DS PREVIEW
Take control of your empire
PC hit Age of Empires transfers to the DS |
When you think of great handheld games, hardcore strategy isn't really the option that first springs to mind. Who wants to spend their time organising logistics, planting crops or researching new technology on a screen not much bigger than your palm? Surely that's what PDAs and real-life are all about!
But, in the right hands, portable strategy can work. One perfect example is Nintendo's colourful and cute battler, Advance Wars. And that's the example we're hoping THQ will be following as it attempts to squeeze down popular historical game Age of Empires for DS.
Based on the multi-million selling PC series, Age of Empires: The Age of Kings sees you take control of a kingdom, steering it from the Dark Ages through to the Middle Ages. In doing so you'll build up your power base through a variety of methods – military force, combined with researching and deploying new technologies.
Five civilisations are on offer: Britons, Franks, Mongols, Saracens, and Japanese. Each has its own strengths and weakness, and these are reflected in the military units you can command. There are around 50 types including bowmen, monks, hand cannoneers, mercenaries and samurai.
You'll also be able to wield special units. Based on heroes of the past such as Richard the Lionheart, Robin Hood, and Genghis Khan, deploying them wisely will enable you to shift the entire battlefield in your favour.
But Age of Empires isn't just about warfare. As well as its native warriors, each race also has its own characteristic buildings and technologies. You'll need to build mines, universities, churches and town halls to make sure your civilisation keeps ahead of the competition. Technologies waiting to be invented by your subjects include such black arts as ballistics, siege craft and spying.
Technology will be a big issue for the game's developers too. In its PC form Age of Empires was pretty complicated to play, and even with the relative freedom that comes with the DS' touchscreen, it will be interesting to see which elements are simplified for pocket gaming, and what effect that will have on the style of game.
One clear change for the DS version will be the pacing, which is slower; you'll have as long as you want to make your moves. Also simplifying the process will be a combat advisor, who provides advice on campaign strategies and gives an indication as to how he thinks battles will go. While main focus of Age of Empires will be this single player experience, you'll also be able to play against three friends using the DS' local wireless networking.
Currently being beaten into shape in a creaking medieval blacksmith's forge, no one's entirely sure when Age of Empires: The Age of Kings will be released. We expect it sometime around March or April.
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