Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs Demo

Age of Empires III came a bit late to the party, since it got released quite a while after the second title, but it managed to revitalize the series and bring its popularity back in a rush. Now, a new expansion pack is out, featuring more improvements on the original title and three new civilizations to lead on the battlefield.

Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs takes on a different path than its predecessor, because it focuses on tribes and their leaders, as well as their culture and the traditions that made them unique. Hence, instead of researching technology in order to gain advanced weaponry or faster production, these civilizations use powerful dances and revered shamans.

The three new civilizations are the Aztecs, the Iroquois and the Sioux, each one of which comes with its own specific strengths and weaknesses, as well as many unique units and bonuses. Thus, while they might lack a certain technological prowess, they make up for it in battle, through the use of fast units, effective healers and powerful attacks.

As always, you can witness the power of the new civilizations, as well as learn how to play with them by undertaking the new campaigns that are available, since they are focused entirely on the newly added tribes. The already existing factions received a lot of attention as well, especially when it comes to the European civilizations. Hence, you get to choose whether to start a revolution when you reach the industrial age, in order to gain certain boosts and take advantage of the revolutionary heroes that can be trained.

The other changes include a fire pit that's available to the native civilizations, which can be used to perform dances and increase certain attributes of your colony, such as unit creation speed, attack bonuses and so on. To increase the bonus amount, all you have to do is send more villagers to the fire pit, as long as you haven't reached the maximum quota.

Lastly, Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs does exactly what it's supposed to: bring a lot of new elements, but without disturbing what was already there. Thus, the fans of the original title should be more than pleased by this expansion, especially when it comes to balancing and the new units that have been added.