Age of Empires was not the first strategy game to tackle human history. That distinction, in my opinion, has to go to Civilization. In this game you take the role of the emperor or leader of a civilization, research technologies, build wonders and more. The first Civilization used counters for units representing settlers, military units and cities. It was a turn-based strategy game.

The first RTS game released that reached mass appeal was Warcraft, released in 1994. Humans versus Orcs was the theme of this game with numerous units and was the start of a franchise that is still around today with World of Warcraft released earlier this year. Set in the land of Azeroth, Warcraft had 2 campaigns, Human and Orc. What Warcraft was best known for was the head to head experience. You could play the game over the Internet fighting over 20 customized maps.

Command and Conquer came out the year after in 1996. Set in the near future, instead of the fantasy world of Warcraft, C+C told the story of the fight between the Brotherhood of Nod and the Global Defense Initiative. The initial appearance of Kane in the first game was bone-chilling. In this game you fought with tanks and soldiers across maps to defeat the enemy. This game also has a multiplayer experience.

Age of Empires was Microsoft’s first attempt at a RTS game. The game covered the period of time from 30,0000BC up to the Roman civilization era via its expansion AOE: Rise of Rome, AOE was one of the first 3D RTS games. Units had a defined look and the buildings were recognizable for the structures they represented. Resources were gathered and used to build units and structures.

Age of Empires II: Age of Kings was the second game in the series. Each of the games in Age of Empires represents an epoch of exploration. The first one was the beginning of civilization to the Roman Empire. The second game focused on the medieval time period, where knights were the main component of an army. This game was released in 2000 and is considered by many to be the best of the series.

Command and Conquer: Red Alert was released in 1997 as the sequel to Command and Conquer set in an alternate World War II where Hitler was killed by Einstein before becoming the Fuhrer. World War II was won by the Soviets and the war went badly, with only a few areas of the world left in control of the Allies.
Command and Conquer Generals was really the first modern 3D C+C RTS as Firestorm used Voxel technology. Utilizing Pixel Shader 2.0 for water effects, C+C Generals brought new life into the Command and Conquer universe. The game and its expansion, Zero Hour, changed the way I play RTS games.