At its worst, it can feel like a “greatest hits” album. At its best, AoE IV is polished, refined and a ton of fun to play. It has the same setting as Age of Empires II, as well as many of the same civilizations, units, strategies and campaign arcs. (Age of Empires Online was also an interesting and worthwhile experiment, but I digress.) Compared to its predecessors, there’s no denying that AoE IV plays it pretty safe. The first game was bold the third was innovative the second is still one of the greatest RTS games of all time. On the other hand, Age of Empires IV has a lot to live up to.
