System Requirements: IBM-PC or compatible Pentium 90 processor Microsoft Windows® 95 16 Megabytes of RAM 130 MB total hard drive space 2x Speed CD-ROM Super VGA graphics card (1 MB VRAM) 28.8 KBPS modem for head to head play. The Best Real Time Strategy Game Ever! Well, I think this is it, the best Real Time Strategy game ever, realistic graphics, game functions and 12 different civilisations to choose from, each with its own abilities and units, Age of Empires tops the charts of war games. The game itself is set in 12,000 BC, and proceeds to about 500 AD during the progress of the game, so you can advance from simple clubmen, to deadly Centurions. Unlike many RTS (Real Time Strategy) games, you may have four different normal goals, but hundreds of custom ones. The four basics are: Conquest (kill everyone); Standard (Build a Wonder, capture all Artifacts, or capture all ruins and hold them for 2000 years); Score (At the end of the game, the guy with the most points); or Time-Limit (The same as the last, but it's at the end of the time-limit.). AOE's artificial intelligence is excellent, with one notable exception. Catapults are your most devastating weapon, and like other military units, will act independently against nearby enemies. Unfortunately, they are so eager to wipe out every last opponent that they will fire directly into a crowd of your most prized soldiers in order to assist the destruction of a stray enemy infantryman. The attack will certainly flatten him - along with the cream of your own army! Keep them on a tight rein! Highs Excellent game play that lasts for months; great built-in level editor for custom maps; flawless graphics; smooth pre and post-level briefing movies; realistic unit and building scale; fair game play (each civilisation has special abilities, for instance the Babylonians have double wall and tower hit points, and the Assyrians have 30% faster Villagers) and a good balance of units. Lows Can take a long time to start up a colony because of low-resource areas; can't use animals for food if killed by military units; units have trouble getting from place to place if there are obstacles; and unrealistic animal behaviour; Your own catapults will kill your men; AI is almost impossible to use in custom maps, for some reason the enemy only uses the units they are given and instead keep training peasants; unrealistic damage, i.e., arrows will do the same amount of damage to a ship as a normal infantryman; and oh yeah, it will drag you away from reality for a long time (Is that a bad thing?). General It's great, an all-around good game that's fun to play for hours on end, a rare beauty of a game. This game is a five star performance from the guys down at Microsoft. Age Of Empires Stuff: The Microsoft Games Homepage The Age of Empires download area The Archangel's Age of Heavens Well, that's all he wrote, if you want to contact me, Makron560@hotmail.com, feel free to do so. Thank you, and have a nice Stone Age day. Stephen Pridgeon