I'll be honest. I only ever played my own custom maps. So, I don't have anything to say on the campaigns.
I find that, unless you put the teams very close together, the AI is very unresponsive. Though sometimes, they can wake up. I hate to compare these, but since this is directly based off the 1998 original, I'll show you one of its contemporaries from the time. Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. A game very similar to it in concept and feel. Yes, it isn't as well loved, but let me explain why I feel this one falls short. In Kingdoms, the Skirmishes actually feel like battles. AoE can feel like it, but only when the AI works.
I ran some tests, recreating a few Kingdoms maps in the editor, and they did not have any punch. The new graphics are great, but without AI improvements, it pales in comparison to a game that was released the year after the original version. Though Kingdoms has a bit of lag due to its overly ambitious graphics (for its era), its AI will build up, send in attacks, then begin to overwhelm. This applies to allies as well. So, you can end up with chaos and even hard to solve skirmish matches. It has its issues, for certain, but the battles work. They are engaging and fun to watch. In AoE, they can be fun, but only when the game's overly fatigued AI wakes up.
Now, this whole review has seemed negative. So, why have I recommended it? Well, like I said. When it works, it's astounding. If there is an AI fix, or something I did wrong in setup. (I tried different personalities, but nothing really changed) then I'll be happy to take a lot of this back.
It is still a good game, and fun if you want to push the front to the enemy, who have no choice but to wake up and defend their base, but if you want a more methodical allies vs enemies game. Chances are it is only going to please some of the time.
