No Age of Empires game would be complete without an expansion. The original game dealt with America,colonization,and revolution. Of course this was under the perspective of American and European forces. The WarChiefs expansion pack deals with Native American tribes, the Iroquois, the Sioux, and the Aztec.
Overall the game does what you would expect, expands on the original. Unfortunately the first game wasn’t anything special, a pretty cut and dry RTS with some trading outposts and a home town.
Starting with the single player missions, you’ll go through 2 acts for a total of 15 missions. Take control of Nathaniel Black, with aid from the Iroquois and some familiar friends, such as longtime teen heart-throb George Washington. In the second act you take control of Black’s grandson and have some identity problems with the Sioux. Most of the missions offer little challenge and less creativity, but they are worth weeding through for some well laid out missions, such as crossing the Delaware with our good buddy G.W. or playing “Cowboys and Indians” with cameos including Chief Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse(not Neil Young and co., sorry ladies) and General Custer. Despite the all star cast, the cut-scenes and dialogue are at best, pretty lame.
Where we see the game establish quality is the multiplayer mode. The three new races have some distinct difference that make them different challenges to play. The Iroquois will seem the most familiar, being much like a European power, just with Mohawks. The Sioux, being a more transient people, have a powerful cavalry. The Aztec are all about the infantry, and they do it well. With the new tribes come new units and new cards. Players with old decks can replace their cards without penalty, allowing them to hop right into action with a powerful deck.
There are also some new modes of play. There is a version of trade monopoly where the player can attempt to take a majority of the trading posts and establish dominance that way. Also, a player can build his empire as normal, but as a twist can choose to revolt against themselves. Doing so makes your entire economy military based , lessens your resource gathering ability but also makes your people much tougher, just like the French revolution.
While multiplayer/skirmishes are great, you really uncover some of the oddities in the game. For example, the native tribes are able to create fire pits. You can task your citizens to stop chopping wood and make them dance around the fire. Doing so provides the player with bonuses, including faster unit production, higher attack power, or a stream of constant experience points. More dancing citizens makes these bonuses faster/better. Another bonus is the creation of a Medicine man. This is where the game strays a bit from the Age of Empires feel and goes more towards the Age of Mythology type game. As this series generally strives for historical accuracy, it lacks a bit when you have a couple people dancing around a fire and this spawns a fully grown man who can heal your units. Although I suppose that’s about as a believable as giving 75 apples and 35 units of metal to a building and getting a soldier, which is common for many a RTS. In addition to this, your hero can hypnotize a fully matured bear to fight for him. In the end, while these things may add up to interesting game play, the level of “mysticism” given to the native tribes gives a feeling that just doesn’t match the Age of Empires historical feel that we know and love. It almost seems that these ‘mystic’ additions were thrown in to the game to make up for the inherent technical difference between the native tribes and the established powers.
The Warchiefs, as a whole, adds a lot to the game and makes it much more fun game to play. The only problem is it fails to deliver what many might be expecting. If you loved Age of Empires 3, you’ll love the expansion. If you only mildly enjoyed the game, you may have mixed feelings here,and may be pretty let down.
