Time for an oldie review:
Age of Empires II and Age of Empires II: The Conquerors.
AoEII
Basically the same game as AoEIII but in the Middle ages. There are tons of factions (ranging from Arab to Turk, and it's got Byzantines). Each has their own Unique Unit which can be recruited at the castle and has one upgrade - the Byzantines get Cataphracts, Heavy Cavalry with Trample abilities, and the Brits get Longbowmen, seriously powerful, while the Turks have an early Gunpowder edge with the Janissary. With the upgrades, these things can kill. There is also light cannon, and of course the inevitable muskets.
The Units are varied, from the militia in early game to the musketeers, cannon and hussars (hussars with wings!)
There are also campaigns, as well as random maps. Each Faction has a few leaders (Alaric of the Goths is right there beating Suleiman) for random maps. Campaigns usually give you a few scenarios (capture this, reach that etc.) and a set amount of units. I suggest you turn off sound in such cases, it gets annoying to hear some random unseen person to say "where are you going? Jerusalem's the other way!" the whole time (in the Saladin campaign).
There's also a "chat" system. It can be used in Single player, to ask for stones and to ask what Age your friends are in, and let's be fair, it's awesome to insult the ai with things as "My granny is better at conquering than you" which is never, ever true. they will always have catapults, so stagger formation is a must. They also bring hordes of skirmishers with a bonus against archers.
There are also technologies, such as the Chemistry which allows gunpowder and (personal favorite) more damage for siege units, giving a new meaning to the phrase "great balls of fire". 5 trebuchets hurling burning things at you does that.
I suggest playing with the speed cheat (aegis). for something fun, there's a cheat that allows you to be the deer, pigs and wolves of the map
Boars CAN attack town centers, and it's hilarious to see one maul a town center.
Graphics can play weird on better graphics cards.
Also, Goths cannot create Stone things (Stone Wall, Gate, Stone Tower, Cannon Tower etc.) and each country has a few greyed out areas on the tech tree (Brits cannot build camel warriors).
Overall, enjoyable with a 80%
Summary:
+ awesome units, and unique units that KILL with their Upgrades
+ Trebuchets. With the aegis cheat these things are beautiful. a horde of these is slow and immobile, but the range and ability to destroy forests can wreck the enemy.
+ ability to play as animals
+ Holy Factions, Batman!
+ Gunpowder!
+ Longbows.
+ Ability to build the Great wall (stone wall-stone wall-stone wall is a wall 3 walls thick)
+ Genghis Khan Campaign
+ Tutorial campaign as Scotland and William Wallace
+ Introduction to Campaigns (a short presentation, includes country details. Did you know Mongols took their victims skulls and put them into a pyramid? and Saladin actually cared for non-Muslims?)
+ Funny chat system
- Musketmen (need to be close for a guaranteed kill)
- Goth Faction - Seriously? No defensive measure? But the Huscarls...
- Saladin Campaign
- Johanna of Arc Campaign (Burgundy...)
- Why the Vikings deserve 2 Unique Units is beyond me.
- Did I ever mention that boars are a good source of food, provided you don't mind wasting all your villagers on one?
Conquerors expansion
This adds the following factions: Aztec, Maya, Hun, Korean, Spaniard. The Aztec and Maya Factions do not get the scout but a spearman (eagle warrior). There's also the Wonder victory condition, which takes a while. There's also Unique Upgrades (Huns can lengthen the time to win by wonder by 100 years, Goths can create Huscarls everywhere. Continuing from the Viking 2 UUs, Korea can build war wagons (sort of like a moveable box with weapons in it) and Turtle Ships. Korea has something with Armor. Sadly, Eagle warriors and Spearmen are removed by these. Hard. And did I mention the Huns have a second Unique Upgrade?
There's also some new campaign: Attila the Hun, El Cid, Montezuma, and a bunch of Conquests (from the Battle of Tours to trying to save Oda Nobunaga, stopping for a quick lunch break at the battle of Lepanto or Agincourt.) These are hard at times (you try gettin' Oda out of evil Kyoto with 3 samurai while the rest is somewhere else or taking out the Ottoman fleet that easily). There's also a bunch of fascinating real world maps. I've lost track of how many times I've built a new Hedjaz or created a Bothnian state, although why Texas is surrounded by water is beyond me.
There's a slight bonus to the Huns, who don't need houses.
Overall, a good 90%. Great addition.