Hello to you, my friend, dear reader of this post! And happy Monday! Happy new week, it is the last one of the month of November, though I don't desire to do the wrap up post today. No. In this hour, I would like to start by mentioning Empire Earth, the game that made me get into videogames, is underrated to the extreme. Specially the second iteration of the game, where they added weather, for example, to the mix, something AOE is yet to do, is so ambitious, the game gets larger than life itself. I should not complain much about AOE, though, as it is also a wonderful series. I have AOE3 in mind when I write this, as both games were released at the same time overall. Some points in common are shared by both franchises. They both, for different reasons, got almost forgotten in the early 2010's. AOE, though, got a resurgence thanks to the work of fans, that brought specially AOE2 back to life. Eventually, that would be so successful, Microsoft would officially sponsor this renaissance in the genre. Unfortunately, EE did not have the same luck. That is because Empire Earth 3 is a disaster of so monumental proportions, that the whole genre almost got destroyed as a whole. I am here to speak mostly of how I like Empire Earth, though, so this talk of how its demise came to being, will have to wait another moment.
I played, overall, Empire Earth the first more than Empire Earth 2, and the first game, even if it had bad bad graphics, was still one of the most ambitious games ever made, I have no reason to believing otherwise. Not one. What other genre has as much as 30 civilizations to pick from, and more than 16 eras? It really allows you to relive history and its battles! Today, Age of Empires is catching up on civs, but each game focus on one specific era, whereas Empire Earth goes on a more general approach, and surprisingly, does it pretty decently! This game, alongside Civilization 3 and 4, formed my imaginary, and helped me have my early entrance on music, architecture, and history. Empire Earth's soundtrack is so successful it got incorporated into several other pieces of media, so it is really recognizable. Empire Earth 2's did not receive the same success, but it wasn't bad.
A close up on Empire Earth the first. The graphics today seen appalling, but if you can look past it, ages of entertainment and inspiring quality times await you.
The game is not bad, so I don't understand it doesn't get the attention it deserves, it is really frustrating! At least, however, it can still be bought. It could not for a long time, between the demise of EE3 in 2008 to like 2014, but today you can find the franchise on GOG. Important to say, EE the first does not run so well on modern devices, its engine is ancient, its graphics do not hold well to say the least. I am sure, however, that you can still find mods to fix at least the compatibility issues. Empire Earth 2 is a better pick for modern machines, even if a mod may be needed to enjoy the game to the fullest. The truth is, unfortunately, none of the entries are supported by their developers anymore, that have all but vanished since the demise of EE3. Most of the heavy lifting today is done by fans, that are even trying to remaster Empire Earth the first. There are some snippets of their work specially on remastering, even rebuilding, the original soundtrack. We should pray for their good work! And praise them and thank them! Fans of all kinds are a force of nature, Gof bless them!
At least, on this point, Age of Empires is happier, having returned having support. I think the peak of the game is with Age of Empires 3, in many ways, though Age 2 is the most popular of them. For me, Age 4 feels like a step back, a downgrade, in so many ways. It is one of the reasons that brought me to think of good old Empire Earth 2 in the first place. The graphics of Age of Empires 4 look very similar to those of Empire Earth 2, though, being a game done 20 years later, it has more graphic quality. But still, the eerie similarity is there. And like I suggested, Empire Earth 2 is much much more ambitious than Age 4, that feels like a worsened version of Age 2. It loses points for me just for pandering to nostalgia, instead of trying something that hasn't been done on the franchise before. Well, what else is there to be said on this?
For this post, that I have been wanting to write for a while, I think we are in a good position to wrap things up! I hope to return later in the week, though, so I can write more about this topic. I hope this may introduce you to a new world on video gaming, which is the EE franchise. And all my support goes to the brave fans for sticking around their favorite game, so many years after even the ruins got washed away. From this... we can only hope for better times, and maybe there will be some, as the soil on the industry seems more fertile for niches, and the internet is widespread, bringing so much with it... maybe a new era is just around the corner.
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