A quick raid to murder some of your opponent's villagers and shut down their economy can be more strategically valuable than victory in any head-to-head engagement. Winning pitched battles reliably requires knowing the rock-paper-scissors relationship between spears, horses, and bows. If you've been sending villagers out to hunt animals, mine gold, and chop wood for decades like I have, you can slide right into the armored boots of most of Age 4's factions with no real fuss at all. Outside of that, it often just seems too careful and safe in a world where Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition already exists. But it's the few spots where Relic has taken risks here and there that this battlefield shows us its best and feels modern. And there are some things about that which feel really nice, like comfort food for gamers of a certain age. Jumping into a match as the tenacious English squaring off against the chivalrous French feels like being transported back вЂ“ not only to its setting of the High and Late Middle Ages, but to a different era of strategy games entirely. But it all comes at such a premium, and with campaigns geared so heavily as tutorials for the multiplayer, itвЂ™s hard to wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone not already invested.ДЄge of Empires 4 is out now ВЈ49.99/Games Pass.Age of Empires 4 is a base-building, sword-clashing, village-pillaging RTS of the classic style, inside and out. While this sharp presentation can feel too clinical to capture the bloody chaos and muddy romance of medieval combat, its readability lends itself well to the competitive game.Д«oth longtime RTS fans and Age of Empires vets will find things to love here, a comfy if well-worn tacticianвЂ™s armchair to slip into, spiffed up, and with a few shining surprises stuffed down the sides. It often feels like a slick, futuristic museum exhibit. Buildings under construction thrum with the flickering silhouettes of workers and wireframe plans. Stone walls under siege bombardment chip, then crumble, then collapse. Operatic scores and Mongolian throat singing. Sound design and bright presentation are highlights throughout. It makes for a kinetic clash of plays and counters that rewards flexibility and variety. Wooden palisades can be torched by infantry, who can construct siege weapons in the field to deal with stone fortifications. While a population cap of 200 means even the biggest battles are noticeably abstracted, messy unit clusters are discouraged in favour of rank and file positioning and balanced forces. This focus on the macro is not to say the micro is overlooked, either. Being nomadic, they can also pack up their buildings into vehicles and relocate their entire settlement. Mongolians canвЂ™t trade for stone, but automatically mine quarries with a structure called an Ovoo, which also confers bonuses to nearby buildings. The English can eventually produce gold from their farms, ensuring a steady flow right through the late game and reducing the need to capture additional mines. While the eight civilisations included at launch all have access to roughly analogous units, their economic games set them apart. There are still some smart additions and changes. Especially as advancements arenвЂ™t a million miles away from AOE 2вЂ™s definitive edition. But unless you plan to invest heavily in the competitive game (or have Game Pass) the package comes at a steep asking price. This is a polished real-time strategy (RTS) game that strikes a skilful balance between accessibility and complexity, with sharp presentation and sound design. For history, and for the competitive multiplayer that is, understandably, the main focus here. Total WarвЂ™s Time Commanders appearance was never the plan, but AOE 4 feels like it could have been designed deliberately for a BBC edutainment slot.ДЄlways well presented, and often fascinating, Age of Empire 4 is also a touch sterile and bloodless, making the single player offerings feel less like juicy, escapist campaigns and more teaching tools. In Age of Empires 4, each campaign mission is driven by documentary narration and bookended by featurettes on everything from the supremacy of the English longbow to the tactical application of Mongolian whistling arrows. B ack in 2003, BBC2 show Time Commanders somewhat sneakily used the strategy game Rome: Total War as the basis for its entire high concept: to give normal people the chance to take on military leaders in famous historical battles.

Age of empires iv review