"Age of Empire or AOE the mother of all current generation Real Time Strategy (RTS) games is on the verge of oblivion phase. A phase from where there will be no returning back and if this great title is not revived urgently then it will get lost in its own time. It is a sage which spans historical events throughout time right from Stone Age to European colonization period."
In the '90s hardly there was any gamer who was not aware of this title, spending timeless hours - days and nights - developing strategy, collecting resources, train army, and building an Empire of their own, along with insight of history. However, with the advent of time, many me-too titles entered in the market with strong marketing ideas which obscure the luminosity of this title.AGE OF EMPIRE - I
20 years back in October 1997, the very 1st title of Age of Empire was released.
Age of Empire was developed by Ensemble Studios and Microsoft published it Windows and Mac platforms with game ranking 87% and Metacritic score of 83.
It covered ancient civilization in 4 ages - Stone, Tool, Bronze and Iron ages respectively, - each age had distinctive qualities and special units. The gamer leads the game by advancing through all 4 ages, by gathering resources, building a strong army, capturing other civilization and defending its own with its defensive structures. The ultimate intention or objective was focused on keeping your civilization alive till last.
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| A Civilization in the Age of Empire with their Unique cultural architecture |
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| A Battle Scene from Age of Empire 1 |
Age of Empire 1 had 12 civilizations having distinct styles in architecture heavily based on Mesopotamian, East Asian, Egyptian and Greek architectures. It had campaign mode revolving around history Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian and Yamato civilizations. Apart from it has Single player mode and LAN mode. Age of Empires 1 was a commercial success, having sales of 2.2 million copies by June 2001.
AGE OF EMPIRE - I
RISE OF ROME:
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| Rise of Rome expansion |
One year later in October 1998 Ensemble Studios and Microsoft released Age of Empire 1 - The Rise of Rome. Age of Empire 1 - The Rise of Rome was an expansion pack. It had a game ranking of 80%.
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| A Home Screen in Rise of Rome |
This expansion added the Roman Empire along with other existing civilization. It also added Palmyrans, Carthaginians and Macedonians civilizations with their having distinct styles in architecture and army units. It also had campaign mode revolving around history each new civilization historical events.
It was a commercial success, having sales of 1.2 million copies by June 2001.
AGE OF EMPIRE II
- AGE OF KINGS:
02 years later post launching Age of Empire 1, Ensemble Studios and Microsoft released Age of Empire-2 (Age of Kings), in September 1999.
Age of Kings also had exactly the same concept - building a civilization from scratch, creating armies, making civilization strong, dominating by attacking other civilizations, and staying alive until the end.
This time the world timeline of the Age of King advanced into the Middle Ages and is set in the Middle Ages. It covered 04 ages- the Dark Age, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age and the Imperial Age (showing Renaissance) respectively - each age has distinctive qualities and special units.
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| Graphics Detailing in Age of Empire II |
Age of Kings also featured 13 civilizations ranged from the west and east Europe, middle east and Asia. The Graphics took the game into another level, a level where a player can relate to the game. The units in the game had a real-life detailing which brought the games, even more, closer to this game. In fact, many gamers came to know about Age of Empire from this title and still glued with this installment!
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| Story in Artwork |
The best part was Single player campaigns - Celts, Franks, Saracens, Mongols, and Teutons that narrated history in Artworks. The campaign mode narrates real event stories of William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Khan, and Barbarossa and their struggle in artwork, engaging the gamer into the game.
Age of Empires 2 also was a commercial success, having sales of 2 million copies. It had a game ranking of 92% and Metacritic score of 92.
AGE OF EMPIRE II
- THE CONQUERORS:
One year later in August 2000 Ensemble Studios and Microsoft released Age of Empire 2 - The Conquerors. It was an expansion pack and 4th installment in Age of Empire series.
This expansion added 05 new civilizations the (Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish, Huns, and Koreans) and 04 new campaigns, along with other existing civilization with their distinct styles in architecture and army units.
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| Aztec civilization, Awesome Graphics Detailing |
The Aztecs and Mayans architectures and graphics were phenomenal, and many gamers learned about this lost civilization. It had a game ranking of 88% and a Metacritic score of 88. This expansion was also a commercial success, having sales of 4.1 million copies by August 2006.
AGE OF EMPIRE III (2005):
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| AOE - III |
After nearly 05 years later from the last launch of AOE-2, in October 2005 Ensemble Studios and Microsoft tie up to give another installment - Age of Empire III
This time, the historical timeline was set in industrial or pre-modern age world. It was called as Discovery age. The theme was European colonization of the world & exploring New world.
Age of Empire 03 graphics totally brought the game to the next level with high detailing on every character and sound of firing muskets with 100 musketeers firing on the enemy at the same time and artillery blowing blazing ripping the building apart, the arriving of cavalry with their swords clashing - felt you are actually inside a battle-ground !
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| A battle scene |
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| A small unit with Heavy artillery Marching |
AOE III had 05 ages Discovery age, colonial age, fortress age, industrial age, and imperial age. Each age had its own importance and impact.
- Discovery age - Revolves around discovery and exploration of the new world.
- Colonial age - Expansion into the new world by building trading posts and missionary posts and converting local tribes into our side.
- Fortress age - Fortification of the colonies in the new world.
- Industrial age - Introduction of factories, advance artillery and strengthening the economy.
- Imperial age- Final age and maintain world order.
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| Armies Clashing |
Special Introductions:
Home City:
AOE III had new features - Introduction of Home city - since the concept or theme of the game revolves around colonization, Home city was the primary city from where the player will receive, shipments, armies, resources and technology upgrades.
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| Home City |
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| Shipments From Home city |
The Home city was like powerhouse which is separated from the active game and cannot be attacked or destroyed. The player can also change the name of their Home City.
Trading post sites and Railroads:
This is the most exciting part of the game.
Just like AOE II were players can build a market for trading resources and producing caravans who use to go from one player's market to other player's market to generate gold, in similar fashion in AOE III introduced Trading post sites.
There are fixed points on the map where a you have to go and build your trading posts. In the regular interval of time, a caravan will come and will trade some selected resources - gold, wood, food. In later states, you can upgrade the trading posts sites to Railroads and a actual rail will run on path trading resources - very cool !
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| A Railway running |
The trading post need to protect or it will be destroyed by the enemy and they can build their own posts and start gaining resources.
Making friendship with local clans - Tribe Settlement:
There are some local tribes clans spread across in new world's map who are neutral and will not engage with you. However, to engage with them you have to create your posts on their site.
By doing so, they will start engaging with you and will provide you with military units, missionaries, and bonuses. It actually boosts your army and power.
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| Making a Post at Native Tribe Village to Make them Friendly. |
The post needs to protect or it will be destroyed by the enemy and they can build their own posts and will have a powerfull army.
While proceeding into new age the player gets 2 choices in form of "selection of political leader".
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| Making Choice which Political Leader to choose. |
Each political leader attributes a distinctive character and will grant you bonuses -
e.g. The politician political leader a "Naturalist" gives the player four cows, while politician leader "General" gives twelve musketeers and one piece of heavy artillery on upgrading to each age.
The game starts with land or area unexplored outside of Home city where the player has to colonize and make the new city. The player will get some help and resources from Home City.
AOE III introduced 8 civilizations- Spanish, British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, German, and Ottoman having their own distinctive special units, strengths and architecture building. I find the British are the strongest among other civilizations in the game.
The game basically focused on colonization of new world, exploring, domination and maintaining the order.
The campaigns are in a Cinematic fashion, without artwork and real historical events. The campaigns are fiction story with different civilization involved and run as a part of the game itself - cinematic mode.
Age of Empire III had a game ranking of 82% and Metacritic score of 81. It sold over 2 million copies by May 2007.
2006 and 2007 Expansions of AOE III:
In the next two years, 02 new expansions of AOE III was introduced into the market.
In October 2006, AGE OF EMPIRE III: THE WARCHIEFS Expansion.
October 2007 AGE OF EMPIRE III: The ASIAN DYNASTIES Expansion.
Both developed by Ensemble studious, however, Age of Empire III: The Asian Dynasties developed by Ensemble studious in collaboration with Big Huge games. Both games introduced distinctive civilizations.
In October 2006, AGE OF EMPIRE III: THE WARCHIEFS Expansion.
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| The WarChiefs |
October 2007 AGE OF EMPIRE III: The ASIAN DYNASTIES Expansion.
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| Asian Dynasties |
Both developed by Ensemble studious, however, Age of Empire III: The Asian Dynasties developed by Ensemble studious in collaboration with Big Huge games. Both games introduced distinctive civilizations.
The WarChiefs Expansion - Iroquois, Sioux and Aztecs civilizations.
The Asian Dynasties - China, Japan, and India civilizations.
Both the game followed a similar format to the original game AOE III. And both were well received by audiences with minor critics.
The Asian Dynasties ranked 79% score on Game Rankings and 81% on Metacritic and The WarChief ranked 89% and 87 on Metacritic.
Further Developments by Fans:
In 2009 when Ensemble Studios was closed and no future support was to expect by the company.
Robot Entertainment, the gaming community, tried to provide game support and fixes of remaining issues by themselves.
Robot Entertainment, the gaming community, tried to provide game support and fixes of remaining issues by themselves.
Robot Entertainment late in August 2011 come with an online version of Age of Empire with funny cartoonish animation, which was oky'esh type but cannot be compared with original Age of Empire.
Then in 2013 HD version of original Age of Empire II came up which was just more advanced graphics in High Definition (HD) version.
Along the same year AOE II- The Forgotten expansion was released which had five civilizations new (the Italians, Indians, Slavs, Magyars, and Incas).
Then in 2015, another expansion was released AOE II- The African Kingdoms which introduced 04 new civilizations: the Berbers, Ethiopians, Malians, and the Portuguese.
In 2016 AOE II- The Rise of Rajas was released which had 04 civilizations (Burmese, Malay, Khmer, and Vietnamese).
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| HD Edition of AOE II |
Along the same year AOE II- The Forgotten expansion was released which had five civilizations new (the Italians, Indians, Slavs, Magyars, and Incas).
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| The Forgotten |
Then in 2015, another expansion was released AOE II- The African Kingdoms which introduced 04 new civilizations: the Berbers, Ethiopians, Malians, and the Portuguese.
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| The African Kingdoms |
In 2016 AOE II- The Rise of Rajas was released which had 04 civilizations (Burmese, Malay, Khmer, and Vietnamese).
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| Rise of The Rajas |
AOE II- The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms and The Rise of Rajas were all mods to the original Age of Empire II game and were basically fan-made expansions.
"The best part of this is that the fans of Age of Empire kept the Age of Empire Series Alive!"
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
AGE OF EMPIRE IV:
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| AOE IV |
So, after more than 12 years later, Microsoft made a big announcement in August 2017 about a new installment of Age of Empire series - Age of Empire IV.
It was an exciting new for the fans. However, the 04th installment was not developed by Ensemble Studios (Father of AOE game) but by Relic Entertainment - the same team who developed Warhammer series and Company of Heroes.
It was an exciting new for the fans. However, the 04th installment was not developed by Ensemble Studios (Father of AOE game) but by Relic Entertainment - the same team who developed Warhammer series and Company of Heroes.
Unfortunately, the release date has not been announced for Age of Empires 04 and is still under development.
Trailer of Age of Empire 04:
Trailer of Age of Empire 04:
What we can expect in Age of Empire IV?
Just as we have seen in previous AOE series that each installment is a step towards new Age - like in AOE 1 started in early civilization, then AOE 2 steps in Middle ages and AOE 03 steps in colonization ages (pre-modern age).
So the probability is very high that AOE 04 will be a step towards modern age. We can expect world war 1 and world war 2 events. Maybe Space race, Vietnamese war, and cold war.
If the game will be set in modern era then game developers will have many avenues to explore and integrate into the game, as science and technology evolved in the past millennium in fastest speed. But it's all my imagination maybe they come up with something different.
It’s hard to say what we can expect from Age of Empires 4 and that it’s in the hands of a new developer. I hope the developers do justice to the evergreen saga of Age of Empire.
What do you think about Age of Empire IV?
Comment below :)
If the game will be set in modern era then game developers will have many avenues to explore and integrate into the game, as science and technology evolved in the past millennium in fastest speed. But it's all my imagination maybe they come up with something different.
It’s hard to say what we can expect from Age of Empires 4 and that it’s in the hands of a new developer. I hope the developers do justice to the evergreen saga of Age of Empire.
What do you think about Age of Empire IV?
Comment below :)
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