The Native American Fire Pit is an entirely new building that lets players gain some minor but notable bonuses. The WarChief even gets more powerful over time, so he can make the transition from exploration and treasure grabbing to serious fighting. This makes it much easier to make a quick treasure grab early in the game when you've only got a handful of fighting units. In addition to being able to grab treasures, the WarChief can also grant military bonuses to nearby units. The WarChief, for instance, serves as a sort of heroic explorer for the Native Americans. That doesn't mean that there aren't some interesting additions. Sure, we like the WarChief unit and the Fire Pits and the Sioux's lack of housing but there's nothing in any of the new civilizations that requires you to think differently about how you approach the game. Same resources, same basic unit types, same buildings, same home city concept - it just feels like the developers changed the appearance and names of the European civilizations to fit the new American ones.
The American tribes are certainly distinct from each other and from the Europeans, but we wish they had played a bit differently. It takes a while to get going with them, but once you get a feel for the different unit types, they're just as effective as any of the other civilizations. Rather than relying on quick mounted strikes, they focus exclusively on infantry. The Aztecs are almost exactly the opposite. This gives them a mobility that's hard to counter. The Sioux are like the Hun in Age of Kings, a cavalry-focused civilization with little need for complicated infrastructure. The Iroquois make use of a wide range of European style units, making them a nice choice for players who still want a bit of familiarity. The Aztecs are only available in multiplayer unfortunately. Most missions in the campaign offer a chance to fight with and against a force composed of Native and European units. The Iroquois, the Sioux and the Aztecs are all in play now and each offers a slightly different flavor. Warchiefs shifts the focus from the Old World civilizations to the peoples who were already living in America when the first European explorers started to arrive. While it gives the expansion a "been there, done that" sort of feel, it was so enjoyable the first time that we don't mind being there and doing that again. Given that last year's Age of Empires III was pretty fantastic, it's no surprise that the developers aren't inclined to shake things up too much with the latest expansion, The WarCheifs. Their approach has been to pile on lots more content without really trying to throw in a lot of new features.
Ensemble hasn't made a bad expansion yet.
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