More than fifteen years since fans of the Age of Empires franchise had a real new game to get their teeth into. Fifteen long years that have only been furnished by multiple updates to the taste of the first opuses of the franchise through these definitive edition, sympathetic certainly, but far from being sufficient for such a series. Fortunately, while rediscovering that video games can also be played on the PC, Microsoft is taking advantage of Gamescom 2017 to confirm that a Age of Empires IV is well and truly in the boxes of the one who today represents the best real-time strategy studio, Relic Entertainment.
8
View PriceRead ConclusionAge of Empires IV
- Successful tribute to AoE II
- Eight very varied civilizations
- Four long campaigns
- Extensive single/multiple content
- Beautiful from afar and far from beautiful
- lazy artificial intelligence
- Some technical errors
- “Only” eight peoples
Test carried out from the PC version of the game, using a code provided by the publisher. Age of Empires IV officially releases on October 28 on PC. It will be available from this date in the Game Pass PC.
Between this Gamescom 2017 and this release of October 28, 2021, a little more than four years have passed, but Age of Empires IV is indeed there. Relic Entertainment – ​​otherwise still busy on Company of Heroes III – will have taken its time. The studio took advantage of Microsoft's budget to polish its baby and honor this franchise. Developed by a team of PC specialists, designed as an exclusively Windows title and determined to pay homage to the most popular episode of the series – Age of Empires II – The Age of Kings – is this fourth installment up to the mark? 'stakes ?
Gerard! The normands !
Given the fame of Age of Empires, we would tend not to make the presentations, but since we are talking about a chasm of fifteen years without a new episode, let's do some brief reminders all the same. Indeed, Age of Empires IV is a kind of tribute to the second opus of the franchise released in 1999. Ensemble Studios had made a remarkable first foray into the real-time strategy genre – then the preserve of Blizzard and Westwood Studios – Age of Empires. The second opus is an opportunity to strike a blow and even if some players will not be of this opinion, the mythological opus – Age of Mythology – as well as Age of Empires III have not reached the same level of Excellency.
Beyond the love of some of the members of Relic Entertainment for the Middle Ages, it's a safe bet that this wider popularity of Age of Kings has a lot to do with the choice of studio for Age of Empires IV. This new opus is therefore based on the same historical period which, for the solo part, is divided into four distinct campaigns. The first focuses on the Norman epic since the famous Battle of Hastings (1066) during which Duke William set foot in King Harold's England. Subsequently, this campaign offers us to pacify the country by taking the example of the Battle of York (1069). A little leap into the future as the sons of William dispute the inheritance between England and Normandy before continuing with the internal quarrels which shook the perfidious Albion throughout the XNUMXth century.
The second campaign is the least original: it offers us to live the key moments of the Hundred Years War and therefore again opposes Spaniards and English. For the third campaign, we discover a more surprising civilization since it is about the constitution of the Mongol Empire since the coming to power of Genghis Khan until the fall of the Song dynasty in South China (1279) . A campaign that is an opportunity to discover events less rehashed in video games, films or even history books: Battle of Kalka in Ukraine, Battle of Mohi in Hungary, Lumen Shan Dam and Siege from Xiangyang in China. Finally, the fourth campaign is in a way halfway since it is a question of discovering the emergence of the great principality of Moscow after its revolt against the Mongols precisely.
In total, these four campaigns are an opportunity to participate in more than 35 missions and cover more than 500 years of history. Of course, the developers have imagined several levels of difficulty depending on whether you want a more or less difficult challenge, but you shouldn't hope to complete all of these campaigns in less than 30 hours, even at the lowest level. easier. The single player mode is not limited to this, however, and after – or before, for that matter, it's up to you – it is also possible to carry out a few skirmishes and discover a part called “Art of war”. It involves participating in several learning challenges involving a specific objective and for which we are rewarded with a “medal” according to our performance.
But let's get back to skirmishes, because once the campaigns are complete, this is probably the mode that will occupy you the longest. At present, we have the choice between 17 maps with obviously very varied topography: forest landscapes, archipelagos, rocky bay, confluence, AltaĂŻ, hill and valley... Thereafter, it is planned to integrate maps updated point by the community and, perhaps, the developers themselves. The configuration of a skirmish continues with the number of players (up to 8), the size of the map and its biome, the choice of locations and starting conditions. Note that a code is then generated so that we can use exactly the same parameters.
The penultimate configuration step allows you to choose which victory conditions will be active among three: build and defend a wonder, control all the sacred places on the map, destroy all enemy monuments. Finally, you can activate what the developers call an "optimization pack", but none was yet available when testing Age of Empires IV. The game can then begin in “one against all” or in teams. In order to facilitate this configuration, the developers have come up with presets, but above all they have managed to make everything very clear thanks to a high quality interface and impeccable Spanish regionalization.
Trebuchet without tomb
In a way that could not be more classic, this skirmish mode is also what we find basic in multiplayer mode. There, it is possible to embark on two styles: in cooperative against the AI ​​​​or in classic match. Since the servers were not yet open at the time of the test, our multiplayer tests were limited and it was not possible to try the ranked games which should lead to a certain hierarchy between the players. It should be noted that the game should be based on this hierarchy to find partners and that an observer mode is offered by the developers. Finally, note that Age of Empires IV warns players who have not completed the campaigns and the Art of War mode, serving as preparation for the multiplayer.
The menus of Age of Empires IV are also an opportunity to discover the system of daily quests, which are mainly there to give a little more desire to try new things with such and such a people. These quests grant a small experience bonus in order to progress in the levels of our profile by asking us to master the British here, the Chinese there. Still, it doesn't seem to have much importance after all, except to mark our progress in the game, the campaign missions that we complete, the Art of War challenges that we meet and the multiplayer games that we play. we participated. Here again, we will especially remember that the interface is an example of clarity.
JVFR
All that is fine, but the important thing is still to play and Age of Empires IV should not lose too many regulars of previous opuses, whether they have practiced on the original games or on the definitive editions published in recent years. Indeed, AoE IV incorporates the vast majority of concepts implemented by Ensemble Studios. In fact, and apart from the very scripted missions of the campaign, we start on a more or less extensive map with a small "base camp", generally called forum, a scout, a few peasants and a handful of resources in food, wood , gold and stone. The first moments of a game will therefore be devoted to observing the surrounding terrain.
The goal is to find something to put in place a semblance of an economy that “holds up”. One looks for a source of gold, one of stone, an area rich in trees and, as the case may be, an area of ​​berries/wildlife. To be completely honest, the rest of the game won't have much more surprising, at least on the essentials. Once the foundations for the development of our colony have been laid, we must tackle the establishment of an army while deploying some new technologies and, why not, move on to the next age. This new age comes to unlock new buildings, new units and new improvements in an attempt to make a difference on other peoples.
JVFR
A game of Age of Empires IV is no different from a game of Age of Empires II or any other competitive real-time strategy game. In skirmish or multiplayer, it is a question of participating in a race to obtain victory according to the conditions selected. One harasses one's adversaries while trying to ensure one's own development. We try not to discover ourselves too much so as not to be taken from behind and we update our armies as much as possible so that the other players are never able to counter our offensive since an Age of Empires always relies on the sacrosanct. -holy rock-paper-scissors system, one unit is always stronger than another / weaker than a third.
Inevitably, after fifteen years of waiting, we are a little disappointed to see that the mechanics are nothing new. We thought that Relic Entertainment might take the opportunity to bring a little madness, but the studio remained wise. This is not so much of a problem and, proof that the formula is devilishly effective, it is difficult to let go once a campaign has been launched, for example. We find ourselves having a lot of fun testing various combinations of units, seeing how to carry out the most effective attacks, paying attention to the topography... The first campaign is based on the Norman army, halfway between the Spanish and the British, peoples that any player of Age of Empires knows quite well.
JVFR
Le Sultanat price a flagrant… Delhi
On the other hand, one can very quickly turn to significantly different civilizations. Thus, the Mongols rely heavily on their nomadism and all their structures can be "packed up" to be moved to a site more suitable for harvesting / attack. For their part, the Chinese play – in particular – the gunpowder card to gain the upper hand and rely on a system of dynasties to win impressive bonuses. The Sultanate of Delhi can count on a very particular system of technological research: it costs no resources, but is much more time-consuming than among other peoples... except to put scholars in garrison to speed things up.
Scholars that can also be slipped inside production buildings to boost the enrollment of new units, for example: quite frankly, producing an archer every 5 seconds does it quite well! Of course, they also have their fearsome war elephants to disrupt opposing armies. On the side of the Abbasids, the whole scientific aspect has been completely redesigned with the establishment of a unique structure – the house of wisdom – which makes it possible to pass the ages as new wings are built. to the building and, with them, the provision of new technologies reserved for this people for non-negligible advantages.
JVFR
The Principality of Rus' is distinguished by its strong emphasis on hunting, but also the presence of "primitive" knights very early in the game, the generation of gold on wild animals or the establishment of wooden fortresses, less expensive. Let's recognize that when the game was announced, having only 8 different peoples didn't seem like much… well, the observation is confirmed after several dozen hours of play! Not that it is not necessary to spend a lot of time to master these eight peoples, but rather that with such a long development, it was necessarily possible to prepare other civilizations, but let's bet that Relic Entertainment and Microsoft wanted in keep "for later".
Another regret that we perceive quite quickly, Age of Empires IV is not a very modern game on the technical side. Of course, it's definitely better looking than previous installments in the franchise – in a way, thankfully! – but we are very far from the visual slap. The units are not very detailed, the landscapes almost arbitrary and we can not count on any light or particle effects to embellish the assaults. Even rivers, bodies of water, fires or the destruction of buildings are not the occasion to impress us. And we won't talk about the animations, which could not be more summary of the units, in particular the siege weapons, which "rotate" in a very brutal way.
JVFR
You have to make up your mind, aesthetically it's "correct, nothing more" and the game is "marked in its time", but it's clearly not very embarrassing: 1/ firstly because that obviously doesn't prevent not to play and 2/ because there is finally much more painful. We regret, for example, that the pathfinding of units is only slightly improved compared to previous opuses. There is no longer any question of units getting stuck, for example, but large piles of units still tend to generate somewhat ridiculous traffic jams and certain very cumbersome units can block the passage of their own brothers in arms. Even more troublesome, Relic Entertainment has been rather lazy in dealing with the bigger armies.
In Age of Empires IV, we still have to deal with this limit of 200 units and, even if it may seem anachronistic, it is ultimately not a bad thing since we cannot count on a really convincing formation system. There is of course the possibility of creating army groups (Ctrl +1, 2, 3…) and the developers have also thought of three types of formation to arrange the units. Alas, at this level, nothing customizable and we cannot for example decide to finely organize the position of archers or monks in relation to the cavalry. Nor will we be able to make the slightest distinction between different mounted units: everything has already been decided by Relic Entertainment.
JVFR
Lords, take care of your fiefdoms
The studio has of course thought of integrating a "hold position" option, but unless we're mistaken, there's no question of managing offensive or defensive attitudes in a slightly finer way: it's either the units that foolishly follow the enemy, or they remain encamped on the spot. As a direct consequence of these limitations, you have to constantly micromanage the different components of your army with the responsiveness that this implies. For franchise regulars or CPS (click-per-second) dingoes, it won't be a big flaw, but it's impossible not to tell yourself that all this isn't very modern... and it's not the first time that we underline this relative absence of modernity, this “laziness” of the studio.
A “laziness” which is also present in the management of enemy artificial intelligence. We have already spoken of the "stupidity" of our own units. Alas, it is hardly more brilliant in the camp opposite. For our games, the developers have imagined four difficulty levels that regulate both the campaigns and the skirmish mode. The AI ​​generally knows how to be aggressive, but at the basic level, it “falls asleep” very quickly: after the first attacks, it doesn't really react anymore. At the highest level, rest assured, she will give you a hard time, but without showing any subtlety: she goes very fast, she is reactive, but is not capable of elaborate strategies, never bluffs. Shame.
JVFR
On the other hand, we must underline the extent to which Relic Entertainment has managed to offer us quality campaigns. We have discussed the context of each of them, but without looking into their design, their strengths. In a fairly classic way, they are all four very scripted. Do not expect to prepare for multiplayer confrontations thanks to the missions they offer, because the stakes of these missions are completely different from a "classic" game: in the vast majority of cases, the bases are not to be built and the topography is very specific, designed to set the mood of the countryside and stick to its historical context.
Mission after mission, the idea is to tell us a story, to open a small window on the Norman epic, the Hundred Years War, the Mongol domination over Eurasia or the emergence of the great Muscovite principality. At each start of the mission, a timeline allows us to resituate things and a video presents the situation to us with the historical context of course, but also the objectives. Very regularly, a voice-over intervenes during the mission and even if we obviously play the part, mouse in hand, this gives the whole thing a little documentary side which is not unpleasant especially since, of course, the entire game is entirely in Spanish (text and voice).
Relic Entertainment has also secured the services of many scholars so that its game retains a realistic side without affecting the gameplay too much. More importantly, these scholars have also shot in small videos that the studio offers us to unlock as we progress on each campaign. In total, more than thirty videos have been produced. They are there to give a little more depth to the whole by explaining to us here the operation of a trebuchet, there the techniques of manufacture of a coat of mail or a plate armor. Videos that are all the more interesting when they focus on lesser known peoples.
This is how we learn a lot about Song China, the Mongolian army of Genghis Kahn and his grandson, Kublai Kahn. A video details for example the use of arrows to communicate orders between the different wings of the cavalry. We also learn a lot about the specific equipment of the Mongol warriors and, in particular, the crossbow with multiple bows. We lack the knowledge to question the content of these videos, but produced with the help of recognized specialists, they exude seriousness and as Relic Entertainment explains, they have a double purpose: "to attract not only fans of history, but also create new ones. Let's bet they get there easily.
JVFR
Age of Empires IV : l'avis de JVFR
At the first announcements of a new Age of Empires, we were "all crazy". When it was clarified that the project was in the expert hands of Relic Entertainment, it was hardly if we held in place. However, today, we are not completely thrilled with Age of Empires IV and we particularly regret a side that is perhaps a little too respectful of the franchise. We would have liked Relic Entertainment to shake up our habits and, why not, breathe a little Company of Heroes into the Age of franchise.
By reading our test, you will have understood that this is not the case and that at Age of Empires IV, we could apply the motto "change in continuity". Regulars of previous opuses will be on familiar ground. They will soon find their little ones, but also some flaws that we thought we could escape... more than fifteen years after the last real episode of the series. Let it be said, we will therefore still have to do with the micromanagement of units that are not always very cooperative and above all completely stupid.
Aesthetically too, it's a bit sad. Not that Age of Empires IV is ugly, but it is quite plain and, fortunately, Relic Entertainment has other assets to promote, such as these radically different peoples from each other and their consequences on our tactics that we will have to rethink in function of the civilization that we control of course, but also and above all of those that we face. The scripted aspect of the campaigns is another great success, while many very didactic “documentary” elements reinforce the historical aspect of things without giving the impression of going back to school.
If you were expecting to see Age of Empires IV revolutionize the real-time strategy game genre, you are likely to be disappointed. On the other hand, if you wanted a kind of somewhat modernized tribute to the franchise that rocked your childhood / adolescence then you can go there with your eyes closed.
Age of Empires IV8
By paying homage to the second opus of the franchise, Relic Entertainment does not show itself to be the most enterprising and its Age of Empires IV is not the revolution that amateurs have been calling for. However, it is a very good real-time strategy game that has multiple components to satisfy the solo player as much as the multiplayer fan, the historian as well as the neophyte. One regret, the technical aspect is clearly behind.Most
- Successful tribute to AoE II
- Eight very varied civilizations
- Four long campaigns
- Extensive single/multiple content
- Remarkable educational plan
The lessers
- Beautiful from afar and far from beautiful
- lazy artificial intelligence
- Some technical errors
- “Only” eight peoples
