Incredible graphics and very realistic gameplay, far ahead of it's time period and even excels by today's standards. No other game like it. Attention to detail in this game is immaculate.
Next to it's spiritual successor, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, this has to be one of the most incredible RTS games ever made. What other RTS game can take you from the stone age to the space age, and hit every epoch inbetween? Answer: NONE
This was my absolute favorite game growing up. The graphics were incredible for the time, and the gameplay was so unique. I was never able to understand how everyone knew Age of Empires but had never even heard of this ABSOLUTE GEM of an RTS. Pro tip: If you use the map builder to start a game you can get Japanese pirates from the campaign.
