Age of Empires III: War Chiefs is an expansion to Age of Empires III which I recently reviewed for BC. In this case you get to play a scenario which sees you playing an American Indian member of the Black Family. From the beginning of the solo play all the way through to participating in the slaughter of Custer and his men, it's an interesting take on the history of the New World. What most interests me, and I won't ruin it for anyone, is the storyline on why Custer ended up on the wrong end of Indian ire.

The game adds tribes (Aztec, Iroquois & Sioux), new leaders to play against and maps to the already generous amount in the original game. As with the old world leaders, each Indian leader has their own attributes and their tribes have special skills and units to either play or deal with. One of the big additions to the overall game is the village fire pit. You can assign settlers to dance around the fire and help your unit strength or even population. It has a similar affect to having a trading post on a train line. There are plenty of new units and improvements to keep things fresh.

As with the original game, the graphics are impressive and even the cut scenes are pretty good. There is enough here to justify the price of admission to the add-on. It is a definite re-play and playtime extender to the original Age of Empires III. A valuable edition to the Age of Empires game universe.

Age of Empires III: War Chiefs is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Blood and Violence. This game can also be found on: Mac.