Given the huge success of the series, an expansion from Ensemble Studios for Age of Empires II - Age of Kings was not unexpected.
The original Age of Empires covered the time periods from Stone Age, to Tool Age to Bronze Age and finally to the Iron Age.
The latest is a real-time strategy game that picks up where the original Age of Empires game left off. It begins in the Dark Ages and advances through Feudal to Castle and finally to the Imperial Age.
The expansion changes nothing in the basic formula of the game. The graphics are still beautiful. You still gather food, wood, stone and gold to build up your economy.
With those resources you construct buildings such as mills, farms and barracks so you can raise an army of cavalry, infantry and archers to conquer the world.
Technology-wise, your resources can be used to pay for research that advances your civilisation, technologies such as crop rotation (to improve farming), masonry (to strengthen buildings and walls), and blast furnace (for better steel and stronger weapons).
