ONE of the main reasons that Age of Empires 3 never quite resonated with me was that I was stuck with controlling a European power trying to colonise the New World. Then, when the first expansion came along, they added the Red Indian tribes.
But all that has changed with the second expansion - The Asian Dynasties. This time, you can command the vast Ming army of China, the soulful samurais of Japan and the trampling elephants of India.
You get to play three different campaigns of each Asian dynasty, but the best is the Japanese campaign. Here, you are a young samurai Sakuma Kichiro who serves his surrogate father Tokugawa Ieyasu, who is war-bent on ruling a unified Japan. But it turns out that Sakuma's life is a lie and now he must choose between loyalty and revenge.
In addition to the campaign, you can play single-map battles either against the computer or versus other human players over the Net.
Also fun is the addition of new Asian maps like Borneo, the Yellow River and Honshu, which I could really appreciate more as they were closer to my heart.
The Asian civilisations have a very obvious advantage over the earlier ones. Japan and India start with two martial-arts monks instead of one explorer, which means an advantage in early exploration and securing treasure sites. The Chinese is even better - you get a Master Monk who can recruit up to six disciples, plus another six if you have the right option.
The Japanese do not have much variety in their army, but you won't go wrong with building samurais, who are powerful all-round. The Japanese daimyo is also an important unit because he adds bonuses to the army and is the equivalent of a walking barracks.
The Chinese have the most diverse soldiers, with interesting ones like the repeating crossbowmen Chu-Ko-Nu which can fire three times faster than other archers, the gunpowder firing arquebusiers and the short- range infernal flame-thrower that will burn everything to ashes.
If you like a size advantage, then you won't be disappointed with the Indians, who have several different elephant riders to wreak havoc to armies and buildings. In addition to your own armies, you can also build trading posts with other nations where you can then hire their mercenaries.
The coolest was Shaolin Temple, where you can hire Shaolin monks who have amazing infantry and building destruction ability.
Instead of simply getting sufficient resources to advance to the next Age, like from Discovery to Colonial, the Asian nations have to build wonders, each of which have their own bonuses as well.
The Japanese Buddha not only looks serene, it gives you the power of clairvoyance as well with its 'see the whole map' ability. The Chinese Summer Palace literally gives you an endless supply of free soldiers every few minutes. The Indians' strength comes with the Taj Mahal, which can force a ceasefire for a short period of time.
It's not just in war that the Asian nations are unique. The Japanese villagers are vegetarians so they can only pluck cherries and plant rice. They can't hunt but building shrines near groups of animals increase resource gathering slightly. The Indian villagers require wood instead of food to create, which means that the Indian player will have more food to build an army.
The Asian Dynasties is a marked improvement. For us Singaporeans, this is possibly one game that will be close to our heart as we command Shaolin monks, Chakram-throwing Sikh soldiers, Japanese samurai and even Nepalese Gurkhas.
RATING: 8.5/10
$38
Real-time strategy (genre)
PC (platform)
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CHEATSHEET
THE Asian dynasties kick ass, so if you want to beat your friends, go Japanese, Chinese or Indian. For example, you start with monks instead of an explorer and you can plough your farms for gold instead of food, which the other nations can't.
Building a diverse army is important because there are counters to different units. Sending your cavalry against the Chinese Qiang pikeman with his long spears is sure suicide. The general rule - archers vs infantry, spears vs cavalry, cavalry vs archers and siege vs buildings.
So a good early strategy is to build archers and protect them with some spearmen. The archers can take out infantry while the spears defend against fast cavalry.
The Chinese have an advantage with early exploration because the Master Monk can spawn up to six disciples. This mini-army means you will be able to kill off enemy monks early in the game to inhibit your opponents' scouting abilities.
The Japanese daimyo needs to be kept away from the main battle because he is extremely valuable as a walking barrack and his military bonuses, but he is extremely limited in numbers. In fact, each daimyo has a name.
The Indian elephant and Chinese flame-thrower do area-of-effect damage and work well against buildings.
The Indians form the only nation that can build sacred lands to increase experience points. That means you can get your bonus shipments faster, although the Japanese can bring in more shipments than others.