Kind of wish Steam would allow a "Meh" recommendation when it ain't quite yes and ain't quite no cause there is a lot to love but also hate. What sets this over the edge to "No" really is that it feels a bit overpriced even discounted at the moment.

If I were to sum up the main issue with this game is that this feels like it was created by people who watched nothing but competitive AOEII gameplay and as a result completely failed to understand AOE as a whole. Every screen and part of the menu seems catered to trying to throw competitive online modes in your face and its really annoying. It feels you have to do a fair bit of digging to find out where to get custom fun gamemodes and maps which realistically the vast majority of online players actually play, and even more digging trying to find out where to get the modtools to make content yourself. Seriously, RTS developers keep falling into this pitfall trap of catering to what is frankly maybe 1% of the RTS audience. Stop trying to force competitive down our throats, if your game is good enough a competitive scene will appear naturally, trying to force it just alienates a large proportion of your real audience.

Now the side issues are a weird mix of having the good mixed in with the bad:
This does a good job of trying to be a history channel documentary before it became whatever it is today, certainly not history. Nice to show the places where the battles took place with decent footage to visualise what was happening.
Problem is that because it's trying to tell a story the missions have way too much handholding. You end up feeling very limited with what you can do to achieve victory. It also feels that a few achievements/objectives are bugged as you can complete them but it won't show as being done.

This game has way less micro than AOEII and honestly that is for the better. It's all about using terrain and positioning to your advantage in AOEIV, and I wished the game made that a lot more prevalent. Its nice also units were automatically cluster into formations as well.
Problem is that you don't have a lot of options when deciding the formation or direction of your units, at least none that are advertised. There is also a severe problem where units just frankly disobey any orders you give them and can take multiple attempts for them to follow your instructions. Pathfinding is also a weird issue is that sometimes they'll do a good job, othertimes they'll do whatever they want to do, typically follow terrible paths or get stuck.

The mode that most players will try playing and a bit of a weird one. Best described as having the design all right but the engineering all wrong. It's interesting that Scouts are basically the ones that can herd sheep now but it does turn the Dark Age into a rather hilarious game of sheep herding simulator. What ruins the mode though is the AI but not for the reasons you'd expect. It doesn't feel like it cheats which is to be commended and does a decent job of building its economy, however the main issue is that it is trying to play the game as city builder. I'm not even kidding when I say you can successfully rush and beat the hardest AI in the Dark Age for the simple reason that it refuses to build units to protect itself until the Feudal Age. Needs at least some change to the build order so it at least makes an attempt at defending itself.

This is where AOEIV gets interesting as it tries to mix parts of AOE with Stronghold. Something that AOE games were definitely lacking was the ability to build impressive fortifications so it felt like you besieging a castle/city with troops mounted on the walls. It's also interesting that buildings essentially terraform the terrain to make it feel like you are building a true settlement and makes it feel more alive. Nice enough if you are playing city builder, but makes you wonder why it isn't utilised in something like a siege gamemode?

This basically tries to be a remake of AOEII with nations while trying to make them feel more unique like AOEIII. Interesting enough attempt I guess although sometimes it feels neither here nor there, even though they try to give each nation their own gimmick. What will definitely stand out is that there is a lack of nations compared to AOEII without it feeling as unique as AOEIII roster, as a lot even with unique mechanics do end up feel like playing the same.
I am a bit confused why the Danes/Vikings are not in game as a choice or as an upcoming choice, because there are units/model assets for them that appear in the Campaign. It's like having most of the work done on a project then completely forgetting it exists.

Kind of wish Steam would allow a "Meh" recommendation when it ain't quite yes and ain't quite no cause there is a lot to love but also hate. What sets this over the edge to "No" really is that it feels a bit overpriced even discounted at the moment. If I were to sum up the main issue with this game is that this feels like it was created by people who watched nothing but competitive AOEII gameplay and as a result completely failed to understand AOE as a whole. Every screen and part of the menu seems catered to trying to throw competitive online modes in your face and its really annoying. It feels you have to do a fair bit of digging to find out where to get custom fun gamemodes and maps which realistically the vast majority of online players actually play, and even more digging trying to find out where to get the modtools to make content yourself. Seriously, RTS developers keep falling into this pitfall trap of catering to what is frankly maybe 1% of the RTS audience. Stop trying to force competitive down our throats, if your game is good enough a competitive scene will appear naturally, trying to force it just alienates a large proportion of your real audience. Now the side issues are a weird mix of having the good mixed in with the bad: [h1]Campaign[/h1] This does a good job of trying to be a history channel documentary before it became whatever it is today, certainly not history. Nice to show the places where the battles took place with decent footage to visualise what was happening. Problem is that because it's trying to tell a story the missions have way too much handholding. You end up feeling very limited with what you can do to achieve victory. It also feels that a few achievements/objectives are bugged as you can complete them but it won't show as being done. [h1]Units[/h1] This game has way less micro than AOEII and honestly that is for the better. It's all about using terrain and positioning to your advantage in AOEIV, and I wished the game made that a lot more prevalent. Its nice also units were automatically cluster into formations as well. Problem is that you don't have a lot of options when deciding the formation or direction of your units, at least none that are advertised. There is also a severe problem where units just frankly disobey any orders you give them and can take multiple attempts for them to follow your instructions. Pathfinding is also a weird issue is that sometimes they'll do a good job, othertimes they'll do whatever they want to do, typically follow terrible paths or get stuck. [h1]Skirmish[/h1] The mode that most players will try playing and a bit of a weird one. Best described as having the design all right but the engineering all wrong. It's interesting that Scouts are basically the ones that can herd sheep now but it does turn the Dark Age into a rather hilarious game of sheep herding simulator. What ruins the mode though is the AI but not for the reasons you'd expect. It doesn't feel like it cheats which is to be commended and does a decent job of building its economy, however the main issue is that it is trying to play the game as city builder. I'm not even kidding when I say you can successfully rush and beat the hardest AI in the Dark Age for the simple reason that it refuses to build units to protect itself until the Feudal Age. Needs at least some change to the build order so it at least makes an attempt at defending itself. [h1]Buildings[/h1] This is where AOEIV gets interesting as it tries to mix parts of AOE with Stronghold. Something that AOE games were definitely lacking was the ability to build impressive fortifications so it felt like you besieging a castle/city with troops mounted on the walls. It's also interesting that buildings essentially terraform the terrain to make it feel like you are building a true settlement and makes it feel more alive. Nice enough if you are playing city builder, but makes you wonder why it isn't utilised in something like a siege gamemode? [h1]Nations[/h1] This basically tries to be a remake of AOEII with nations while trying to make them feel more unique like AOEIII. Interesting enough attempt I guess although sometimes it feels neither here nor there, even though they try to give each nation their own gimmick. What will definitely stand out is that there is a lack of nations compared to AOEII without it feeling as unique as AOEIII roster, as a lot even with unique mechanics do end up feel like playing the same. I am a bit confused why the Danes/Vikings are not in game as a choice or as an upcoming choice, because there are units/model assets for them that appear in the Campaign. It's like having most of the work done on a project then completely forgetting it exists.