I am a player from China and begin to play this game about 20 years ago. I have to say that her aesthetic image, historical immersion and rich in strategic attracted me deeply. In fact, even 20 years later, there are still a lot of fans in our country who love this game deeply. And of course, I am a member of them even I am a total rookie in PVP mode.
So let me say this, Microsoft and the working team have done a nearly flawless job. They not only keep the "feel” of the original game but also add many exciting features.
First of all, the DE version adds 4 new civilizations and 3 new campaigns. Like the AOE2 always do, all of the new civilizations have their individual building style. I hope that is a beginning, not an end. Actually, I think most gamers want to purchase new exquisite skin and DLC which has new grand campaigns. By the way, I think Chinese campaigns are too less, is that because of political? If you will put forward a new DLC with Chinese campaigns, I will definitely purchase it and recommend it to my friends as well as in the Chinese AOE community.
In another aspect, DE makes a significant improvement in the graphic, including but not limited to the plant, water, and medieval-style building and soldiers. You can even experience this game like a scenic movie or a museum. I am not a game graph designer but I think this is a challenge for the dev team. Is it a competitive game so you must keep the units in-game are easy to identify as well have their individually own characteristics. Obviously, the dev team has given a good answer to us.
Another big improvement is the sound. Included the new orchestral remastering of the soundtrack and new in-game unit voice line. It gets more clean and fulness. You know the sound in a game may not the most important part but can evoke the deepest memory in the people’s brain after many years. So it is definitely a necessary part of a great game! Actually, to choose a villager and keeping right-click the mouse on a tree then listen to ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-chopper (In Chinese it is fa- fa- fa- fa- fa-fa mu gong) is one of the deepest memory for me and many players.
What’s more, the improved UI design and abundant detail also give me a deep impression. Now, with the help of new UI, you can easily know how many idle villagers you have now and how many military teams you have formed. For me, the most convenient new function is that in one operation I can choose every military unit in a box and not include any villagers. On the other hand, abundant detail also makes me very exciting. For example, every civilization have their own wonder, they are made by different materials such as rock, wood and so on that’s not important. The most important is, all of the wonders have their individually collapse animation！ Perhaps that’s not a hard job but let me know how deep the dev team loves to AOE 2.
Another interesting new feature I have to point out is the Art of war mode. It comes from a famous art of war book called Master Sun’s Art of War which written by a Chinese strategist called Sun Tzu. I have to say I am so proud of this! The new player can get significant progressive by overcoming the challenge in this mode. To be honest, after 3 hours of playing, I still can’t get the gold medal. That seems to prove that I am still a rookie lol.
At last, I want to give forward some improvement opinions to AOE2 DE. That’s not complaints but because I want AOE2 DE to get better and better.
- The cost of a huge volume of virtual memory. I believe that’s will be the most complaints from the gamers in the community. For me, my computer has 16G memory but still can’t play the game with high graphic DLC at first, the game will crash most of the time until I change my virtual memory to 20G. I am a CS major graduate student so I know something about the game running. But I don’t think all gamers can solve this problem in a short time. So I really look forward that the next patch can fix this. Or AOE2 will lose many players especially new players.
- I really miss the death voice and skeleton of every unit, not because I am a madman. For gameplay, it will remind you that you lose a unit. don’t know it is just because of this feature just uncompleted or it will never back. But an interesting fact is, boar has voice when it dies!
- For playing the recorded game, I think a progress bar is very necessary. If possible, a cursor follows function will be good for us to learn from professionalism.
That’s all I want to say for this game right now. Despite it is not easy for a Non-native English man, I just want to say I love this game. So, no matter for the old player or those who want to come into a new world, if you still didn’t purchase, don’t be hesitate!