Age of Empires Online

Age of Empires Online is a massive multiplayer online real time strategy game. It is developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft, who also produced the entire Age of Empire series.

It has both PvE and PvP playing modes, co-op mode for some quests. To download and play it, you need a Windows Live account.

The installing process took a bit longer than I expected. Besides, you don't get many options in the Launcher window. If you want to change the graphics or any other options, you have to wait until you actually enter the game.

The main thing I noticed first was the big change from the artistic point of view. The old Age of Empires games were a bit more gritty and dark, this new game, however, is a lot more cartoony in design and a lot more colorful.

You start the game by choosing from 4 civilizations : Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Celts. Each one looks, plays and basically in everything is different from the other. Once you've chosen a civilization, you will go through a small tutorial which I found very entertaining. You are given a Capital City which serves as your base of operations, from where you can take new quests or expand and build. I liked the fact that you can play co-op with other players in certain quests, which can help you socialize within the game. Although the game is sometimes laggy, it is still quite entertaining.

The graphics are modern and very well-optimized, and if you zoom-in really close to your units you can see a high level of detail. The sound effects are fun and enjoyable, and the music is similar to the old versions of Age of Empires.