What a lovely little city. No doubt someone will come along and attack it soon. Humans, eh? Nasty buggers

Joan of Arc... William Wallace... great leaders who stood up for what they believed in. They both also died horrific deaths - The 'Arc' was barbecued and Wallace was butchered. Here's your chance to join them...
Andy Ashwin

Ouch!
Yeah, Wallace was still alive as they hacked him to bits... remember the final scene in Braveheart? Nice game though.

What is?
Age of Empires II.

Right. I loved the first one. What's the story with this?
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings spans a thousand years - from the fall of Rome through the Middle Ages. You'll be given the opportunity to shape the destiny of mankind. Pretty much like Age of Empires, only this time it looks even better and the combat and economic features have had an overhaul.

The original looked gorgeous!
Yeah! But this one looks even better... honest. The buildings in particular are beautifully drawn and in correct proportion to their occupants. Developer Ensemble Studios did have a problem with not being able to see units that were behind a building. This has been overcome by showing the outline of units that would otherwise be hidden.

Nice. What about the improved combat?
Well you can now group your units and arrange them in formations for a tactical advantage. A nice touch is the computer AI which will automatically sorts units in a given formation - your hand-to-hand units (soldiers, cavalry, etc.) will be placed at the front, while the big fellas (catapults, battering rams, etc.) bring up the rear. This should prevent the enemy from running through and smashing the catapult that you've just spent all your money on.

That used to really annoy me. Anything else?
You'll be able to assign units to a particular task such as 'guard', 'patrol' and 'follow'. And how about the ability to board and capture enemy ships?

Yes please!
You've got it.