Age of Empires vs. Warcraft 3

[boatofcar]

Can someone compare these two for me? I need a new (to me) RTS game to play, but I'm not sure which one to get.

[Arkaign]

This is like comparing a monster truck to a sports car. How involved do you want to get?

Warcraft 3 is pretty fast (not Red Alert fast, or even WC2, but still) ..

AOE is really involved and can be pretty slow, but has gobs of options and mods. Also obviously more 'realistic' as it goes.

EDIT : I think WC3 is probably a better value, it's a little newer, flashier graphics, cool cinemas, a decent single player mode, plenty of replayability. Lean towards AOE only if you gravitate towards sim-type games.

[Stark]

WC3 is older but a little faster paced. AOE3 however is the best looking most addictive RTS on the market right now. If you have an older computer though check the minimum specs for AOE3. The ship models in AOE3 are outstanding.

WC3= faster paced with less gathering more fighting
AOE3= Best looking and more addictive gameplay at a slower pace with more gathering.

[Zing]

As a long time fan of the Age of Empires series, here is my advice: Stay away from Age of Empires III.

I highly suggest Rise of Nations. It is leaps and bounds over any of the Empires games. The AI in particular is exponentially better than anything I have seen from either Ensemble or Blizzard, so single player games are actually fun and challenging without any cheesy tactics.

[Arkaign]

He said AOE, not AOE3 lol :)

I'm thinking he's either on a budget, or wants something for a not-so-cutting-edge pc, or a mix of both.

AOE3 is really new, still expensive, and as noted, requires a hellish PC to run smoothly.

EDIT : Rise of Nations is excellent, though it's notably slower and more complicated than the flashier FPS such as the C&C/Red Alert or Warcraft series. As with AOE games, it provides much greater depth .. so the question is, what is the balance for you that is still fun? I find that this balance is unique to each player. Some like the frantic twitch action of say, classic red alert, and some like to mass vast armies and societies with layers of rpg elements (Koei/SSi style).

If you're not a heavy RTS junkie, I think WC3 is a nice affordable entry into the genre. If you're somewhat more experienced, and want something extremely engrossing and time-consuming, go the RON/AOE route.

[boatofcar]

Well for some reason, RTS games are well-supported on the Mac, and I can run pretty much all of them. I forgot about Rise of Nations, thanks for throwing that in there. I played a lot of Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, which I thought I heard was based on the AOE engine. It was ok, but I think I'm going to go for Warcraft 3, just because of the flashier graphics and its emphasis on action (if I'm reading the above posts right). If anyone has any more opinions on those 3 RTS games, I'd love to hear them!

[calthaer]

As a long time fan of the Age of Empires series, here is my advice: Stay away from Age of Empires III.

I highly suggest Rise of Nations. It is leaps and bounds over any of the Empires games. The AI in particular is exponentially better than anything I have seen from either Ensemble or Blizzard, so single player games are actually fun and challenging without any cheesy tactics.

I take it you have never tried the Duke AI?

(available: http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/lister.php?category=ai&rating=top)

[cyberfluxor]

I played Age of Empires II and some of Warcraft III when it first came out and must say they are alright but not the best.

Warcraft III has some nice graphics, good sounds, a large sized on-line community, and a decent amount races and units to choose from. Each one gathers money and creates units differently and at different paces. Personally I only borrowed this game for a week and played very little of it because it just wasn't the same transitional feeling. After playing Warcraft night after night and then getting Warcraft II plus Beyond the Dark Portal was HUGE! Now you had boats, oil, upgrades in buildings, weren't confined by gravel roads, better graphics, same great music, and now a map editor! The transition from WCII to WCIII felt so horrible, I mean come on, why get rid of boats in medieval times? But anyways, check out Battle.net (http://www.battle.net) for additional information about the game and forum chatter.

As for Age of Empires 3, I really enjoy this game. They are a good choice if you do want to spend a few hours building a huge army with a kingdom backing them going full fledged into war. The graphics on the new AOE is looking FAR surpassed blizzards engines, plus it actually has physics with units being blown around. You'll need a nice computer to play AOE3 to the full extent I'm sure and you'll be amazed. As for the community, it's a nice size and I'm sure after the game has been out for a good while, more will join in.

Two alternative RTS's to check out are Total Annhiliation (http://www.tauniverse.com/) and the Cossacks (http://www.cossacks.com) series. Total Annhiliation you can pick up at an EB Games for under $5 and Cossacks complete set for $20 at Game Stop new.

Of course Warcraft III isn't bad, just I wasn't impressed with it and Age of Empires 3 is a title worth looking into, but look around and see some screen shots, trailers, and read some forums to see which you'd most likely preferr paying some money for.

[Arkaign]

He's got a Mac, no AOE3 for a while yet. Not to mention, he'd need a really recent Mac to be able to play the damned thing.

[boatofcar]

Yeah, aside from Blizzard games , we never get ports at the same time as PCs.