When you've got flashy new 4K art everywhere, a reworked UI and more refined controls, the messiness and lack of clarity in fights can be a bit jarring. Even if that wasn't the case, changes to the core of the game aren't what you'd expect in the Definitive Edition, but in other places the alterations are surprisingly significant and meaningful, making the gaps more noticeable. Microsoft and developer Forgotten Empires have been clear about their intent to eschew big changes to the combat, citing feedback from the Age of Empires community.
As chaotic as combat can get, sieges and big confrontations still require plenty of planning. They need troops to escort them and fight off the AI-which does seem to do a pretty good job of prioritising targets even on the standard difficulty-and safe positions to begin an assault from. Siege engines are expensive, slow and fall apart as soon as the enemy looks in their direction.
Assaulting a walled city is a massive investment in gold and manpower, and a bit of a logistical conundrum. One of the best additions of the original Age of Empires 2 was proper fortifications and the accompanying sieges. You've either got to micromanage the lot of them or leave them to it and just hope that you've sent in the right units to counter your opponent.īattles amount to more than throwing a heaving mass of warriors at your adversaries, though, especially if they're hiding behind some walls. Units run around desperately trying to get to the nearest enemy, or the one you selected, frequently having to adjust as gaps close. Melee brawls are brisk and, even with the new and otherwise helpful zoom feature, it can still be hard to decipher what's going on in the scrum itself-it's just a lot of shrinking health bars-so committing your force can feel a bit like giving up control. Across the campaigns and skirmishes, this familiar routine is repeated, tweaked and sometimes subverted, but while Age of Empires 2's current curators have updated a lot around it, the moment-to-moment civilisation and army management has been preserved. You start with a town centre and a handful of villagers, gather resources, plonk down buildings and expand until you've got a big army and an impressive fortified city. Those are two areas where it's largely business as usual. The result is a more consistent pace that leaves you with extra time to spend expanding your civilisation and commanding armies. Queuing up different units and upgrades, being able to drag and select armies without grabbing villagers by mistake, queuing commands-most of what I wished the first Age of Empires: Definitive Edition included has been introduced here.
Quality of life improvements might not sound like much of a headline attraction, but Age of Empires 2 needed them just as much as the new campaigns and the visual overhaul.
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