Taking a massive strategy game such as Age of Empires onto a handheld is a daunting task. Transforming it from a real-time strategy to a turn-based game along the way makes that task harder still. Yet this is what THQ did in bringing Age of Empires: The Age of Kings to the Nintendo DS, and in doing so they've created a wonderful and challenging game that provides hours of fun.

The game is divided up based on your hero - the tutorial comprises Joan of Arc's story, for example - and each hero has several campaigns that they must complete before moving onto the next. Each of these campaigns has different objective types, starting resources and technology ages, plus each hero is related to a difficulty, so Joan of Arc is 'Tutorial', Genghis Khan is 'Easy', and so on. Every hero has a combat advisor, who provides the tactical information for the campaign, as well as an assessment of the likely outcome of each battle. You control everything in the game - unit movement, battles, the building of unit and resource production facilities and researching new technologies. Yet it never feels like micromanagement - it all works very well in the context of a portable game.

It is truly amazing that the developers have translated this wonderful RTS classic to a fully-realised turn-based game. You view the battlefield in isometric perspective from the bottom screen and information about the selected unit or terrain on the top screen. You move your selected units and then select an action to complete the turn, then you can move from unit to unit with a single button press until all of your units have exhausted their actions for the round. After this, you use your remaining resources to build more units if possible, or invest in more research, and ending your turn moves the action to the enemy forces. The battle sounds and graphics are well done, managing to avoid becoming muddled or cluttered, regardless of the number of units on screen and while the attack sounds are pretty much a simple yell, the battle animations clearly and quickly show the outcome.

Control can be handled by either via the stylus or the D-pad, but using the stylus is just asking for frustration. As the number of units on screen increases, stylus control can become difficult, but the enforced unit limits ensure that things never get out of control. The menu system is easy to learn and navigate, making the daily process of advancing your resources a strategic endeavour, rather than a tedious one. Age of Empires doesn't really try anything new with the stylus, which is a good thing. The only part of the DS it exploits is the second screen, which it uses wisely and efficiently for additional information, making the game much more enjoyable and intuitive to play.

Completing the entire campaign is an undertaking that will take dozens of hours, and that is where multiplayer kicks in. It is truly unfortunate that this game lacks wireless Internet, because the skirmish mode play would last forever as a multiplayer option, although there are still skirmish and multiplayer matches available that can be populated by local human or computer controlled players. In addition, you can play a 'swap' match that involves passing the DS around to take turns. Earning Empire Points in the single player campaign allows you to unlock more maps and equipment for multiplayer.

Age of Empires is one of those games that is at once intelligent, fun, challenging and appropriate to show to anyone you see, anyplace. I think this is a great game for anyone up to the challenge and I'd recommend it for kids over ten, based primarily on reading and strategic forward thinking - if you know an eight-year-old playing Risk successfully then let them loose on this! I actually got to test the 'okay for anyone' theory in practice while playing this game recently. I was playing one of the Genghis Khan missions while on a plane flying cross-country and the woman in her sixties sitting next to me was playing Sudoku on paper. She asked me about the Nintendo DS and about the game I was playing, and what it involved, mentioning she had been watching for a bit. I explained that I'd started with some very basic resources - some villagers and troops and a small base to accompany my champion - and needed to quickly build up my troops and also my buildings, while simultaneously researching new technologies, positioning myself strategically, checking how rapidly my enemies were advancing in their resource building and subsequently trying to defeat them in battles and destroy their income generation wherever possible. She said "Wow, that isn't the type of thing I think about when I see someone playing video games!" I replied that too many people think video games are just a mindless waste of time and don't realise how much value there can be in some games. She watched the transition from one campaign to the next and remarked how it was like a history lesson she could show her grandchildren.

Age of Empires: The Age Of Kings is a bit like several little chunks of history played out in specific campaigns, and as such you become very engaged with your heroes and advisors, although your troops are often just minions (unless you're Joan of Arc, in which case they're martyrs!) This makes for some compelling and interesting gameplay as you work to build your empire up while devastating your enemies' and the challenge will keep you busy for many hours. This really is a wonderful game that has been fitted perfectly to a new combat style and handheld gaming model, setting the bar pretty high for anyone attempting something similar in the future.

Reviewed by Michael Anderson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).