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Age of Empires IV
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Deep, polished historical game has educational potential.
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Age of Empires IV
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What’s It About?
AGE OF EMPIRES IV is a detailed historical real-time strategy game set largely in the first half of the second millennium (roughly between 1,000 and 1,500 C.E.). Players can work through four distinct single-player campaigns from this era featuring eight factions, including: English, French, Mongols, Russians, Delhi Sultanate, Abbasid Dynasty, and the Holy Roman Empire. They all play similarly, though each has its own unique bonuses and units -- such as the Chinese grenadier and the Delhi Sultanate's war tower elephant. Most games see players setting up and fortifying settlements where villagers can safely collect resources -- gold, wheat, wood, and more -- while researching ability-improving technologies and building large armies. These armies can then be sent out to attack enemy forces, paying attention to which units are most effective against and vulnerable to others (for example: crossbowmen are strong against armored enemies, while standard archers are not). The campaign missions serve largely as an introduction to both the factions and the game's mechanics, with additional tutorials and training available in other parts of the game, including a collection of challenges that teach what the games calls "the art of war." Outside of the campaign, players can engage in matches against up to seven human or A.I. opponents, selecting a preset skirmish template or creating a tailored game by choosing map options, starting conditions, and win conditions.
Is It Any Good?
Real-time strategy games don't get much more polished or satisfying than this, especially not out of the gate. Age of Empires IV feels like it was made for as broad an audience as possible, featuring the sort of depth and strategic nuance craved by the genre's most devoted fans while understanding that there are plenty of folks out there who've never played a real-time strategy game before. The first ten hours or so of the single-player experience are essentially a giant introduction to what real-time strategy games are, though if you crank up the difficulty many of these missions can be quite challenging even for veteran players. Once you've learned how to properly group units in order to pit strong against weak, you've only scratched the surface of the game's tactics. There are still ambushes to set, special abilities to research and exploit, and strategic choices to be made that could ease or make more difficult latter stages of the mission. And with four campaigns to work through -- with loads of satisfying rewards in the form of network-quality video documentaries and unlockable cosmetic items -- plus endless customizable skirmishes against computer-controlled opponents, there's plenty here for folks who just want to play alone.
That said, players will eke out exceptional longevity should they choose to jump online and take on human opponents, who are much more challenging and unpredictable. Up to eight players can vie against one another in multiplayer matches, either in teams or every player for themselves. This is where you can really test the skills you've honed in solo play, and see if you fully understand how to exploit various factions' unique advantages -- such the Mongols' ability to gain resources by pillaging enemy buildings and efficiently move around the map as nomads. Online matches can also make for great social experiences, with players chatting with and learning from each other to become better players. Age of Empires IV doesn't revolutionize real-time strategy games, but it's well-designed, loaded with high-quality content, and should prove quite satisfying -- especially for anyone with an interest in medieval history and warfare.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about screen time. Age of Empires IV sessions can range from a campaign battle that lasts just 10 or 15 minutes to multiplayer matches that become hours-long stalemates, so how do you break the news to fellow players when you need to leave an ongoing game?
Priorities, morals, and politics change over time, so when depicting historical people, places, and conflicts in popular media, should artists strive to present them as they were, warts and all?
Game Details
- Platform: Windows
- Subjects: Science : engineering, Social Studies : events, historical figures, history, timelines
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning : strategy, Collaboration : meeting challenges together, teamwork
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
- Release date: October 27, 2021
- Genre: Real-Time Strategy (RTS)
- Topics: History
- ESRB rating: T for Mild Blood, Mild Violence
- Last updated: October 25, 2021
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