In commemoration of this special snow storm edition, I thought it best to bring back some memories of summer by reviewing expansion packs to the big hits of '98: Age of Empires and Starcraft. I loved both games, and eagerly awaited the expansion packs, hoping they would renew my interest. Did they ever! What these expansion packs add are new maps and units, along with other refinements to create something new and exciting.
Age of Empires: Rise of Rome expands on the original by adding four new civilizations and units, along with a ton of new features. What struck me as best improvement is the ability to queue units being built: instead of building an archer, waiting for it to finish and then start building another, now you click the archer as many times as you want, with that number being built. Each time you click on the unit to be built a number in the top right of the icon goes up. Very nice. Of course they didn't add a rally point: we'll have to wait for Age of Empires II. The new races are Macedonian, Palmyrian, Roman and Carthaginian. New units include slingers, scythe chariots, armored elephants, camel riders and fire galleys. All very useful, with the balance that have made this game great. If you want to download a trial version go to www.microsoft.com/games and see for yourself.
Starcraft: Brood War really blew me away. This adds two new units to each race, giving the game an entirely new feel. Each race has a new air to air fighter and a new ground unit. Here's a rundown: Terran's get Medics and Valkyries, Zerg get Lurkers and Devourers, Protoss get Dark Archons and Corsairs. The air to air units let you use new strategies against old foes; I wasn't so impressed with the ground units. Terran's get the best with the Medic: this unit runs amongst your marines healing them during battles. Of interest is the Starcraft 1.04 patch that was released the same time as Brood War: it changes the values for almost every unit in the game, based on player's suggestions. If you're waiting to buy the expansion pack, grab the patch immediately. Although no demo is available, go to www.blizzard.com/broodwar and read all about it!
by Scott VanderPloeg
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