Age of Empires 3 - The WarChiefs

An expansion worth it's weight in gold (or food or wood).

Review By HistoryTeacher.

While I find that most expansions do not add as much replay value as players think they will and are intended mostly to add to the profits of the company, this expansion is one of the exceptions. It adds three entirely new civilizations and several all new campaigns. In addition there are new buildings and units for existing civilizations as well as entirely new game mechanics.

NEW CIVILIZATIONS: The new civilizations remain as historically accurate as the european ones and do not compromise the unique native identity by trying to confrom to an already existing mold. Rather new game mechanics have been developed that is truer to the three native civilizations. The play differences between them remain diverse enough to account for player differences.

NEW BUILDINGS: While it is somewhat of a token attempt to not exclude european civilizations from updates it does a good job of adding fun new features such as the inclusion of saloons to recruit mercenaries. If you are just picking this up for the buildings/units you will probably be disappointed so make sure you consider the other changes as well.

NEW GAME MECHANICS: Some of the new game mechanics are very confusing to explain, although somewhat less so in game. One of the best features is the native fire dances which add benefits to your native civilization. The european concept of revolution is perhaps not clearly enough fleshed out in the game manual for most people to understand if it is desirable for their play style.

INTERFACE UPDATE: Added features to sort cards by age or by building makes it much easier to construct decks than it was previously. The rest of the interface updates remain mainly cosmetic (ie: skin changed to bluish tones). Like most expansions it resets almost everything to default and you will need to change it back.

OVERALL: Overall a very worthwhile expansion with good content. It might take a bit of tweaking to get used to but if you were a fan of the first one there is a good chance you will find something you like that adds to the richness of your play experience in the expansion pack as well. If you are not sure about the addition of native civilizations to the mix you will want to think twice.

NAME: AGE OF EMPIRES 3 - THE WARCHIEFS

SYSTEM: PC, Mac OS