![]() The Definitive Edition also comes content-complete, with both previously released expansions and a new one designed specifically for this version. It sports 4K graphics, enhanced sound effects and music, improved particle effects, and several other quality of life improvements much like its predecessors. Fifteen years later, the game’s definitive edition has arrived, completing the promised trio of modernized Age of Empires games. Performance when playing massive battles might also need optimization given the results from the in-game benchmark tool.Age of Empires III originally released in late 2005. Likewise, the UI still looks unnecessarily cluttered, pathfinding needs a few tweaks, and certain QOL improvements for navigation and cycling would’ve been helpful. I’ve encountered issues with the UHD options and even with zooming in, which means the touted visual improvements and additional details were hardly noticeable. The animations and visuals, even with UHD support, are woefully outclassed when compared to other titles that are more visually striking. For the most part, I was looking forward to QOL and UI improvements, but these were also lacking. That was a time I remember fondly when I was younger, but not so much as I’ve gotten older. In the case of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, its mechanics harken back to the bygone days of clickfests, micromanagement, and swarming. Considering how much the strategy genre has changed in the last two decades, there are moments of reinvention and reinvigoration, and there are times when franchises stuck to a winning formula with a few improvements. ![]() You’ve also got turn-based tactical titles like Fantasy General II and XCOM 2, and grand strategy offerings such as Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings. We’ve seen what other strategy games brought to the table from Civilization VI, Company of Heroes, and Age of Wonders: Planetfall to Total War: Warhammer II and Steel Division 2. The strategy genre remains vibrant with many die-hard supporters. Instead, something akin to the functions in Civilization or Age of Wonders, or Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis, might be more helpful: a panel that would instead allow you to cycle through or immediately select each unit of that type (or even unit groupings) as opposed to double-clicking, remembering hotkeys, or trying to find them on the map.Īge of Empires II: Definitive Edition – The final verdictĪlthough I can appreciate all the content included in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, I still feel that it comes far too late. Right now, it just lists down your military or civilian units which isn’t very intuitive. Outlines and list panels are helpful, sure, but I would’ve preferred a better means of navigation and unit cycling as opposed to remembering every hotkey.Īn idea I had in mind was the aforementioned player/AI panel at the lower right-hand side of the screen. A means of toggling various parts of the UI (as opposed to scaling all of them to size) would’ve been more acceptable. Heck, I still haven’t figured out how to remove the player/AI panel from the game’s UI since it’s highly unnecessary. And, barring that, you still don’t have unit tooltips or an army management panel which would’ve led to a user-friendly and intuitive interface. You still can’t rotate the map, so good luck if you somehow can’t find a unit that’s hidden behind a building. Even the (wonky) capability to zoom in and out is already considered a major addition to the game, though it’s already present in a vast majority of strategy titles nowadays. This is just one of the trifling concerns I have with Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Those are, obviously, more modern games, and so the optimization for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition can be quite concerning especially if you’re looking to play with lots of friends. I’ve gotten better framerate results from Destiny 2, Steel Division 2, and Total War: Three Kingdoms. The benchmark’s results, which required 1,000 points to make it viable for you to play multiplayer matches, only had a score of 1,020 (barely a passing score). My PC which has quite a decent setup - i7-7700k, GTX 1070 Ti, and 16 GB of RAM - only clocked in around 35 FPS. The benchmark tool, which depicts battles between larger forces or multiplayer matches, will show you massive framerate drops. But, that’s solely because of using smaller, specialized armies. I had an average of 60-70 FPS, which is perfectly acceptable. ![]() I played most of my games using the ultra preset. It’s a fine feature to have, but it’ll also show you how the framerate can be all over the place. Also, the in-game benchmark tool has to be addressed.
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