<P><SPAN class=postbody>The latest Gamespot preview of Age of Empires III is most impressive. <BR><BR>This year could be quite a good year for strategy gamers (now if we could just get a Total Annihilation 2) with Civilization IV and AoE 3 coming out (not to mention some of the others liek EE2 and such). <BR><BR>I don't know about the rest of you, but 3D in ground-based strategy games have often had mixed results.&nbsp; On the one hand, 3D engines provide so much flexibility but on the other hand, how do you keep the units from looking like polygons?&nbsp; Total Annihilation got around this by having their units be robots.&nbsp; But strategy games with actual people running around had it a bit tougher.&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=postbody>I think the first strategy game I played that had a 3D engine that really sold it was Rise of Nations.&nbsp; But I think the buildings in that were still sprite based.&nbsp; </SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=postbody>Clearly though, judging by the screenshots, Age of Empires III intends to raise the bar to a new level.&nbsp; </SPAN></P>