Game - Rise of Nations (PC)
 Terry Bartley  rates it:    Community rates it:
   151 of 314 readers found this review helpful.

I've never been a huge fan of Real-Time Strategy games, but I have been looking for one that is so good I can overlook that and still enjoy playing it. The kind of Real-Time Strategy game that allows me to overlook the genre completely and just enjoy playing a game. Lucky for me, Rise of Nations did that.

Rise of Nations really just feels like a computerized version of Risk that does not require friends. You pick a nation, play that nation out, and try to take over the world. That is about as deep as the plot goes, I really missed the fact that I couldn't actually hear the voices of the rival nations begging for mercy or bad mouthing me before they attack. The “story” mode is called “World Conquest” and that is as deep as it gets. You can make treaties, declare war, and bribe off attacking nations. All you need is money, or tribute, to do this. There is no negotiation, just "here's some money, wanna be friends?" Although I do get some sort of sick pleasure by royally screwing up history with stuff like making the Japanese take over America before Britain even realizes it exists, I really would love to have some sort of story, even if it wasn't that deep.

The game itself is pretty fun. You get special abilities and units for whatever nation you pick, like samurais for Japan, and red coats for the UK. You have to gather resources to make units and research stuff. If you dedicate yourself to research, you can be a full age ahead of your opponent before they even know what gun powder is. The resources are spread out enough that you will have to do a little looking, but not to far that you can't find them. It never really takes to long gather each resource, because although it is somewhat limited, you can pretty much build enough of any resource gatherer to get you enough of whatever you need.

The multiplayer is fun, but it is just really offers you a little more of a challenge then the AI can dish out. This game does have a little bit of replay-ability, seeing as you have different abilities for whatever nation you play, but this concept wears off fast and all you really want to do is screw up history in different ways every time you play it.

Overall, Rise of Nations is a very solid RTS. It is a game that can be enjoyed by even non-RTS lovers. It is by far not the best game out there, but it is a lot of fun to play. For the sheer fact that this game let me allow Japan to take over the world and bring anime to all, I have to give Rise of Nations 4 out of 5 cans.

Added:  Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Related Link:  Rise of Nations from Microsoft Game Studios and Bi
Language: eng[ Did you find this review helpful?  Yes  No ]
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