It has been a fact of late that First Person Shooters have been the genre that has really pushed the boundaries for graphics that a modern PC can display. Most people have heard of the "Quake Engine" or the "Unreal Engine" or the "Doom Engine", and that's a testament to the fact that these FPS titles have greatly succeeded in setting the bar for graphics at a very high level. Well, the folks at Ensemble Studios have had enough of this and, thankfully for RTS fans, are looking to set a new benchmark for graphics with their third installment in the Age of Empires series.

Set during the European colonization of the "new world", AoE3 adds a new twist to the series by including weapons with gunpowder for the first time. Prior installments were set in more medieval times, so cannons and muskets will be sure to add a new twist to this strategy series.

As mentioned earlier, the graphics have definitely been given a major overhaul and fans of the series will immediately notice the difference. Fully 3D rendered units and environments jump right out at you from the very start. In addition, the ubiquitous Havok Physics engine is employed to give each explosion and particle effect proper real-world physics and causes everything to behave as you would expect. In the demo we were shown, troops were lined up and knocked over like bowling pins by cannon fire. Some soldiers dropped their rifles, others lost hats, while others were sent flying into a nearby lake. Each was random and not even the presenter knew what was going to happen next.

The water was quite possibly the most impressive graphical upgrade. All too often, bodies of water in games look plastic or glass or, more simply, not like water. Utilizing pixel shaders and many other effects, the water reflected everything as expected and looked very wet and very refreshing!

A welcome addition is also real damage to large units and structures. Previously, in most RTS games when you would damage a building, it would go through multiple predefined stages of damage. Your shots may have been hitting the roof of the structure the entire time, but it was still the ground floor that was scripted to catch fire first. Now that is gone. Fire a cannon ball into an upper story of a building and you can watch in sadistic glee as bricks from your shot get scattered to and fro. While this procedural damage doesn't actually directly impact the target, it is pretty impressive to watch and helps create a little bit more of the realism so often sought after.

A new addition to the series is the concept of "Home Cities". These are your capital cities back across the ocean in your native land. As you gain experience and advance through the game, you will be able to add new structures to your home city which will give you certain bonuses. In addition, you can choose to aid the Native Americans in certain situations-such as being captured by an opposing force or chased up a tree by a wolf. In doing so, they will provide you aid and perhaps make your missions just that little bit easier.

Due out this Fall for the PC, Age of Empires III has a long tradition of solid real-time strategy games to live up to. The graphics are sure to wow, so if the gameplay can create the same enjoyment as its predecessors, this may well turn out to be the new benchmark for RTS gaming.