In one particular battle, the epic battle of Washington vs. The high quality of the mission crafting should be attributed to the map designers, who have produced rich maps that work well with the objectives while still providing artistic beauty. Though not particularly captivating, the campaign does feature an innovative twist on traditional objectives and varied gameplay.
Chayton gets bullied around by his fat friend Billy Holme until his Native American heritage catches up to him and he leads the Sioux to victory. The second act sees Amelia's son Chayton expand the family railroad westward and encounter Sioux tribes resistant to their territorial invasion. In a significant digression from recorded history, the writers have invited the Germans to fight alongside the British and Nathaniel is quick to form a rivalry with their particularly annoying leader, Colonel Kuechler. In the first act, you control Nathaniel Black (John's son and Amelia's father), who was raised by Native Americans and is unwillingly pulled into the Revolutionary War to protect his tribe. Thankfully, that idea was not pursued in the expansion. You'll recall that the original campaign has you playing as three generations of the Black family, Morgan, John and Amelia, whose storyline focused on a mysterious group called "The Circle of Ossus" and the myth of the water of life. The expansion adds a new single-player campaign of 15 missions in two acts. As before, the background is a fully dynamic representation of the player's home city. The opening cinematic, though very short, is beautifully rendered and opens onto a redesigned interface. Since Microsoft showed no signs of deviating from the usual with their latest release, I met The WarChiefs, with a hint of apprehension.įollowing the series' lead, it came as no surprise that The WarChiefs boasted excellent visuals from the start.
The very successful series, which includes titles such as Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and Age of Mythology, has closely followed this formula and has seen limited success from their expansions. For real-time strategy games like Microsoft's Age of Empires series, the expansion formula usually involves slightly incrementing the game's time span by adding a single-player campaign or two, and increasing the replay value with a new civilization or new map types. Since most expansions usually fall short of expectations, one can usually find them in the bargain bin half a year after their release. The question of purchasing expansions is a difficult one for most gamers.