A disappointing end to the illustrious Empire series that began in 1978, Empire II: The Art of War feels like it was rushed out the door long before the game was ready. This results in an inconsistent, sometimes fun wargame that could have been much better than Empire Deluxe, but instead ended up as the sequel that never was.
As Mobygames' description and review makes clear: "This version includes more terrains and more sighting and movement rules. A significant change is that land units can take damage in a skirmish instead of simply winning or losing (being destroyed). There are also added rules for unit morale. If a unit's morale gets to low, they retreat, regardless of your orders. Other additions are allowing for reinforcements to appear on certain turns and weather factors. The scenario editor has been enhanced so that players cannot only create their own maps and scenarios, but their own custom units, including statistics and the graphics. So players can fight prehistoric, historical, fantasy, science fiction, or whatever battles they like.
Although it's part of the Empire line, it's lost much of the charm. I think this is mainly because of the lack of exploration required. In Empire and Empire Deluxe, the fact that you have to explore the planet/area you're conquering plays a big part in the game. That's lacking from this version. You always see the complete map, it's just a matter of being in range of sight of enemy units.
If you're an avid wargamer, you'll probably enjoy it. However, if you've heard great things about Empire and Empire Deluxe and think this will make an acceptable substitute, think again."
Review By HOTUD
English 
Comments and reviews
to Ed d if you want to play it ,please download dosgame
then click dosgame to open a black screen like cmd
then type mount x: d:\dosgame\empire2 and press enter
then type x:
and dir to find e2.exe and press e2
and you can change your screen to max, for e.g. 1024 * 768
and you can still set your sound and music to hear sound and music
and press numpad with 1 3 7 9 to let unit walk in the directions
Now I'm over 40, I worked and have enough money to buy games, but have no time to play, when I trouvered the game 30 years ago, I can still sing the rhyme of that fantastic old game, I played as a noob but it brought me all fun I can get in my childhood and full meaning of life. Now I opened Dosbox, I can never return to my childhood.
I remember the setup of the game, soundblast port 220, irq-7 dma-1
Now I've trouvered this game but it seems can not play sound any more, doesnot matter I can sing all of the music.
I only remember one map in North Africa that Germany and Italy fought against Britain
欲买桂花同载酒，终不似，少年游。
I bought flowers and wine to enjoy myself
It could never be like the game I played in my teenage.
My eyes got wet
But that all changed when Civilization arrived ...
Didn't play the original Empires before this, so had no problems in that regard.
Loved the scenario editor, spent much more time there than actually playing :D
Did miss a few things, but had fun.
Tried to load Empire II: The Art of War via "abandonware" but I receive a warning "This APP can not run on your computer".
Can you resolve that, please?
Good game i like it very much
I likes this game
Great strategy game if you can do your own visualization. Especially fun to make your own scenarios! Widing-ranging options, but could use more to really be versatile.
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.