Age of Empires: Online?

I've got a few friends who play this game and apparently it's good fun. I believe it's free on Steam so I plan to download it and give it a whirl over the next few days. Does anyone have any opinions on it? How does it compare to the old AoE games?

 

I'd play with you if you want, add my msn: [email protected]

I haven't played since the old days of Age of Empires 2, though.

 

EDIT: Double post, sorry.

 

In comparison to the old AoE's I'd say it sucks. I couldn't get attached to how cartoonish the graphics are.

You can connect the old games with a program called GameRanger, I've been doing it for a while; it also connects lots of other LAN games. Worth checking out.

I'm wondering if there's any way to save an online match with it though... so we could take like a week or two to build up epic defenses then have a huge all out war

 

Alternatively you could use Evolve or Hamachi.

EDIT: I used to play AoE II on MSN gaming zone, and Age of Mythology online religiously, and there wasn't any way of saving the games.