Musically speaking, AoE IV is up to series standards, with a variety of ambient medieval tunes that fade into the background as you’re building, and come roaring to the foreground as you wage war. As you complete missions, you’ll even unlock optional videos all about medieval technology, culture and warfare, which feature expert interviews and real-life demonstrations of archery, construction and even siege warfare. The four campaigns - English, French, Mongol and Rus - play out like history documentaries, completed with a narrator, animated maps and 4K drone footage of real-world locations where famous battles took place. Instead of the “storybook about historical figures” approach in AoE II or the “adventure narrative that brushes up against history” approach in AoE III, AoE IV leans into what it’s always been: a fun way to learn about world history. It’s in its campaign where Age of Empires IV positively shines, though. In the Pinnacle of Civilization, you play as the Delhi Sultanate, and must defend a Wonder throughout the Ages. For example, in The Three Crowns, you and two AI opponents might have to wind your way through a gigantic mazelike map. You can also team up with other players or an AI against larger teams of foes, or play through a handful of other creative modes. There’s the standard skirmish mode, where you can pick any civilization you want, and square off against any other civilization you want, on any map, with any resource distribution, and on any difficulty level. If you prefer to play by yourself, AoE IV has you covered as well. I’ve only ever dabbled in the AoE competitive scene, so I couldn’t say whether longtime AoE II players will want to jump ship or stay where they are I can say, however, that AoE IV seems deep enough that a “perfect” metagame may take some time to emerge. With 17 maps, eight civilizations and a variety of other gameplay options (win conditions, starting Age, resource scarcity and so forth), multiplayer could conceivably keep you busy for quite some time. You can play in Quick Match or Ranked games, with up to eight players in a single match. However, this will change on launch day, so it’s worth at least going over the game modes available. Age of Empires IV review: Multiplayer and game modesĭuring the Age of Empires IV review period, there weren’t a ton of players on hand for impromptu multiplayer matches. I’m not convinced that AoE IV has the very best gameplay in the series, but I am convinced that it deftly balances challenge, accessibility, innovation and formula. The game can still be quite challenging, particularly on higher difficulties - but it’s worth noting that the lower difficulties are more inviting than ever for new (or younger) players. On the other hand, this also makes the game much more approachable, and makes the eight civilizations feel much more distinct from one another.
AoE IV feels fairly straightforward and streamlined, with fewer types of units and technologies than AoE II.
Those came with the mod.ħ:33: I have to disable Speed Always Wins within a certain period of time or the enemy will have heavy artillery, this mod probably didn't react well to the sandbox difficulty.The big question, of course, is whether any of this plays significantly better than in the previous Age of Empires games. The Inspiration for Monty Python's Holy Hand Grenade.Ĥ:21: This would probably backfire in slower economic growth in a real world setting.Ĥ:44: The Beer and Timber resource trade buttons are borderline funny to me.ĥ:40: Notice the New unit with a gun and the one holding a bow. I like this Civilization.ģ:31: In case your wondering there are real world objects that are orbs with crosses on them. This video showcases the Poland Civilization added in this mod: with a unique mounted explorer that can die, a cavalry unit that uses the War Wagon model but functions differently and a Archer unit that takes up 2 population, among others.Ġ:00: This is Poland, one of the Civilizations added in the Napoleonic Era mod for Age of Empires 3.Ġ:08: It adds new villages to ally with, new maps, and old civilizations are edited a bit.ġ:27: Loud and Boisterous soldiers. The mod features a new Civilization/Factions the Swiss, America, Italy, Sweden, Prussians, Austrians, and Poland, edits relating to old factions, a new building that seems to draw a few unique buttons from a pool that seem to change every game, as well as new capital and arsenal techs. It's a older mod that hasn't been updated in a while but is still quite noteworthy. Rumble - This is a mod for Age of Empires 3 called the Napoleonic Era.