Maybe the most impressive and new aspect of Age of Empires IV is its single-player campaigns, which begin in 1066 with the Norman Conquest and move to Europe for the 100 Years War, then to Russia, and finally to Eurasia for the Mongol Empire. That said, it’s far better than the screen stealing UI of AoE III. It’s simple, corporate, and clean, to be sure, but lacking the little touches of design that worked so well in AoE II. Of course, like the earlier games, Age IV does an incredible job of using art and stylized architecture to define its eight starting civilizations, and it’s clear that a considerable amount of historical research has gone into making structures and units both distinctive for the player to recognize from afar as well as being period accurate. While the new game has sharp and detailed graphics with an increased ability to zoom in closer to the action, to the casual observer, its overall appearance is very similar to the AoE II Definitive edition. In crafting Age of Empires II, developer Relic decided to largely ignore the look at feel of Age of Empires III, which, to be fair, was an excellent game but not nearly as warmly embraced by the RTS community…or at least by me, to be honest. Now we have Age of Empires IV, which seems determined to kindle our nostalgia for the earlier title while trying to feel contemporary, relevant, and forward-facing.
Age of Empires II was a masterpiece and has continued to be supported, expanded, and gussied up, with new 4K graphics, new campaigns, and new civilizations to play.
Of course, over time and thanks to other games, I shelved AoE II but returned to it with a passion when the Definitive Edition appeared in 2017, reminding me just how great that the now 22 year-old-game could be. Along with StarCraft, released one year earlier, it was in constant rotation on my gaming playlist. As a long-time, real-time strategy fan, I played the hell out of Age of Empires II back in the day, spending hundreds of hours skirmishing against the computer or online with human opponents.
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