The End of An Era?

Or is it the beginning of a comeback? Some say that 2D real time strategy games are dead. Of all the big name real time strategy games that have been released lately, only Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings boldly steps forward while bereft of any 3D support whatsoever. GASP! In this day of 3D for the sake of 3D, how can they get away with that? On the one extreme we have Homeworld (review still pending), which promises to redefine the RTS genre by presenting a truly 3D battlefield. Then there are the tweeners like Total Annihilation Kingdoms with polygonal 3D units, and Command and Conquer 2, which incorporated 3D by way of voxels, but didn't really add anything spectacularly new to RTS.

A troop of Paladins awaits reinforcements

A Teutonic castle stands guard over a gateway

In this crowded field of 3D RTS games, can a completely 2D game like Age of Kings snatch the RTS crown away from Starcraft? Our view as old school RTS players is that the genre doesn't necessarily need 3D like first person shooters do. The longevity of games like Starcraft and the original Age of Empires is a testament to the fact that refined, balanced gameplay will be more likely to hook gamers than 3D for the sake of 3D. RTS games often require dozens of units to be on screen at once, each firing tons of projectiles. If you're going to make a game entirely in 3D then there's going to be a real cost incurred there. Gamers who played TA Kingdoms before last week's patch know that tons of 3D units and projectiles on screen can really bring a computer to its knees.

That wall would be tough to crack

A Turkish monastery next to a university

Age of Empires 2 doesn't rely on neat 3D eye candy to grab the gamer. Instead it brings a number of smaller, evolutionary tweaks to the RTS gameplay that players have really yearned for. Don't get us wrong though. We're not saying AOE2 is great gameplay put in an ugly package. On the contrary, AOE 2 sports arguably the most gorgeous visuals of any RTS game on the market!