Age of Empires: The Age of Kings

$29.99, Nintendo DS

Teaches: history, logic, strategic thinking

CTR Rating: 94%

CTR Review

Age Of Empires comes to your DS in this excellent immersion in history. While many strategic war games focus on combat and magic, this version gives you full wars with buildings and historical events on large battlefields. The themes and content come from Ensemble Studio's Age Of Empires II: The Age Of Kings for the PC. You play as one of five cultures from around the world (Britons, Franks, Mongols, Saracens, and Japanese) and control historical leaders, (such as Joan of Arc), each with their own abilities. You can also train and hire various units that add more combat skill to your army as they fight against the other armies. Content includes 45 different types of military units, a turn-based combat (new to the Age Of Empires franchise), the ability to construct & upgrade buildings, 50 technologies like chemistry or ballistics, a new Combat Advisor and multiplayer scenarios which allow up to 4 players to battle each other wirelessly. This game is fun and full of historic events that may or may not be completely accurate. Some things may have had to be embellished to make it more interesting. Age Of Kings is a fun game that will keep players engaged for days, if not months.