Its true, i am king of Korea, nonone elected me or anything like that, i pressed a button and it was decided. From there i moved to crushing China before they had any chance to expand, then using the resources plunderd from my new country, i crushed Japan. Now i look to the east where the Mayans and the English have a joint alliance on the continent of america, this is my next goal. I could use diplomacy and form a joint alliance with the spanish and using my allies crush them on two fronts, or i could rely totally on my skill as a commander. This is Rise of Nations, a truly superb piece of work from Microsoft. It has all the usual spit and polish that we have come to expect from a Microsoft game, all the tweaks and all the accuracy. It supports multiplayer and solo play, in the solo play its a "Take over the world" campaign but theres no real plot. The game begins at a world map with your nation in their starting country (the koreans start in korea, the english start in england, and so on). In this view the game is totally turn based you make your move then everyone else makes a move. Then it switches to a more standard RTS (real time strategy) style in which you command the armies you just ordered into battle. It works much like age of empires in battles with prettier effects a better resource system and a larger unit cap (200 when fully researched). Oh and better AI, the peasants no longer sit there dumbly if something needs done they will go do it without you needing to tell them.
There are also diffrent battle types , some where you just have your army and no base building is allowed you just have to crush the opposing army, others where you build your base then crush the opposing army. Lots of crushing is usually involved. There are several diffrent ways of winning a battle, annilating the enemy, controlling 70% of the land or performing a set mission objective like taking over two of the enemy citys within 30minutes. It all works, and it works well which is the important thing. Also the resource system is refined to the point where you no longer spend ages just sitting around for resources your constantly doing things, not once did i find myself twiddling my thumbs waiting for a peasant to return with wood.
Perhaps the defining moment of the game for me was after i emerged victorius from crushing Japan after 65 minutes of play, and i looked at the map and realised how huge it was, and what i could do next. I could have done anything! I could have done everything at the same time! It was a great feeling, and it also shows how long you can expect to play this for, it will suck you in attach its suckers to your head and only let go when its sucked everything it can out of you. The thing is as soon as you come out youll grab a sack of coffee and go straight back in.
Well worth the money
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Addictiveness
Very hard to stop playing
Originality
Not bad - some good ideas
Value for money
Excellent value
Longevity/Expected Longevity
ongoing
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best-selling real-time strategy game Rise of Nations adds a barrage of new features to the original game. Combining the epic scope of traditional turn-based strategy gam...
but gives the player the quick decision-making of real-time games such as Age of Empires. The game brings to life the entire sweep of human culture from the late St...
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