The best RTS since WarCraft II
Pretty well a flawless game. Fortunately for me, I didn't waste my time on the previous installments of the Age of Empire series, nor any RTS since Warcraft 2, so when people tell you that AoE3 adds nothing new to the genre, they are both lying (Home Cities, for example) and suffering myopia from...
The graphics are colorful and varied, animations uniformly excellent, sound effects wonderful -- especially the female German villagers, and the cannons firing in quick succession; Multiplayer is really where this game shines
Single-player's only really value is to prepare you for multiplayer, and it doesn't do a very good job at that; Anyone who takes this game semi-seriously will make mincemeat out of you if your only experience is against the computer