Mind yopu, I'm usually the last person to be down on games, and I'll even be the first to admit, I usually like Microsoft games. That being said, AOE3 was a waist of my money. Mind you, the upgraded graphics are nice, and the ability to Make friends with the Native Americans are very cool, But the game play is well, too easy. I ran through the single player campaign in about 6-7 hours.
Way to short a game, and I'm not the best RTS player out there to say the least. The difficulty in AOE2 was actually harder. Now don't get me wrong, If your a fan of the game, By all means grab It, but IMHO, I'd save your money, and Get It further down the road when the price drops.
stephen