Truly, there wasn't much to show at that point. Little did they know that in February of that year they'd found one.Īlthough development on Age Of Empires begun early in 1995, Microsoft had little to go on when they first saw it later that year, as Rick Goodman, AoE's lead designer recalls: When we invited them to visit us, they came and we spent about 10 minutes demoing a man chopping a tree.
If Bill Gates and co wanted to be taken as seriously for their entertainment software as i they did for their applications, they needed to release a killer game.
Neither prolific nor prodigious, Microsoft's entertainment output was up to that point notable only for it's annual update of Flight Simulator, a game about as entertaining in the eyes of most gamers as that other great Microsoft entry into gaming's hall of legends, Solitaire.
It made things a lot simpler and I still did have a fair bit of fun with it.īack In 1996 Microsoft may well have been the biggest company in the world, fronted by the richest man alive, but it didn't necessarily follow that by providing virtually every PC across the planet with the means to operate that Microsoft made the finest games. In going back and playing the game I did actually like how scaled back it was in comparison to what we have now. You have to shake hands and try to play nice at times, but never be scared to go to war when it is required. Well, you can try, but eventually, it will catch up to you. You cannot just take what you want and try to steamroll over the other nations. You will want the resources for your own empire, but so will others which can lead to war What is cool is that the empire you choose will actually dictate a large portion of the early part of the game such as the resources and so on that you have. There are just under 20 for you to choose from and you have to make sure you are taking care of your people. The goal of the game is that you are in charge of an empire. It is worth noting that a Definitive Edition of this game was released a little while back that did improve the visuals. This is an older PC game so you have to keep that in mind, but the visuals are not all that bad and there is some very nice sprite work here that tugs on those nostalgia strings.
On the flip side of this though, I am not sure I would ever in a million years expect someone new to the series to jump into this over one of the newer games in the Age of Empires series.Īs far as the presentation of the game goes, it is not bad. On the one hand, I have very fond memories of playing this game and as a result, I can truly appreciate how this was a game-changer when it was released. When stationary the attack speed and damage of these units increase thanks to the static deployment ability.When you go back and look at a classic like this it is really hard to do so. The Streltsy is a powerful hand-cannon unit that is unique to the Rus civilization. Warrior Monks can also carry relics which means that they can convert enemy units. This can buff surrounding units and change the tide of the battle.
Rus has access to the Warrior Monk which is on horseback. The horse archers can attack from a distance and their health can be upgraded with research. The strength of the Rus army is in their cavalry. While the civilization has access to early cavalry units, the civilization has limited naval units. Do note that the Rus do not have access to stone walls and need to rely on palisade walls. Villagers gather more wood when they are under the influence of a fortress. They can also build stronger walls and forts. Rus can earn gold by hunting for animals. This will help you gather resources quickly in the early stages of Age of Empires 4. As you hunt animals the Hunting Bounty Score increases and gives you more food income and boosts harvest rates. The Hunting Cabin replaces the Mill and generates gold based on the number of surrounding trees.