Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Reviews
This was a bold attempt by Microsoft. I applaud them trying to adapt the most mouse-friendly game in existence to a console, with a controller. It’s still fun, and it’s certainly very playable, but it’s off-putting. It’s far from being the ideal way to experience this classic, and to be fair, the PC version isn’t even THAT demanding, even on laptops. I really don’t know who this particular port of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is for.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has the content to keep you entertained for a time. Unfortunately, the visuals and core mechanics are woefully behind 20 years after its initial release. It's a nostalgia trip for fans given the low price, but it's lacking in this new age of strategy games.
To see an RTS game with core mechanics still enjoyable more than a decade later is impressive and speaks to the timelessness of the game’s core premise.
Given the scarcity of successors, then, I see no reason why Microsoft shouldn’t just keep making this game bigger and bigger and bigger, lumping all the bits together every few years and slapping it down with nicer animations, until it’s got ten thousand missions and includes “Dudley” as a civilisation because they ran out of ideas. That would be fine by me. Long live the (Age of) King(s)
The entry of the series into the world of Xbox family consoles (remember that AoE 2 also landed on PS2 with poor results) seemed more than positive and represents a useful experiment to correct the shot and propose any changes to the launch of the Xbox Series X|S version of Age of Empires 4. In other words, we are sure that the latter will treasure the work done with this Definitive Edition and the valuable feedback from users.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on consoles proves to be as complete and satisfying an experience as the one made on PC. Opting for a revolutionary control mapping adapted to the needs of the controller was the fundamental decision to make the title fully accessible and enjoyable in all its facets.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Maintaining the base of what it was, but innovating with technical and graphic improvements, we find a game that maintains its essence, but it adapts to the current situation in an impeccable way, which makes it together with the new civilizations and campaigns, and to a good multiplayer support, let's have a great strategy game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review