In a few weeks we will have the return of one of the most loved and well-known franchises in the world of real-time strategy. Age of Empires 4 is a reality and at bitwares.net we propose five video games that owe all their mechanics to this classic saga.
“Wololo”, “Rogan” and other classic phrases do not mean anything by themselves but everyone who has played an Age of Empires will remember them. Since the first Age of Empires in 1997, its revolutionary second part in 1999 and a third part that arrived in 2005. What can we expect next October 28 when the fourth part arrives on PC developed by Relic Entertainment (Homeworld) and distributed by Xbox Game Studios.
But before that, we are going to focus on a series of games that took several of the elements of Age of Empires be it their units or obtaining resources but they also made a name in the genre of real time strategy.
Age of Mythology (2002)
We start the list with a bit of a cheat. Age of Mythology actually it comes to expand the Age of Empires saga. Especially since it’s from the same creators Ensemble Studios. But its main difference was obviously the fantasy elements that this game added, the possibility of receiving benefits from Gods like Zeus, Hades or Hera. So if they got tired of looking for gold, wood and food; better to seek divine favor.
In 2014 it had an improved and extended version. While fans continue to build maps with the level editor. And the The same creators declare that they have not forgotten about it.ta saga.
Empire Earth (2001)
If yours was to go through times and reach the cybernetic future. Empire Earth it is an excellent proposition. Launched in 2001 by the defunct Stainless Steel Studios and published by Sierra On-Line. The game gave the possibility to play from prehistory to the space age in 2218. A beautiful madness that we could spend long hours on or watch as older civilizations fought against robots and spaceships. And those atomic bombs destroying medieval castles.
Empire Earth had two continuations but made by Mad Doc Software (today part of Rockstar Games).
Rise of Nations (2003)
Another great proposal within the genre of real-time strategy was Rise of Nations which also added a lot of its own identity. Mainly an extreme amount of resources like spices, skins, gems; etc. All these elements were more focused on Civilization-type strategy game. The reason for this? The studio behind the game was Big Huge Games founded by several members of MicroProse the company created by Sid Meier and Bill Stealey (responsible for Civilization and X-COM).
In 2014 it had its remastered and expanded version. The distribution of the saga was in charge of Xbox Game Studios so maybe one day it will return.
Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth (2004)
After the success of the Peter Jackson films, The Lord of the Rings was a series poised to expand his unique gift of video games. And ten years before the incredible Shadow of Mordor, EA Games presented Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth; a real-time strategy game where we could manage the forces of good among which were Gandalf, Aragon, Frodo; etc. Or the forces of evil with Saruman, Gollum and the Nazgul.
Interest in Middle Earth waned a bit (except for that Gollum game and the upcoming Amazon series) but this didn’t stop a group of fans from making Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth Reforged an improvement of the original game with the Unreal Engine 4 graphics engine.
0 A.D
If the love of players for real-time strategy had a game in development it would clearly be 0 AD This title was originally intended as a mod for Age of Empires 2: The age of Kings but finally it was decided to make a free game, with free code and all based on collaborations. The game has been in development for more than 20 years and today it is in its Alpha 25 with the inclusion of new maps and mechanics. It can be downloaded for free on its official website https://play0ad.com/
Bonus
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Outside of the medieval or historical world, Ensemble Studios also wanted to get into the Star Wars world and bring Age of Empires 2 to a distant galaxy. The result was not very innovative since it followed the same bases: obtain resources, pass the times and strengthen our base. The interesting thing here was obviously managing our Stormtrooper army and ships like the X-Wing.