Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties Demo

The Age of Empires series has been among the pioneers of the RTS genre, especially when it comes to era advancement mechanics and the extensive resource gathering required in order to advance through the game. Now, after three titles have already been released, a new expansion pack has hit the market, featuring a new campaign and many improvements to add to the overall experience.

Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, as the name implies, concerns itself with Asian history and the civilizations that ruled the lands in the eastern part of the world. Hence, the three new playable races are Japan, China and India, each one of which comes with a specific set of units, different technologies, as well as unique architecture and imposing cities.

Naturally, the game also puts a few new campaigns at your disposal, which are meant to show off the greatness of the new civilizations. Whether you have to unite Japan under the mighty Tokugawa Shogun, explore the Americas using China's glorious Ming dynasty, or fight in the war of independence against the British East India Company, you are guaranteed a decent number of gameplay hours and exciting scenarios to put the troops to the test.

Although the third title in the series introduced a few new gameplay gimmicks and removed a couple of old ones, the overall idea has remained the same, as is the case with this expansion pack as well. Thus, you can start from the nomad era and continue advancing until you build an imposing empire, all while gathering resources, building an army and exploring the maps for treasure. However, you can now build a consulate and form alliances with various civilizations around the world, which in turn provides you with certain economical or military bonuses, as long as the alliances hold.

Moreover, some old game modes have been resurrected as well, such as the famous Regicide and King of the Hill, which are both part of the classic Age of Empires games. Obviously, there are some graphical improvements too, which can be clearly seen in the new races and their architecture, as well as in the surrounding landscapes and the civilizations that were already present.

Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties manages to include everything you might have needed in order to continue enjoying the original game, such as new units, buildings, races and gameplay additions to mix up the experience. Thus, the fans of the series should really appreciate this title, especially since it really doesn't break anything that was already working.