The fearsome English Trebuchet trumps all other artillery in the game, and Russian space-lasers make short work of enemy sub-pens. Mongols can pack up and move their structures, consistent with their nomadic predilection, and can burn enemy emplacements to accrue resources. Hero units (like Joan of Arc!) can cast buffs on surrounding units or speed up the production of buildings. Get medievalДЄll this is well and good, but we all know why we are really here: is it fun to make war in Age of Empires IV? Absolutely! If youвЂ™ve played an AoE game before, you know what to expect - each of the eight civilizations has common fighters and research trees, but does change things up a bit with faction-specific units such as the Chinese horse archers, which can shoot while moving (great for antagonizing the enemy) and the French Arbaletrier, which can switch between a ranged and melee stance depending on the situation. Kiev weather report: Smoky with a chance of death. Not being able to see the supply cost of individual units is a bit archaic, though. I did like the ability to man stone walls with archers and footmen (and even storm them with siege engines!), a mechanic I do not believe was present in previous entries, and the ability of scouts to automatically gather livestock is a nice touch. You wouldnвЂ™t want to disappoint history, would you? Has history seen your latest report card?) To like the RTS genre is to like this setup, so IвЂ™m not complaining, but it would have been nice to see a little more variety on this front, such as an escort mission or two. The odds are in your favor that you will win. Some scenarios have fail states or timers, but it is almost always impossible to fail unless you completely squander your resources. There is almost always a secondary objective or back route to complete your main task. You will either be attacking, defending, or completing a specific task, such as the building of a wall or the flanking of an overwhelming foe. Your guys are blue, the bad guys are red, allied or neutral units are yellow or white. These battles consist of the tried-and-true scenarios that are part-and-parcel of the RTS scene. You are able, of course, to skip these bits at any time and jump right into the action. Rich people problems aside, you will learn a lot from playing Age of Empires IV, which almost feels like playing through a documentary straight off of The History Channel, but with fewer aliens. Seriously, the scent of history hindsight is so strong in these games that you could almost conclude these old-timers waged war for lack of anything better to do. These story bits do a great job setting up the context for each mission, which - spoiler alertвЂ“ often come down to three things: ascendancy, family squabbles, and unlimited power! Each story is about eight missions each, and every mission is interspersed with high-quality narrated cutscenes that merge dramatization and animation and are quite fascinating. Age of Empires IV spans 500 years, from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance, and features eight factions over four campaigns: The 1066 Battle of Hastings, the Hundred Years War, the Mongol Invasions, and the Birth of Moscow. Relic Entertainment picks up the reins this time, and they are no strangers to the real-time strategy genre, having previously brought us award-winning titles such as Homeworld and Company of Heroes.

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