I know company of heroes is the highest rated RTS of the last 10 years or so with a gamestats press average of 9.5 (number 8 overall behind a few valve games, Knights of the Old Republic COD4 and GTA3) Dawn of War Dark crusade is number 25 with a 9.0 average and Supreme Commander has a 8.7 press average. In fact there are over 10 THQ RTS games and expansions in the top 75 (mainly from Relic studios but also Gas powered games), all 10 of which are well above any Age of Empires game.
Again I say Age of Empires is inferior to many RTS series both from THQ, from EA (Command and conquor, the Battle for Middle Earth Games), from Blizzard (warcraft 3) from Sierra (world in conflict), from activision/Sega (the Total War series) and from Stardock (Sins of a Solar Emipre). At best Ensemble studios is a 2nd tier RTS developer which has added very little to the genre and makes the 11th or 12th rated RTS series (and only because AOE 3 did a lot better then the earlier ones, I think the original Age of Empires got something like a 7 from IGN).
Maybe can't make a decent RTS was a little strong, they CAN make a half decent RTS but no more, they certainly can't make a good one, and given how many good ones are on the market (RTS games are only second to FPS games in how many there are on the PC) that isn't good enough. There are at least 25 RTS games in the top 75 at gamestats.com surprise, no Age of Empires game is among them.
Maybe its you who hasn't played enough RTS games if you think that somehow ensemble studios is some kind of superior RTS developer. There are so many the bar is pretty high and Ensemble just doesn't cross it.
THQ, still the best choice if you want a seriously good RTS made, especially if Relic Studios is making it.
PSN ID: ChosenOne feel free to add me
