It's telling that my first thought on seeing Age of Empires on the N-Gage is “isn't it nice that we're finally seeing this.” Partly because Glu and Nokia have been trading potential release dates for a long time, but also because it's another recognisable gaming title coming to the N-Gage mobile platform. As I've argued before, N-Gage needs as many of these as possible.

But on with the game. Age of Empires 3 (now AoE for the rest of the review) is a real time strategy game (RTS) that pitches you as an unseen leader of a land, in this case Malta, and survival is your simple goal.

For those who are big fans of the series, AoE chronologically sits as a prequel to the PC version of Age of Empires 3. History buffs will realise that you are taking on the role of Morgan Black, leader of the small island of Malta. You and your people are facing up to a massive invasion by the Ottoman Empire who are laying siege to the island. Your mission, should you choose to download it, is to defend your island, no matter the cost...

Historically, the Scottish Knight Black (ahh, is this why I'm reviewing this title) and the Knights of St John successfully held off the Empire. If you take part in the campaign mode of AoE, you'll have to try and do exactly that. If you can't commit to the time of a campaign (even though your progress is saved), then you have the skirmish mode, which lets you play through a single engagement without affecting any campaign or ongoing battles you might be running.

Those with experience of RTS games will not be surprised by any of the mechanics or gameplay going on here. You start the campaign with some houses, a small village and a number of villagers. By using these villagers to forage for supplies (mainly wood, food and gold as you start), you can build up first your barracks, then train your first batch of soldiers and lead them in the defence of your new village.

The campaign mode is made up of smaller missions, which you can complete in five or ten minutes. Victory in each of these short missions opens up the next mission, which over time will build up the story of the Siege of Malta. You can also go back at any point to replay an older mission if the mood takes you. It's also interesting that decisions on building and troops made in a single campaign mission won't be directly carried over to the next mission. An interesting choice, but it helps the casual nature of this version flourish.

In this first mission, you are clearly told your goals with on-screen dialogs and what controls you need to use. It's a good touch and leads the new user through some of the principles of the game in a quick and easy way.

As the campaign missions unfold, you'll be introduced to new types of troops, from Pikemen to mounted soldiers, and they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Some are good against certain enemy types, and you'll need to play around to find the best mix of the personal army you create. Match ups in early levels are generally in your favour, but in later levels with many different troop types you'll need to have a nice spread of troops to take on whatever the Ottoman Empire throws at you.

Graphics on AoE get the job done – they're very functional, but again, on the small screen, clarity and differentiation are more important than accurate ray-traced 3D graphics. If there was a temptation for the developers to polish the detail levels then the fact they've left them alone from the Java version that's in circulation is a good decision. In the pop up menus and construction dialogs the icons are clear, and as they fill up (which happens as they are built) they retain enough information so you know which things aren't going to be ready in time!

With an isometric layout, the D pad doesn't match up exactly to the directions on the screen for moving your cursor, but by including a choice of cursor control methods you should be able to find one that fits your own style. This ability to do even a touch of customisation to the core control method is a nice touch. It's also nice that your soldiers will react to enemy soldiers on their own when they come into sight, saving you fighting a cursor and scrolling screen to issue a “get on and fight them!” order. You can still group your troops together and lead them on a charge if you so wish, their AI is for defensive purposes only.

While AoE is, at heart, a resource management RTS, the resources aren't a huge list – restricting it to three categories of items, which are used for all the building of infrastructure of troops means that focussing on those items, balancing that with the attacking and defending needed, makes for a good balance to the game. Coupled with the shorter mission structure and re-playability, AoE is a pretty good RTS on the N-Gage.

I say pretty good, but it's going to be lifted a little bit more than that, because it has multiplayer. And not some 'pass it around the room' multiplayer (which wouldn't work with RTS in any case).

This is what N-Gage is meant to be about – taking on people around the world and challenging your online friends to the death! AoE is actually a pretty smart example because there's very little data to pass between the clients, given the starting conditions and maps are in the memory of both handsets. While there's no campaign mode here, there's more than enough fighting in Skirmish modes against a real human. While the AI of the computer-driven missions is enough for a challenge, it's the unpredictable nature of flesh and blood that makes the game.

To be honest, the fact that the online multiplayer mode is almost identical to the standalone game is a good thing, as it means there is a lot of gameplay in here even if you never look at the multiplayer over the air option. But when you do, you'll be instantly at home and ready to probably get beaten in the first round – there's no forgiving bad play when you're up against someone else!

AoE is a good example of an RTS for a mobile platform. It's the basic style that will be familiar to many, so will not surprise long term fans with new gameplay. They'll like this. It's not overly complicated for a new user, and both the learning curve and clear missions will make it easy to pick up. Finally, the mission structure takes the long-winded RTS model and makes it accessible in a casual pick up and play style. There's little wrong with AoE, and it succeeds in what it set out to do with great aplomb. Recommended.

AAN Score: 84%

-- Ewan Spence, May 2009.