MovieChat Forums > Age of Empires III (2005) Discussion > War crimes?

War crimes?

posted 15 years ago by germanii
1 reply | jump to latest

Interesting. The Age of Empire series often praised for strategy and resource management tactics instead of the blood and gore of other game genres is one of the few that employs genocide and terrorism in normal game play. The manual even suggests ways of targeting the villagers specifically.
I love the game but always feel a little bad toward the end after I defeat the regular army and then have to destroy the town, and hear the shrieks of the woman as I gun then down in the streets.

[–] soue37-1 15 years ago

Yeah it is rather odd, considering that AOE III stays clear of native American Genocide and slavery of the Africans during this period, but still asks you commit mass murder against your enemies by completely obliterating them off the face of the (game's) earth.

Imagine the problems if AOE IV is going to be set in the 20th century. Think about playing as the Germans, Japanese, Italians etc in the Second World War, wiping out entire cities. Or the US in Vietnam, or the British in Africa, India etc. Then again Empire Earth had a German campaign which allowed you to play as the Nazis. The last level even had you controlling the Lufftwaffe as they bombed the hell out of London. Even more disturbing is that the Nazis win the war and conquer Europe.

So it's not entirely odd to have RTS games portraying questionable content.