Reviews

• Darumacho

  Dec 20, 2016

  That's really nice to see developers still caring about a game released 17 years ago. All 4 new civilizations specialize into elephants The DLC is really good, it brings some new interesting units/techs and gorgeous new visuals. They all have fricking elephants. New civs are very fun to play, There are elephants everywhere. It's totally worth the 10$. Did I mention there are new elephants units ? I rate this DLC Elephant/10, it's elephantastic
• gamedeal user

  Dec 20, 2016

  It is really amazing how AoE2 finally comes close to a sense of completion. After so many years; who would have expected such a thing? The first attempt to add the "forgotten" civilizations was done in the first DLC, but it didn't take long to realize that a lot more civs were missing. Now, the addition of South East Asia almost feels like a wrap, although I hope they'll add one more expansion. :D Now to get serious, my first impression is really positive. Four new civs with interesting new technologies, as well as quite a lot of special units. The Vietnamese even get three: A special archer that is almost impervious to enemy archers (like a Gothic Huskarl), the best skirmisher in the game and finally - like all the new civs! - a battle elephant at the stable. That is just one example of how the game is kept fresh. The addition of amphibious terrain is equally intriguing, because it allows ships to pass through while it's also possible to build on it. I can already see how people try to close water streets with stone walls and towers, and ships have to shoot their way through those walls... I have one complaint though, and the vague hope that someone could create a solution in the Steam workshop (or that the original creators of the DLC read this): I am not happy with the new architecture. It is not that I find it ugly, no, it's looking pretty good. However, the design is not easy on the eye. To put it bluntly, it is distracting from the game, to see so many shapes, details and colors mixed together. It doesn't give you a sense of relaxation while looking at your own town/base. Not at all. So my suggestion is a rather simple, yet effective solution: Keep the complex detail, but reduce the spectrum of colors. I am sure that would make the architecture look much more relaxed. Currently, the orange roofs stand out; and not in a good way. Making those roofs black or dark greyish would tone down the colors a lot and essentially "fix" the design, in my opinion. On the bright side, there was actually a second new architecture set added in this DLC, which is given to only one civ, the Indians. This one looks very good. Nicely done!
• gamedeal user

  Dec 20, 2016

  Im so excited that have Malay civilization in this Rise Of The Rajas DLC which feature for my country Malaysia and other Indonesia and Brunei are combine in one Malay civilization in this game. The voice acting from units and villagers are really same like in old Sultan age. The unique units are Kerambit Warrior (the cheap and fast unit with two hand kerambit weapons) and Battle Elephant. The Campaign of Gajah Mada feature in Indonesia country which play Malay civilization. Btw, Thanks Microsoft and Skybox for making this awesome DLC :)
• gamedeal user

  Dec 20, 2016

  Amazing that they're still coming out with expansion packs to this day! Keep 'em coming! If you're reading, highly recommend making a Native American Tribes expansion pack! The Apache, Comanche, Iroquis, Cherokee, Sioux... There's so many to chose from!
• gamedeal user

  Dec 21, 2016

  Honestly there's no reason to play as anything other than Malay now. You get harbors, which are incredibly overpowered for what they are. If you're playing on an islands map, just build harbors all around your island and no one can get on. 150 wood each, with a max range of 10, and an attack of 12, that you can garrison boats in? You've got miniature castles for 150 wood. Also it's very easy to get these built before anyone has a real chance to get to you, thanks to the 100% faster age research. Don't get me wrong. It's pretty fun, but... I was able to 2v1 using the Malays, and it didn't even feel challenging. Even on all land maps without having the harbor, there's no reason to play as anything other than Malay... 2 handed swordsmen that cost only 60 food? For the price, that's the ultimate spammable unit late game. Recommending simply because I think it's fun, regardless of the obviously over powered new races, and the bit-of-an-eyesore new architecture. EDIT: After a bit of play, I've noticed a few glaring errors. 1 - When playing as Malay, any docks built prior to researching Harbors do NOT automatically upgrade. 2 - Transport ships built prior to researching Careening, or other techs to increase carrying capacity, DO NOT automatically upgrade their carrying capacity! 3 - There is a new glitch that allows boats to embed themselves on the land. Vice versa for ground troops. I believe this is due to the introduction of the new terrain tile set. All three of these items are things they need to patch. (As well as nerf the malays. Until they do though, I shall continue to play only as Malay)
• gamedeal user

  Dec 22, 2016

  Here we are, almost in 2017,Age of Empires 2 HD: Rise of the Rajas expansion is the fourth expansion since the real-time strategy game was revamped and rereleased in 2013. Rise of the Rajas is off to Southeast Asia for historical warfare with four new civilisations, which consist of Burmese,Khmer,Malay and Vietnamese. well i just state out the pros and cons for this one since there is nothing much to write about this old RTS game.even though the game itself is as old as me.(released on 1999 originally is the year i am born) Pros 1)ALL S.E.A nation have war elephants that will demolish most European,Arab,and Asia country 2)Campaign is much more challenging than previous expansion 3)I get to play the campaign and get some knowledge about the history behind it. 4)Graphic has drastically improve and the game runs at 60FPS.even though the game is as Old As me 5)Multiplayer feels lively and is not even dead yet. 6)V.A is well scripted in campaign mode. 7)A lil Chance to learn some indonesian language(Ampun Baginda)which i learn in game. Cons 1)All units are still the same reskin from each other accept the nation special unit. 2)Indonesian/javanese cannot be called Malay even though their language and identity are almost identical 3)Gameplay is so unballance for the Malay Race since most people will rush you with only Karambit Warrior since you can build 2 at an expense of 1 population,vietnamese rattan archers are the weekest among all the other race special unit and it is quite easy to kill than killing off other unit. 4)Vietnamese Campaign is too unfair and punishing for new player since the Chinese will rush you from all sides.it is quite challenging though i must say. 5)All S.E.A country building are the same as each other.well i do not want to question the other 3 nation which is Malay,Khmer and Burmese. but ain't vietnamese building suppose to be a lil like chinese architecture. 6)In Online Lobby you can see more people will role malay nation and will end up rushing or harrash you in less than 10 minutes with karambit warriors. Overall it is a nice game to play and it is the first game that has ever told the history of S.E.A.(WELL I DUNNO ABOUT OTHERS RTS WHICH HAS VIETNAMESE,BURMESE,KHMER,AND MALAY IN IT)it is a must buy.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 22, 2016

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8hfS_vS_tA [h1]Dive Into South-East Asia[/h1] This Expansion pack came out the blue and wasn't really expecting it - thats a positive thing. Rise of the rajas focuses on South-East asian region with 4 new Civilizations with each of them having their own campaign, just like in African Kingdoms. The Campaign however this time is rather more consistent on level design and difficulty versus African Kingdoms, the new civis have interesting stuff like upgrade that lets Docks shoot arrows (can be rather strong in PvP) and then we got 2 new elephant units as well. The textures for the Raja DLC objects, units and buildings are very detailed as expected from SkyBox Labs. Some people did mention here that there are some balance issues with these new civis and thats something that will probably get patched. Overall the desync thing seems to be fixed among other bugs that have existed for quite some time and the game didn't crash even once! While i had 1-2 crashes with African Kingdoms post launch. The AI also seems to be much better as for the Spectator mode, i haven't touched that yet so i can't comment on it as of now. Overall it took me ~35h to complete the campaign (21 Maps) so i would say rather good [b]Bang for the buck[/b] i recommend every AoE2 fan to buy the expansion.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 26, 2016

  Khmer have been one of the most commonly requested civs by fans, and 16 years later, theyre finally in the game :) FE continues their trend of producing high quality expansions that are true to the spirit/intentions of the original devs, while also taking risks and innovating in how the game can be played (e.g. amphibious terrain). as lots of players will be quick to tell you, it isn't perfect, and aoe2hd still has some frustrating issues... but content wise, this dlc is a step in the right direction, representation-wise, if nothing else.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 26, 2016

  I'm Thai. I'm playing Bayinaung (Burmese) campaign. The final mission is conquer Thailand. 10/10 would conquer my Motherland again.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 29, 2016

  Nothing extraordinary, but a solid, nice addition to an already good game. Having this only makes me wish even more that Voobly would just give up and die so the whole community would migrate to Steam. With steam, we actually get new content like this.