the game. It just needs to catch up to the level of Age of Empires III to be consider a truly great 5 star game

I'm an avid lover of all version of AOE. When compared to AOE 2 and other previous versions, I feel this version is a let down. It has less options for the offline game plays, supporting population limit to 50, better to have them as 200. Can't be searching for players to be available in online all the time. So the offline population limit will need an increase and am expecting it to evolve better in the coming days.

This game is far less enjoyable than the originals. Minimal upgrades and the removal of key components like being able to purchase and sell raw materials and the inability to build gates for your walls have really diminished my desire to play this game. I would rather play the 90s versions of this game than this one. Microsoft really dropped the ball on this one.

If you played AOE before, this Definitive Edition should not be missed. Shame it is only a download code; miss the days of a physical box and manuals for collection. I chose to buy from bestbuy.com (to earn points best buy reward points as well) instead of directly from the Microsoft app store. The game runs smooth on my windows 10 and the graphics are sharp. Download and installation was a snap. Definitely worth $20 for this classic game.

Just another way for Microsoft to suck money out of people by updating a game that's over 20 years old im more interested in them making the new AOE game ...its been 13 years since the last AOE and AOE online failed sadly.

This game is much like the original. Graphics are remastered to run on modern displays. I cant wit ffor the next expansion coming out in the fall.

This is the classic Age of Empires game with some graphic updates. It worth the price if you aren't expecting a completely new game.

It is okay, but I find the older games better. I wish that you could build your army more, more upgrades, better graphics, but for $20, it is still a good fun game.