Age of empires

Bought Age of empires on saturday. Its ok but really hard and its kind of limited. What I mean by that is this:
In my first few games I set the game to random map with all the default settings. I got battered about three times.
In the next game I turned down the number of opponents and didnt see the guy until I reached the top of the tech tree at which point I just built a load of the best units and battered him. I suppose it is quite an old game now. Might look around for some similar games.
Also bought Settlers 3 (an impluse buy at the counter - i think its the first time I've ever bought something on impulse)
After speaking to Russ about it on Saturday night I dont think I will even bother opening it. It sounds like quite a good game but one that will take forever to play and will involve very little gameplay.
Might also look into buying Civ 3.