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Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs Review
Finally puts an end to the AOE expansion curse.

By Rick Poulin, GamingExcellence

Review Summary
Pros: Very nice and varied artistic elements; crisp graphics and neat
effects; audio is adequate (much the same as Age of Empires III); adds a
whole new dimension to an already excellent game.
Cons: Cut-scenes are a little laggy; graphics can be taxing on
performance; hot keys have been annoyingly remapped.


February 26, 2007 - The question of purchasing expansions is a difficult
one for most gamers. Since most expansions usually fall short of
expectations, one can usually find them in the bargain bin half a year
after their release. For real-time strategy games like Microsoft’s Age of
Empires series, the expansion formula usually involves slightly
incrementing the game’s time span by adding a single-player campaign or
two, and increasing the replay value with a new civilization or new map
types. The very successful series, which includes titles such as Age of
Empires II: The Age of Kings and Age of Mythology, has closely followed
this formula and has seen limited success from their expansions. Since
Microsoft showed no signs of deviating from the usual with their latest
release, I met The WarChiefs , with a hint of apprehension.

Following the series’ lead, it came as no surprise that The WarChiefs
boasted excellent visuals from the start. The opening cinematic, though
very short, is beautifully rendered and opens onto a redesigned interface.
As before, the background is a fully dynamic representation of the player’s
home city. The expansion adds a new single-player campaign of 15 missions
in two acts. You’ll recall that the original campaign has you playing as
three generations of the Black family, Morgan, John and Amelia, whose
storyline focused on a mysterious group called “The Circle of Ossus” and
the myth of the water of life. Thankfully, that idea was not pursued in the
expansion. In the first act, you control Nathaniel Black (John’s son and
Amelia’s father), who was raised by Native Americans and is unwillingly
pulled into the Revolutionary War to protect his tribe. In a significant
digression from recorded history, the writers have invited the Germans to
fight alongside the British and Nathaniel is quick to form a rivalry with
their particularly annoying leader, Colonel Kuechler. The second act sees
Amelia’s son Chayton expand the family railroad westward and encounter
Sioux tribes resistant to their territorial invasion. Chayton gets bullied
around by his fat friend Billy Holme until his Native American heritage
catches up to him and he leads the Sioux to victory. Though not
particularly captivating, the campaign does feature an innovative twist on
traditional objectives and varied gameplay. The high quality of the mission
crafting should be attributed to the map designers, who have produced rich
maps that work well with the objectives while still providing artistic
beauty. In one particular battle, the epic battle of Washington vs.
Cornwallis at Yorktown, the landscape is wonderfully similar to the last
scene of The Patriot (Mel Gibson).

Not to disappoint the fans of variety, The WarChiefs adds three new
civilizations, giving the Native Americans a real role in the battle. The
Sioux, the Iroquois and the Aztecs all played vital roles in the
colonization of America by Europeans, so it’s only fair that they may
partake in the bloodshed as more than mercenaries for European players. As
opposed to expansions of previous games, the three come complete with their
own architectural styles, enriching the artistic quality of the game. In
addition, the three cultures each have an infantry and cavalry unique to
their race, which promises to add much needed variety to the battlefield
crowded with musketeers. A novel element common to all three is the fire
pit “building” which essentially acts as a fourth resource. Players of
Native American races can task villagers to dance around the fire in order
to provide their civilization with bonuses ranging from a population boost
to attack bonuses, with increases in effectiveness as more villagers are
assigned to dance. It sounds like an odd idea but you’ll soon appreciate
its effects.

Though these additions are interesting, the standard expansion recipe still
applies up to now. I was pleased to discover that the developers gave The
WarChiefs an extra push. The list of home city cards available to your
civilization seems like an obvious spot for some extras and it hasn’t been
overlooked. In fact, the new list of cards is the single element most
likely to add a significant amount of depth to the game. They provide
tide-turning abilities such as rebuilding forts with musketeers, wide-scale
capitol-style upgrades in the Discovery age (e.g. villagers gather food 10%
from all sources), and rapid reconnaissance using permanent hot-air
balloons. To ease the integration of these cards into decks, the limit has
been increased to 25 cards per deck, which also reduces the probability of
unusable shipment allotments during longer matches.

Gameplay is further varied by the addition of a few other features. Players
can now buy a trade monopoly if they control more than half of the trade
posts on the map, which (for a modest fee) initiates a five-minute victory
countdown. Multiplayer games can also be started with a treaty which
prohibits outright combat for 10, 20, 30 or 40 minutes for those who
dislike “rushing” matches and prefer longer games. Equally conscious of
players with a preference for shorter games, the expansion provides a
“Revolution” mode as an alternative to the Imperial age, which transforms
your civilization into a powerful war-driven race. By revolting, other
players are locked into “imperialism” to avoid complete carnage. This
option converts your villagers to militia, transforms your colony into a
military powerhouse and changes your home city as well. However,
revolutionists will be unable spawn more villagers thereby grinding their
economy to a screeching halt. The revolution option is a drastic one bound
to resolve stalemates quickly.

The expansion also adds six new map types representing various regions of
western America. From the lime green grasses and terra cotta hills of the
Andes to the reddish cliffs of the painted deserts of Arizona, the game’s
artists have truly outdone themselves. Each map has new elements
specifically crafted to represent the region and each presents a different
tactical advantage. However, it’s the fine touches of artwork that make
them amazingly enjoyable to play. Battles will rage amongst the boreal
forests in the Northwest Territories under a calm gentle rain unless the
frosty winter changes it to a ravenous blizzard. By far the nicest and most
diverse type is the California map which features beautiful sandy beaches,
mountainous cliffs coiffed with tall redwood trees and blends westward with
the beginnings of the Mojave Desert. The cliffs also provide tactical
advantages and defensive possibilities which molds the aesthetic with the
functional.

Other noticeable improvements to the game are that Explorers are marked as
stars on the mini-map for quick identification; War Chiefs provide bonuses
to nearby troops; European colonies can train/buy mercenaries and natives
from the new Saloon and Native Embassy buildings; and finally five new
minor tribes are present on the new maps

With its many gameplay changes and additions, The WarChiefs has all the
right cards to finally break the dreadful curse that has plagued the
series’ previous expansions. At the very least, it’s sure to provide much
enjoyment to the artistically inclined.