Age of empires 4 für ps4: Is Age of Empires 4 Coming to PS4?

Developing, in parallel, you need to explore the map, find new resources and points of interest, along the way trying to annoy the enemies. It is unlikely that it will be possible to defeat the enemy with a swoop, although there are certainly rush tactics that give results only with a slow opponent when it comes to fighting real players. But undermining the economy of an enemy state (or states) with the help of regular annoying raids is a great bid for success. In addition, if we are talking about a battle with several players at the same time, then some can be subject to tribute, in return promising not to cause damage during such an “alliance”. nine0013

But sooner or later it’s time to deal with adversaries, using the full power of the army, and it’s worth dwelling on this point, since battles in Age of Empires 4 are one of the most important parts of the gameplay.

^{Early game enemies decided to stop my gold mining. But it is not in vain that there is a defensive tower with five archers inside — the gold will remain mine}

nine0002 The rock-paper-scissors principle has already been mentioned. Yes, in general — this is how it is, however, with some reservations. The standard spearman is quite effective against horsemen, but will take a lot of damage from archers. If he is upgraded to an elite guardsman (the development of troops is non-linear, and in certain eras a choice is given), then the unit will become a slow “tank” in heavy armor with a shield at the ready, and volleys of arrows will not be so terrible for him. However, he will no longer fight cavalry so effectively, as the long pike will be replaced by a short one-handed spear. nine0013

The standard archer is great at infantry by default, but obviously loses to cavalry and heavily armed targets. In the process of development, you can upgrade it to a warrior with a crossbow: this will make it even easier to protect him, but increase his power against heavy armor. And if you go further — you can get a musketeer (archer — if in Muscovite), which is very weakly protected, walks slowly, but shoots from a musket hoo, and in close combat can fight back.

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^{Russian early armor available in the second era (for everyone else — in the third). It is doubtful that they used this kind of cavalry tournament spears, but we will not dwell on this. In addition, these spears break after «cutting» into the enemy, and then an ordinary sword is used}

That is, the balance of stone, scissors and paper shifts back and forth all the time. Do not forget that there are much more types of units than the standard «warrior», «horseman» and «archer». What is there besides them? Yes, there is nothing! Mounted archers, the division of riders into heavy and light ones, siege weapons (rams, catapults, trebuchets, cannons), unique units for each nation, warships of varying degrees of suitability for water duels between themselves and support for ground fighters. nine0013

In general, the gameplay for all nations is mirrored, however, there are some differences, and this applies not only to troops, but also to the development of the settlement. And if everything is quite simple with units — the Mongols have cool horse archers, and Rus’ has powerful armored men at an earlier stage of the game, then it’s worth stopping at the second point and looking into it in more detail, because there was no such thing in the games of the Age of Empires series before . And if it was, it is not so deep.

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At the moment, there are very few nations to choose from in the game — only eight. For comparison, in the second part, there were thirteen states at the start, and in the subsequent six additions, a total of twenty-four more civilizations appeared. Even such insignificant ones on the world stage as the Bulgarians or the Vietnamese. What is in Age of Empires 4 now? England, China, France, the Holy Roman Empire (which, as you know, is never sacred, not Roman at all, and not even a bit of an empire), Rus’, Mongolia, the Delhi Sultanate (India) and the Abbasid Dynasty (Arabs). Most likely, new states will be added with the release of DLC, and I would like to hope that the publisher will not milk the players who have already spent well on the game and add-ons, introducing «elite» nations for donations. nine0013

Regarding the difference between civilizations. Without going into details, the main differences can be found right on the match preparation screen. It looks like this:

^{If you want a more detailed explanation of who, what, what, where and why, then you need to proceed to the section «training» -> «technology tree»}

Here you can thoroughly study the pros and cons of the chosen nation. And this is really worth doing in advance, because the differences are sometimes very, very significant. For example, the Mongols, as a nomadic people, can at any time collapse their buildings in order to place them in another place. This is especially useful when you need to move a settlement closer to the front line or a location rich in resources. nine0013

The same steppe dwellers receive horsemen at their disposal even in the very first dark epoch, while other civilizations, roughly speaking, barely climbed down from the trees and only picked up the first sticks. They can well fray the nerves at the early stage of the game for everyone except the British, because they have in their arsenal — heavily armed infantry, available only to them in the dark era.

^{The Battle of Hastings is a remarkable story and has been used in many places. For comparison — one in AoE 4 and Total War: Medieval 2}

That, in fact, is all. The process of the game is always simple and complex at the same time. It is simple in that the gameplay in any battle is gaining momentum, and from the initial set of the main building, scout and several peasants, you end up with a huge fortified city (or even more than one) and a powerful motley army, with which you need to defeat the enemy . In some cases, when it comes to normal battles against players or AI, there are other ways to win. nine0013

For example, you need to capture and hold a conditional sacred relic for some time, preventing enemies from taking it away. And the gameplay is complicated in the unpredictability of development, because each opponent thinks in his own way, their number from match to match can vary from one to several, the conditions also change: maps for battle can be generated automatically, which adds a few more points to each session uniqueness.

nine0002 ^{Beautiful and serene scenery from a custom battle. Veterans of the series easily recognize all types of buildings}

Now back to the single player campaigns, but describing each one in detail is like scribbling a whole novel, so let’s analyze everything using just one story as an example and show how diverse it is.

As a person writing this text in Russian, I am extremely pleased that in Age of Empires they added a full-fledged Russian civilization. Of course, in previous games, the Slavs were present before, but it looked rather modest. AT Age of Empires 2 they had only one unique unit — a heavily armed horseman «BOYARIN» — and a couple of minor unique technologies. In the third “Age of Empires”, some kind of pseudo-historical mess turned out, in which they don’t let you play as Russians in campaigns, but they are presented as very evil guys, who in fact are just pawns of a secret society called the Circle of Ossus.

^{Vile nomads want to burn wooden Moscow. But we won’t let them do it! nine0029}

But in the «four» Russians — my respect! I was so eager to try to play first of all for my native nation that, after going through the training campaign, I immediately rushed to fight for Rus’. Here it is presented not in the form of average savages-villains, but as a self-sufficient long-suffering nation with its deep history, with its victories and defeats. The campaign itself is called «The Formation of Moscow» and covers the period from 1238 to 1552.

First, they give us the future capital of all Rus’, devastated by the Mongols, which looks, to put it mildly, rather pathetic. A destroyed wooden palisade, burned huts, women weeping over the corpses of men, and warriors miraculously surviving after an extreme attack by nomads. But nothing, Rus’ does not do such a thing. We are rebuilding everything anew, driving away the adversaries, building the first Kremlin and moving further along the river of history. nine0013

A remarkable and fundamental difference from previous games in the series. Previously, in campaigns, we saw fairly solid stories, most often based on the deeds of some historical figures, and rarely going beyond these deeds. For example, in Age of Empires 2 , the campaign for the French began with the formation of Joan of Arc and ended with her death. The Spanish campaign, likewise, introduced us to the rise, life and death of a great hero named El Cid Campeador. The Mongols are still the same, only from the point of view of Genghis Khan, that is, as a rule, the story arcs did not exceed the life span of any eminent historical character in their duration. nine0013

^{Between episodes, we are shown beautiful videos, in which sometimes there is a combination of real shooting and graphics, sometimes a very cool cosplay performance, and sometimes modern high-definition footage. Great solution, classic cinematics probably wouldn’t look as impressive}

In the third part of the campaign, although sometimes separated by centuries, they still told the stories of one family by the name of Black. In the Quartet, the approach has changed fundamentally, campaigns are based not on individuals, but on states. Even if historical great personalities are present in the missions, we are still not talking about them. Therefore, even within the same campaign, there are intervals of tens of years between missions, and in the mission itself, events take place very conditionally, as, for example, in the next task about Rus’. nine0013

Moscow is getting stronger, and after some time, Prince Dmitry Ivanovich, then not very famous, enters the arena. Within the same mission, he must improve the economy of Moscow, constantly pay tribute to the Mongols, fight off robbers roaming back and forth and acquire cities that will soon become part of the Moscow principality. To acquire — in the literal sense, paying money for it, because Dmitry (not yet Donskoy) at the dawn of his reign expanded his influence not so much due to the strength of his squad, but with the help of money and connections. nine0013

After that, we are moved to the infamous Kulikovo Field (God bless the developers who so meticulously approached the reproduction of the events of the Russian campaign), where Dmitry Ivanovich on the banks of the Don River gives the Mongols a dashing bream and proudly tries on the title of Donskoy. Beautiful battle, beautiful victory.

^{We don’t let the enemy cross the Smolka River. Spoiler — in the end we still give, but not for long}

But the Mongol raids did not stop there, and the prince must defend the now white-stone Moscow from the retribution of Khan Tokhtamysh. The insidious Khan took the capital, ruined it and restored the dependence of Rus’ on the Horde, so that Prince Dmitry had to pay in gold for the previous years of his rebellion. I hope this isn’t a spoiler for anyone. nine0013

^{The Mongols take revenge by destroying the white stone Moscow. They have nothing sacred!}

The story related to Dmitry’s reign ends and the player is thrown many decades into the future. In the role of the prince now is Ivan III, nicknamed «the collector of the Russian land.» He has not yet freed his people from the yoke of the Mongols, but he is striving for this, gathering all Russian cities under his banner. Novgorod remains the last recalcitrant, and Prince Ivan, in his next mission, annexes it to his grand principality. A very bloody period of our history, to be honest. nine0013

^{Independence of Novgorod comes to an end}

Having finished with the independence of Novgorod, the prince felt that the old enemy — the Mongols — was no longer as terrible as before. Now the player will have to see firsthand one of the most important battles in the history of Rus’ — standing on the Ugra River, after which the yoke of the Golden Horde was thrown off forever.

^{The Mongols do not want to give up the decisive battle. But we’ll make it anyway, and the Horde will soon disintegrate}

After some time, the heir of Ivan the Great — Vasily III — continued the work of unifying the state. He considered the Lithuanian lands to be his by right, and therefore sent the footsteps of his army to the long-suffering Smolensk. First, the expansion should be carried out in the region, and then it will end with an enchanting siege of the Smolensk Kremlin. The degree of tension is growing, and the current Muscovite Rus is a huge force that everyone around is forced to reckon with.

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^{Smolensk is a more serious opponent. It is almost impossible to take it without artillery. In fact, do not thresh on stone walls with swords?}

The first crowned tsar of all Rus’, the great changer of professions and just a good person, Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, comes to almost everything ready. Here we see only the end of the Kazan campaigns, namely 1552 — the very capture of the Tatar Kremlin, which until that moment had successfully resisted the Slavic expansion. After the victory, Ivan Vasilyevich, with his head held high, declares, they say, what a beauty, absurdity, and thus completes the epic campaign for Rus’. From that moment on, the Muscovite kingdom is considered to be fully organized. nine0013

^{A strong statement. Of course, we will check it}

And in this vein, the other three campaigns take place — «Normans», «Hundred Years War» and «Mongol Empire». Few? Of course, not much, but there is no doubt that periodic DLC will add new stories that will be just as interesting to pass.

^{The Normans are fighting the English. In this battle, you need to follow tactics, otherwise the enemy on the hill will crush Wilhelm with the number}

Finally — we will clearly answer what Age of Empires 4 is, how it differs from the previous parts and how it is similar to them. Against the backdrop of a very weak third part, which was kind of more or less experimental, the “four” looks great. Not only looks, but plays accordingly. In fact, the new «Age of Empires» is a kind of remake of the second part of the series, its heir, ideological successor and faithful keeper of all the favorite traditions. A cardinal difference from Age of Empires 2 is simply not when it comes to gameplay, which is very good, because the gameplay itself is not outdated. Oldfags remember and appreciate it, and beginners in the strategy genre can easily master it.

At the same time, point innovations, at first imperceptible to the eye, nevertheless greatly refresh this process. For example, the ability of units to finally climb stone walls to defend themselves from above. The ability for fighters not to chop enemy houses with spears, as before, but to burn them with torches. The appearance of balanced heroes that are very useful, but imboy, as it was in Age of Empires 3 they are not; lose Dmitry Donskoy or William the Conqueror on the battlefield — just spit. And so on.

^{So, I’m definitely not Kingdom Come: Deliverance launched? A vaguely familiar face, I’ll tell you}

But in the visuals, of course, the game has room to grow. The graphics look, although cozy, but somewhat outdated — despite the fact that the system requirements for Age of Empires 4 are quite greedy. Yes, and optimization is lame, while there is no fine-tuning of graphics, and there is no way, say, to turn off entire seas of animated grass that heavily loads PC resources. Among other things, completely unpredictable fps drawdowns and even crashes to the desktop without declaring war occur from time to time. At least that’s how it was in the preview. Let’s hope that the problems will surely sink into oblivion with the release of the game or the first patches.

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In all honesty, oldfags can nod approvingly Age of Empires 4. This is a great game in a genre that is not the most popular today — and the fourth «Age of Empires» is able to give a light to other strategies. She not only faithfully preserves the traditions of the best parts of the series, but also tries to competently modernize them. Along the way, the developers manage not to break what we loved Age of Empires for many years ago. It is impossible not to note the detailed attention to the history of ancient Rus’ — this campaign was especially interesting and epic. We can only hope that Age of Empires 4 will be successful, and in the future we will see new releases. And preferably, sooner than 16 years later. nine0004