The dry click of a villager sent off to chop wood, and a thousand years of history opening up before you.

On this platform's criteria, built for attachment, emotion or soundtrack, Age of Empires II places rather low across almost every line. Controller feel sits at the very bottom, ahead of barely one game in twenty, and sound joins it down in the depths. Rediscovery, attachment and art style also stay below average. Only the desert island holds the line, around the middle. No surprise though: this is a real-time strategy game built for keyboard and mouse, where the controller feel was never the point. What makes it great, the tactical depth and the endless replayability, simply is not what these questions measure. Several verdicts rest on few votes, so read them lightly.

Against other historical strategy games, Age of Empires II remains a monument of the genre, but a monument that criteria designed for emotion and controller barely capture.

So, who is it for? For you if you love to build, manage, optimize, crush the opponent in matches that go the distance. Much less if you are chasing a game that moves you or one you savor controller in hand on the couch.