But there’s a kicker to my story with III: While it was a well-received game at the time, it’s today generally dismissed as the inferior brother of 1999’s stone-cold classic Age of Empires II. Its graphical fidelity, even on my rubbish computer, was astonishing. An early obsession with British history led me to beeline straight to Redcoat-filled armies and free villagers from houses. Stephen Rippy’s score, like every other in the series, nestled itself amongst the earworms that still nest in my head.
The historical setting drew my attention, sparking a now-tempered love affair with the European colonisation of the Americas. In my formative years, Age of Empires III was a game that I returned to quite a bit.