Forests vary in color and type, trees and grass sway lightly in the breeze, sea water color grades naturally toward shore, and unseen clouds passing in front of the sun drape shadows across the plains.

Map landscapes - the backdrop for your matches and campaign missions - are gorgeous. Nearly everything is clearly identifiable at a glance, with units defined well even in the ruckus of battle.

The game is not going for a hyper-realistic look, and that's OK when it attempts to run on such a wide range of hardware. Keeps and fortresses tower above towns, villagers look small next to armor-clad military units, and weapons are at an appropriate size to be noticeable but not overbearing. I've no doubt not yet seen every unit and building in the game, but these issues seem to have been handled. Has it been worth the wait? The answer is very much yes. Nostalgia aside, Age 4 is a new title created by a new team of people, with 16 years between now and the release of Age of Empires 3. This is definitively a fan's review, examined in-depth across all of the game's systems and mechanics. I've done my best to leave my Age love at the door despite Age of Empires 2 being one of my favorite games of all time. From the moment I sat down to play through the four-part historic campaign with 35 missions, all the way through to testing out skirmishes and multiplayer matches, the game has been a treat.

I would be lying if I said it's been a difficult task. I'm one of the lucky few who received early access to Age 4, and as I'm sitting down to write this review I've been playing almost non-stop for just more than a week. Age of Empires 4 was announced on August 21, 2017, and ever since then, real-time strategy (RTS) fans have been eager to see where Microsoft, Xbox, and a talented cadre of developers would take the renowned series.

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