Every once in awhile I get a nostalgic kick, and really get a hankering to play some Age of Empires. I loved the first game in the series, and the second cemented that love. These games, along with the Jedi Knight series, were frequented by me, and others on MSN’s Internet Gaming Zone. The Zone, as it was known for short, had a wonderfully easy game setup/play system. Unfortunately, when the Zone killed CD-games back in 2006, it seemed these communities were left to die. And I thought I would never get to play AoE against people ever again. I was wrong.

Anybody who works with computer’s regularly should know how awesome Google is. So it finally dawned on me to look for a new gaming service that wasn’t inundated with bugs/ads/awfulness. (See: Gamespy Arcade). And find one I did.

GameRanger is a wonderful service for anyone looking for games in games they may not have played online in awhile. It seems the AoE community moved over to here, as there are usually at least 20 Age of Empires 2 games going at one time. What’s more, is that the program actually works really, REALLY well. There’s no slow start, then an ad before you do anything, then maybe 2 people in the lobby of the game. You simply start a lobby, title the lobby, and you’re up and playing a game within 5 minutes.  It’s simple, its not bogged down, and it just works. It’s exactly what a game matching service should be.

Let it also be known that new games are added nearly every week. So GameRanger is not just for older games. There are newer one’s on here as well, including FIFA 10.

A couple of side notes here though. One, I read up and found out GameRanger has been out for forever and a day for Mac’s, and now just came over to PC. So congrats to all you people who have enjoyed it before I found it. Two, if you really like GameRanger, there are paid versions that take away the small amount of ads you’ll see, but also give’s access to their own personal ladder service. If you like GameRanger, please support these guys and pay for it.

Link for the lazy: GameRanger

Popularity: 1% [?]

Like the Above? Check these similar articles: