If you’re anything like me, you’ll find that taking a look back at RTS games really does bring back a lot pleasant memories. It’s also sadly completely knocked many of these games off of their rose-tinted pedestal, but the ride has been nevertheless enjoyable. Whilst there are loads of RTS games that deserve a mention here, it’d be nigh on impossible to cover them all, and as such I’m going to be picking out the ones that really made an impact on the genre.  For around 10 years I was what you might call an ‘RTS nut’, playing almost every single RTS game released over that period, and it was excellent. While there were many brilliant games released over this period, as with any genre there were more than a few dodo’s as well.

With this in mind, Gamingverdict is proud to present (in a rough chronological order) the 10 games which put RTS gaming on the map.

If you missed part one of the feature, you can check it out here.

Age of Empires

Microsoft then entered the fray with Ensemble Studios releasing the first in the ever popular Age Of Empires franchise in 1997. Set from the dawn of man onward, the game spanned 4 generations right up to the Iron age, and the game arguably being more complex copy of Warcraft, featuring 4 limited resources to manage as well as trading and diplomacy, the game featured an immense technology tree, something that had not really been explored to this extent previously in RTS games.  AOE made an effort to be historically accurate, giving people the opportunity to recreate historic battles to their liking, and while there’s no denying it to be an excellent and beautiful game, the lack of a proper engrossing single player campaign was a disappointment.

Age of Empires: Elephants = Yes.

Age Of Empires II provided more of the same from Ensemble Studios in 1999 and we still lapped it up. While the game featured a variety of improved features over the original there was nothing particularly inspiring about the game. Overall however it shared the same flaws of its predecessor, providing an excellent multiplayer experience but a rather uninspired campaign.