Reading the review brought out some serious issues for myself, especially as I have and played AoE long ago, and many other strategy type games since. Given this I would as well be quite disappointed as the reviewer pointed out some of the biggest issues, but let me take a step back and say, this is a prime example of trying to kill off the PC gaming market, through bad decisions, flagrant abuse of the consumers, and most of all purposeful 'just make money' business strategies then the original "if we make it well, they will play it and make us rich" mantra of old.
First the issue was the repeated I, II, III, etc. etc.game titles (ala Rocky / Rambo / Aliens / etc. worse and worse movie making ) constant 'rehash' to illicit investment yet fail to deliver a real 'same' or 'next level' experience that most of the Game Studios are constantly doing. Rather then learn the lesson of these other 'series' (Game Studios are ENTERTAINMENT Business models after all, and so are Movie Makers), and instead seek something smarter (like LoTR / The Dark Knight / etc.) to capitalized on 'better' or 'next level' than the previous edition, we instead get dunked on. We know the AoE game play, we seen all the other similar games that have been released since, and now we get ..... this???; do I now feel like Colonial Marines all over again, YEP!
Second, here is a serious problem, we know iOS has it's portable games, we all know 'Facebook' Games, we all seen Angry / Flapping / Whatever else Birds on Android devices all bring profits and some serious recognition to that platform (iPhones, Android Phones, getting on Facebook) with the special enhancement multiplayer provides (can't count how many hours of Bejeweled-like games competed across family members I seen on FB) . Now with Windows 8/Phone (which this game is made for hmmmm) and the company behind W8/Phone is also the AoE owner, and pushes out a game to do the 'same thing'??? Well the horse left the yard years ago and the barn doors collapsed with the age of the dead old barn. In other words : You missed the boat M$ and your insulting your customers.
This culminates into a game that rips out the key parts that made AoE what it was, into a terrible replacement (think Rocky V or so) to the whole point to the game. Waiting a full day to complete a building? Sitting and waiting for units to finally be trained? Oh was that the armory you needed built so you can defend against the other players? Never mind the mass suicide the writer points out (WHAT!!!) that makes no sense in the game EXCEPT to FORCE players into Pay to Play model.
Yes GeneralStrax, I get that the bills need to be paid and so on, but some facts your overlooking here. This isn't a 'independent studio' (aka couple college guys in the dorm room hammering out code over $5 pizza pies) this is a company that has NOT MADE ANY PROFIT EVER on its XBOX line (http
/www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2014/02/18/microsoft-should-give-xbox-one-to-nintendo/) and NEVER made any money with Internet Explorer (gave it away for free). In all fairness this studio, for the purposes I outlined, also distribute this 'free' game as a FREE Game? YES. No microtransactions, no obliterating armies when returned from combat, no obscene delays in building stuff (A full day to build one virtual building?!?! Come on). That it is gorgeous, addictive time waster (WAIT isn't those other titles I said ALSO the same way? Well almost, you had to 'buy' them to get the 'rest' of the game' unlocked) that would make W8/Phone a popular platform to enjoy gaming on.... potentially yes.. but instead...
This just further emphasizes M$ decision to abandon the Windows platform for gaming, and to authorize, support, and promote such 'pretty' crapware is further missteps (or purposeful) to kill off PC based gaming. AoE was a great 'casual' game, one could build up a bunch of stuff, then stop do other things, comeback later (especially if you had to let things build) and pick up and direct the next 'phase' of your campaign. Of course the learning curve was when to do 'comeback later' or 'shut down the game' and when not to, like the random hordes that would overwhelm a area I planned to 'next' build a wall, OOPS I cameback later and my entire city was razed to the ground and all my citizens run off! Or the famous, OOPS I forgot to change the taxes and now I have a completely empty city that even if I pay people to move back in I can't support anymore! Or the hundred of other 'learning curves' in the games.
Nope, with this crapware I easily see "Pay of DIE as Bambi food by game spoilers" whom will do nothing but seek out those not plunking down $50USD for gold to 'spin up' the needed resources, and just be the same 'meals' the writer is talking about stealing resources from. All the while these spoiler stay / obtain higher and higher levels (ohhh wait this already happens in First Person Shooters! What was I thinking!) making it impossible for new - free players, except to be 'chum'. This is especially true (as these spoilers tend to be 'kids' with excess money whom spend 6-12 hours every day spare time they can to 'LOLZ' in games) when they already started to play this game when it first came out and here we all 'news readers' discover the game coming in as 'chum' right off for them to feat on. Now they have god like mass armies, tons of resources, impenetrable cities, etc. and there is no way to play except 'die' every day from their 'resource gathering' at your expense, or 'Fork it Over and Pray' I can build up fast enough to JUST stay alive, not really to 'have fun' or advance.
. Skill plays a HUGE factor here. 
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