Sure, you can attempt fancy military tactics with split forces, siege engines, and support units, but anyone who grew up on the likes of Dune II, Command & Conquer, or Total Annihilation will remember the certainty of overwhelming unit numbers. Raise villagers and send them out to gather wood, food, gold, and stone to build an increasingly sophisticated base, then use the base to build increasingly sophisticated combat units, and finally accumulate enough of these to rush the enemy force. You could call it an unhealthy obsession, I suppose, but is it my fault that Age of Empires IV offers some of the most addictive base-building since, well, Age of Empires II?Īge of Empires IV is deliberately and unashamedly old-school, not merely recalling the revered second installment in the franchise, but in many ways directly replicating it in a modern engine. So far I’ve built six kremlins, and I can’t promise that I won’t build more.
