[theon144]

Honestly, it also looks a lot better in my opinion. The 3D version is for lack of a better word more "computer-y" and cheap, its shortcomings are visually jarring and it doesn't really fail gracefully at all. It almost looks like those shitty games from banner ads.

The 2D version in comparison is much more pleasing to look at, it has the feel of old-school hand-drawn animated movies.

I know they said its not the final version of the art, but I think my gripes are not just about models and lightning or what have you. It's AoE, I don't need or want photorealism!

[erikb]

Maybe, however let me disagree a little with that. It's not the same level of pain as Warcraft 3 and games from this timeframe where they started to do 3D without actually having the power to do it right yet. I'd say this AoE 3D version looks a lot more pleasing to the eye.