67
In the end, Age of Empires Online works well as a demo rather than a F2P game. There just doesn't seem to have been enough thought about what each element from the MMO and RTS genres bring to the party. Instead, they've just been thrown together.
70
Online sequel to the legendary strategic series focuses on a different target group than its predecessors and promises to become a global phenomenon. [Dec 2011]
60
To use its whole potential you have to dig deep into your pockets to unlock premium content. The only thing left for the fans of the series is to hope for Age of Empires IV. [November 2011, p.80]
10
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
4
Way to ruin a fantastic RTS series Microsoft! Coming from an Age of Empires 3 competitive player and a great fan of the series, this game was garbage. Cartoon graphics, micro transaction, buying civs? Half mmo/half rts, what kind of a concept is that? And now that Games for Windows Live is shutting down in 2014. the game will end anyway, great way to treat loyal fans, if the game had any. I still hope that some day, someone will make a true successor to the series, a real Age of Empires IV, the kind that we all love. We can only hope.
2
I actually expected Microsoft to do things right, but I was wrong. They turned the AOE franchise into a Pay2Win game with confusing mechanics, bugs and lots of problems....
Age of Empires Online
Released On:
Aug 16, 2011
Metascore
Mixed or Average
70
User score
Mixed or Average
5.7
My Score
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All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
39% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
61% Mixed
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Aug 22, 2011
90
While it may seem trivial to say, Age of Empires Online lives up to its title perfectly. It's a fully-featured Age of Empires game, while including all the Online trappings an MMO aficionado could want.
Aug 22, 2011
80
A recommended game for strategy players and a noteworthy achievement updating the beloved game to current times.
User score
Mixed or Average
35% Positive
67 Ratings
67 Ratings
30% Mixed
57 Ratings
57 Ratings
35% Negative
68 Ratings
68 Ratings
Aug 14, 2013
10
I have to say that the concept of MMO+RTS becomes highly enjoyable in this game. In early game, you can do simple tasks to learn the basis, upgrade and loot some start-up gear. While reaching lv15, you'd get access to all the four ages and many useful upgrades in the tech tree. Slowly after lv30, challenging tasks are out there for you to conquer. Now you're at lv40 and you'd realise the fun has just begun. You could choose to join any of the three alliance to do even more interesting and challenging quests with other online players, earn large amount of gold and empire points, and loot amazing gears to power up your civ. The legendary gears sold in stores are very useful too as long as you earn sufficient golds. The late game never ends so long as you are still anxious to improve your gear to the ultimate. Yes you may need to pay at least 10 bucks to your first civ, but after fully upgrade it to lv40 and start the alliance war, reward can be fairly satisfactory. After some while you can totally afford the other contents that need purchase. Believe me there's tons of fun in this game, skirmish, legendary quests, defend of Crete, interaction with other players, etc. You can't find them all in any of the other existing games.
Sep 19, 2011
75
Age of Empires Online is pretty, well-designed and a little bit nostalgic RTS. But the shortcomings of a freemium model are obvious here: to win you have to pay. [October 2011, p.99]
Oct 12, 2011
67
A fine RTS in the classic tradition, but it takes players far too long to get to the good parts--even if you pay. [Dec 2011, p.76]
Sep 1, 2011
60
If you want to "play for free", then Age of Empires Online has enough content to keep you entertained for about forty hours. But if you want to play it as a completive "pvp" RTS, the only way to do it is by purchasing the Premium content. If you choose the second way, you will find out that AOE Online has far less content and options than some older AOE titles.
Sep 9, 2011
50
The game is by no means worthy of the legacy its series has created, but it's not entirely horrible either.
Mar 1, 2013
10
Absolute awesomeness! The only drawback is that to unlock everything you must spend a little bit of money. Other than that this game is amazing! That's all I have to say about this game.
Nov 29, 2011
7
As others have said, I was rather skeptical with the cartoon style of AoEO. However, I gave it a try and it was decent. But the more I played, I noticed a lot of aspects of the game were missing. How to get them? Paying. Unless you were expecting to get the whole game for free, it'll satisfy any AoE fan out there for a while.
Oct 23, 2011
7
I have been playing for free so far and I admit it has been fun. I don't know whether paying for things will be worth it or not. Time will tell I guess. Looking forward to the Celts. :)
Nov 9, 2013
4
Way to ruin a fantastic RTS series Microsoft! Coming from an Age of Empires 3 competitive player and a great fan of the series, this game was garbage. Cartoon graphics, micro transaction, buying civs? Half mmo/half rts, what kind of a concept is that? And now that Games for Windows Live is shutting down in 2014. the game will end anyway, great way to treat loyal fans, if the game had any. I still hope that some day, someone will make a true successor to the series, a real Age of Empires IV, the kind that we all love. We can only hope.
Sep 4, 2012
4
An RTS game with elements of RGP, and I must admit its a great idea and could be put to good use, however, its not what happens. They build a mode called pvp champion where pure RTS players can play against another players without any element of RPG, it means all civs and players should have the same chance to win, but unfortunately it doesn't happen because the new civs (Pros) are much stronger than the free civs, which makes the game totally unbalanced to play. The funy thing here is that they have a entire "balance team" working to make this game balanced, but the game is becoming to be the opposed of it... About the RPG elements, it also is exploited poorly, there is not a ranked or reward for players that wants to play against another players in this mode making it borring, the only think that can be done here is to play against computers. To get it worse, the game appears to be in development, and all new updates make the game less fun. Its a shame they have only bad ideas, and the only thing that works is what they copy from another games...
SummaryWith more than 20 million copies sold worldwide, the “Age of Empires” series redefined real-time strategy games for Windows-based PC players. Now, the timeless franchise once again invites players to experience its rich storyline in new ways. “Age of Empires Online” will invite players to create a living, growing online world, shared wit... Read More
Rated E +10for Everyone +10
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date:Aug 16, 2011
Developer:
Publisher:
