You may be wondering why this park is now an NE Spotlight? Well the deal with NE Invitational was that when the parks were turned in they would all face off in a public vote, winner gets bumped to a spotlight. Well, it's better late then never! Back when this park was released people were wondering how someone wins Parkmaker of the Year when they haven't ever released a park at New Element? A Good question, and one that should be directed towards mantis...up until Age of Empires. With "WOMB" still in the making, his Atomkraftwerk park wowing people enough to steal a victory from Fatha' in H2H2, and areas in collabo's on the way, mantis decided to settle the score once and for all and unleash "Age of Empires" on everybody, his first full-scale park at NE. Featuring five diverse themed areas, an excellent variety of unique coasters, perfect theming, and tremendous architecture. Finally people are starting to see why mantis has been getting all this praise lately, and lots of people will be eating their words by the end of it.

The welcoming area of this mammoth park is mantis' twisted, fantasy style Port of Entry. Featuring lush foliage lining the entrance isle, some terrific architecture towards the northern shore (which houses the Age of Empires Time Travel). There are two rides you can check out here, the "Age of Empires Lookout", an observation tower that gives a beautiful viewpoint of any area in the park, and "Discovery Orb!", the more popular attraction, an exciting 3D adventure that just serves as an appetizer to the type of thrills you're getting ready to experience in other areas of the park. Beautiful flower arrangements, great theming, nice use of colors, unique little details everywhere, various drones walking around doing the mandatory chores, and even Harakiri's IOA mascot is wandering around, somehow getting lost from park to park. The Old Coventry, the newest of elite medievel areas to be seen at New Element. An area that should be talked about in the same light as areas such as "DrachenShire" from Auroras Bay and "Avalon: City of Myths" from Tropico Horizons, Old Coventry takes a slightly different approach then those two. Much more landscaping goes into this one, along with one of the best Beemers ever seen, "Zirillian of the Claw", a Floorless beast that has one of the all-time great coaster layouts, as it zips through the amazing Medieval town at speeds of over 60 miles per hour, with an excitement rating exceeding 10. That's not all there is to do in Old Coventry, you can experience the "Old Coventry Clock Tower", a medium sized Intamin Gyro Drop, the absolutely beautiful "Coventry Cascades", the park's only water ride, or the "Coventry Carousel", a stacked carousel fit for the entire family. The second themed area in this park is also of the traditional sense, this time mixing classic Roman theming with a beachfront atmosphere, creating the Aegan Isle. It's here that you'll find the park's wooden coaster, "Olympia", a giant GCI wooden coaster with more twists and turns then a figure 8, hitting speeds of 58 miles per hour, all while maintaining unbelievable beauty. The beachfront atmosphere is done absolutely perfectly, and the classic looking architecture blends in so well it's unreal. There's still much to do in the Aegan Isle, a unique dark ride adventure known as "Minoan Palace", a haunted mansion known as the "Katharon Monastery", two flat rides "Metaxa" and "Trapezaki", and even a playground for kids known as "Aiyos Theodoros". Not to mention the finest dining in all of Age of Empires. Next we start getting into the completely bizarre themed areas, starting with the Alien Factory. Completely enclosed giant steel walls, the only way in or out is either through electric bridges capable of fatal surges of electricity, a heavily guarded bridge on the opposite side, or through the docking area. Once you've made it inside, don't think you're safe yet... there are countless things wandering about that are just as harmful. Gigantic robots sitting and guarding the factory through various areas keep a watchful eye on you, making sure you don't disrupt the highly organized factory. Now...onto the fun parts of this area...starting with "Tesla Coil", a launched B&M Inverted Coaster with a completely original layout, one of the most insane rides ever created. There's also "Re-Generate", bringing back classic Shuttle Loop technology and spicing it up with some hi-tech alien theming, including dangerous rotor blades through the vertical loop (keep those hands down!). "Dissector" is a gigantic S&S Freefall ride for anyone dumb/brave enough to try it, and "Turbine" is a puke-inducing flat ride. Then there are three pretty oddball (yes, even stranger) attractions to look out for...starting out with the "Flying Saucer" (just check that one out for yourself), "Infra Red Fun House", and "Processing Plant Tours". The smallest themed area in Age of Empires is the Egyptian one, Karnak, a lost city in Egypt. Giant sand sculptures house some terrifying rides, even though Karnak sits as one of the more subtle themed areas in the park. "Temple of Luxor" is the area's primary ride, a psychotic mine train that goes through the giant temples of Karnak, over The Nile, barges around and in a small oasis, and even flips upside down inside the Temple of Luxor cage! "Portico Races" is the next in the line of custom go-kart tracks."The Court of Amenhotep" is fun for the whole family, a wildlife and magic extravaganza with designated show-times during the day. And "Khonsu" will keep people wet (but sick) through the hot Karnak days. Another very unique themed area in Age of Empires closes the park out, the Mongolian Wilderness, a snow themed frontier featuring two very original coasters. The first of which being "Yeti", the second launched inverted coaster in the park, this time contributed by Vekoma, as it has a much more land-hugging approach, staying underground for most of the ride, whenever the ride's not flipping upside down on one of its 6 inversions. Then there's "Mountain Frost", which marks the renaissance of the Bobsled coaster. Featuring an incredibly steep, caged lift hill up the mountain, and then letting the non-connected cars spin and drop through the gigantic bobsled course. "Lost in Darkest Peru" is an eerily dark swinging ship and "Snowflake Spin" is a hidden space-rings playground. Giant pagoda style architecture works beautifully in the Wilderness, serving home to Meditation Chambers, a Yaks Through the Ages exhibit, a Natural History Museum, a Lookout Point, Hermet's Hideaway, and the Mountain Frost training area. Snow capped flat rooves and wooden overhangs fill the area, but you better be in shape if you plan on exploring the Mongolian Wilderness, because ladders are the only way to access certain attractions.

Congrats Mantis on finally getting your NE Spotlight page for this park that truly is one of the greatest RCT parks ever made with it's amazing attention to detail, atmospheres, ect... you have it all down. It's Great to cap off the 2006 NE with this park's spotlight page. AoE is a true RCT Classic and a real reminder to people what a spotlight park at it's best can be.