Today we are going to take a look at Age of Empires IV. This new installment to the classic IP of real-time strategy games promises to give you all you loved about the old games with some new spices added for your pleasure. Whether it can deliver on its promises is the question we will try to answer today. Age of Empires is available on Steam for 59 Euros and 99 cents or your regional equivalent.
With this review you have a choice of either reading it here in text form or listening to the video review. They both contain the same content.
We have waited a long long time for Age of Empires IV. Sixteen long years. We did get to revisit the good old times in the definite editions of the previous installments but there still was a huge fan base waiting for the fourth. And while many evil people decided to claim the real-time strategy genre is dead Age of Empires IV has the ambition to show they RTS aren’t dead and should be taken seriously.
Right off the bat, you get history. The colors, the music, everything tells you’ve gone back to the times when AoE reigned supreme over gamers’ computers. Just a quick run through the tutorial and you’re ready for the campaigns. For to be precise. If you’re wondering why this review is coming out so late well… the first campaign alone with its ten missions took me about eight hours to finish. The only thing that made me sad was the focus on Europe and only the end gives you the chance to visit Asia. But I guess that’s where expansions will come in. The first campaign focuses on Normans invading England, the second takes place during the Hundred-year War in France. Then finally in the third, we get to visit Asia and the Mongol civilization to end our journey with the birth of Moscow. And when I said we will visit places I wasn’t lying.
One of the best newly added features for casual RTS fans are the short movies that come with every mission. Drawn images from the real world naturally change into events happening in the game. It looks and feels fantastic and it almost feels like you’re watching a great documentary on YouTube. The chance to see modern English cities filled with drawn-in palisades, soldiers, and fires is unforgettable. On top of that, with every completed mission a plethora of additional movies and documents are unlocked that will teach you about history – how castles were built, how weapons were crafted… and many more. This makes Age of Empires IV easily a game that could be used to teach history in schools.
One of the things I would criticize about the campaigns is its focus on siege. Almost all the missions in the first two campaigns are either “Siege of this or Battle of that”. Especially the first mission doesn’t exactly feel like Age of Empires. You get an army and a hero unit and the goal is to destroy the enemy’s army. Then there’s the rest of the missions and they are a bit too bland. Destroy the castle. Protect this city and maybe wait for reinforcements. Luckily, there are a few more classic types of missions where you get to scout the map out. But the campaign does truly focus mostly on siege and defend missions and it doesn’t teach you enough about managing your economy which is hugely important if you want to play multiplayer.
I will talk about multiplayer in greater detail in a moment but for now, suffice to say you will get to play a total of eight nations in it. Not all of them are available in the campaigns and that’s really sad. And I really don’t understand why they added both the English and the French to the core campaigns as they do play somewhat samish in the hands of a casual player. On the other hand, the Mongols and their ability to relocate their buildings is truly original and yes, every nation comes with unique buildings, units, and technologies.
So, while I might have not sounded super positive when talking about the campaign it is good. Swift and fun. The gameplay itself needs to be praised for sure. The creators wanted to bring something new yet keep the feel of the essence of this beloved franchise. The campaign thus gets rid of some of the features, keeps others. For example, hero unites remain and get special abilities such as faster movement, healing, or just plain being stronger. And to get to the next age you no longer research a special “technology” but you build special buildings that provide unique bonuses depending on which one you build.
And don’t worry. You will still get ganks in the middle of a stealth forest and archers on top of stone walls. What’s really cool is that come of the units now get abilities. Let’s say the archers. They can now build wooden stakes around them to protect them from cavalry units. And forget slamming swords into buildings as now finally the units learned to pick up torches and burn them down. Authenticity is much more of a factor in AoE IV. Sadly, that’s where the list of new things ends. Though, whether this is a bad thing or a good thing is hard to decide. The authors were obviously looking for more of a quality and familiar experience rather than a revolution.
One thing that underwent big changes is the UI which feels almost incredibly minimalistic. Everything is modern, small, and allows you to easily see your little town. There are a few nice improvements such as little icons and counters over buildings so you don’t have to click as much as you had to previously. A simple and elegant solution especially for the newcomers as buildings are hard to recognize unless you play a lot and pay close attention.
Visually, the game looks great. But the best though as it is obvious it has gone through a very lengthy development cycle. But this has its benefits. The game runs great and while there are bugs present they are being fixed at a good pace. One thing that will be a huge matter of opinion is the color palette. AoE II’s Definite Edition feels like true middle ages and for those switching from it to AoE IV, everything might feel a bit over-saturated. On the other side of the spectrum is the sound design where I don’t think anyone can complain. In the end, AoE IV singleplayer plays well as it is fluid, easy to learn, and will provide a lot of fun for many hours to come. But, let’s take a look at where AoE truly lives. Multiplayer.
Every single Age of Empires game is truly built around multiplayer. Doesn’t matter whether we are talking about friendly skirmishes during LAN parties with friends of in the past or the current professional matches which can to this very day get tenths of thousands of views on Twitch. If you personally decide to partake in the online multiplayer of Age of Empires IV you need to get ready. And as you might’ve guessed by now. I’m building a bit of a defense. A defense of my own incompetence. While I do really enjoy Age of Empires IV I don’t stand a chance against people who are truly good at it. Thanks why I didn’t include my own gameplay in this part of the review but instead gameplay coming from truly professional players during the Genesis tournament – more precisely the grand finals between Viper and Mista. Here’s you’ll get the chance to see AoE IV as it was meant to be played. I am sorry that this part doesn’t come with sound but the casters would be a bit distracting to the review. The footage comes from the T90Official channel – link in description – so be sure to give them a subscription!
When writing this review I personally have played six matches and won four of them. That might not sound like a bad winrate but these were only quick matches. And even then I’ve seen players playing so well that their empire spanned half the map with fully upgraded armies knocking at my door before I even entered the third (castle) age. I decided to (for now) not even try ranked matches as… well… that would be a silly silly idea before I get better.
But not every game needs to be a 1v1. There are also modes that allow you to team up with others. For example, my very first multiplayer game was a 2v2. And I did get destroyed rather quickly. In just ten minutes my town laid in ruins and I left. But when I looked at the match data later I saw my teammate managed to 2v1 the others. Since then I trained a lot and my last 2v2 game ended with a victory! What a rush that was and I’m certainly the next grand champion.
But let’s return to reality for a moment. I do have a feeling that something has changed in the multiplayer of AoE IV. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but it is just more fun than any of the previous installments. Maybe it’s the bigger focus on defense with walls where archers can be placed that takes less damage, maybe it’s the more variability in the playstyles of different nations. Perhaps it’s just the ability to unlock new flags and statues giving you something to strive for even if you aren’t the best. Nonetheless, AoE IV is addictive as hell. The games were fast and even a 4v4 match took less than an hour. And even the matchmaking was fairly quick as it never took me more than three minutes to find a game.
For a second, before I talk more about the professional scene that seems to be rapidly growing I want to go back to the various unlockables. These truly shine even if they are in the grand scale of things just a tiny little thing. There are these “masteries” which are essentially achievements that are unlocked by actually learning important mechanics for a given nation and make you truly feel like you are becoming a better player.
Now to the professional scene. I highly suggest you find the channel called Aussie_Drongo (link again in the description) who posts commentary for cool AoE IV matches every single day and will allow you to learn even some of the harder tactics than can be performed in AoE IV. There are already tournaments being played, pros from Starcraft 2 are trying whether AoE IV could be their new game of choice and altogether AoE IV seems to be on a good road to becoming a staple in the RTS pro scene.
So… in conclusion: Age of Empires IV is a great game for all those who miss the times when real-time strategies rule over the gaming world. It looks great, plays great, and isn’t filled with game-breaking bugs. The single-player campaign is a lot of fun for many hours and while being a bit too non-varied will alone be worth the price of admission. But if you truly delve into the beauty of multiplayer with all its strategic variety you will get a game that will be on top of your gaming list for many years to come.
So, that’s it for today guys. I hope you liked the review and if you did, please up-vote the review, follow my blog, and be sure to share it with your friends. And comment, if you have anything you would like to add. See you guys later with more gaming content.
