by John - July 25, 2003

Eighteen civilizations, eight age periods, thirty-two unique resources, smart villagers and huge multiplayer capabilities; welcome to Rise of Nations. You don't have to be a genius to know why it has created a rouse in the Real-Time Strategy community since the announcements of its development. Compelling gameplay mixed with new ideas and a world to conquer, Rise of Nations will offer the best of Real-Time Strategy experience to date. Will Rise of Nations live up to the hype that surrounded it from day one or will it be just another Empire Earth?

Age of Civilization?

Rise of Nations is not a clone nor a rip-off of the "Age" series from Ensemble Studios. Nations� gameplay is excellent, the variation provided by Big Huge Games is fantastic. Human history is very well presented and fairly accurate. Starting from the Ancient Age and progressing to the Information Age, this game is not focused solely on economic development. Your resources don't run out, so you can't win by waiting for your opponent's economy to run out. You can't spam buildings anywhere you want, thanks to the border system. The introduction of the border system has added a better feel and balance to this game; borders determine which areas you can gather resources from and they even have a military effect as troops in foreign soil can suffer from loss of health just because they are standing on enemy turf. Your borders are determined by a number of factors; taking land in combat is the most obvious way you can expand your empire, but it is not the only way to develop. Developing certain technologies will also help by making the border-defining power of some of your buildings (such as a Fortification) more significant. However, if you research Civic improvements some of your buildings like Towns and Castles will have a more pronounced result on your borders, pushing them out further into your enemy's region.

The basic resource engine also makes Rise of Nations more complex as there are more resources to keep tabs on. When the game starts out the basic resources are food, wood, and wealth. As you progress in age and technology, resources such as metal, knowledge, and finally oil come into play and must be included in your economic management and gathering setup. Efficiency is also a major factor in the game as your technologies can make it so you harvest faster, but can also ensure that you waste fewer of the resources you gather. This added element is very interesting, as you have to constantly retune your technologies so that they are harvesting the optimum amount of a particular resource, spending resources to improve the efficiency of a particular type of gathering.

Military buildings include Barracks, Dock, Stable, Siege Factory, Airbase, and Missile Silo. Other military buildings such as the Lookout, Tower, and Fortress provide great defensive capabilities and can also be used to create units and research technologies. In early ages the Barracks will be the backbone of your military capabilities but as you progress through the ages buildings such as Forts, Stables, Siege Factories and Airbases become more economical. Missile Silos are used to launch missiles, and as technology becomes available, nuclear missiles that are targeted on an enemy which will inflict massive damage to your opponent�s buildings and units within the missile's blast radius. With inflicting a huge amount of damage from a nuclear strike on your enemy, you will receive political consequences. Such consequences include an embargo, which momentarily freezes the offending nation�s ability to trade resources and environmental consequences such as the Armageddon countdown. When the countdown reaches zero the game will be lost for all players involved.

The eighteen civilizations found in Rise of Nations greatly vary. In what way you ask? Well each civilization gets it�s own unique units, own unique technologies and special bonuses. This provides for varied games, strategies and outcomes that in turn provides for lasting gameplay and good replay value. Gameplay for Rise of Nations is definitely a high point in the game and makes an important step in RTS history.

It�s not Age of Empires!!

You would be forgiven if you thought this game was an Age of Empires II expansion at first glace. While Rise of Nations resembles the graphics found in Age of Empires II, they are beautifully textured and the units are fully 3D and well animated. The map terrain does not have great diversity, however. There are only desert, grass and snow textures, and unfortunately there aren�t many eye-candy objects. The map textures are fairly well designed, but cannot match it with the likes of WarCraft III or Age of Mythology. Graphical modeling is fairly impressive although many civilizations have little difference in look, but this similarity didn�t effect Age of Empires II so there is no reason why it should in Rise of Nations. Super powers such as the nuclear strike look very impressive and are also a great addition to the game.

It�s battle time

Audio is quite good but there is nothing to write home about. The music fills the battles with excitement, which adds a great sense of actually being in the action. The audio gives you nifty cues that let you know what is �going on� at a particular time in a game. Unit voices can get repetitive and start to get a bit annoying after a while and for a hardcore gamer this is not fun. However, the stimulus that the audio provides is note worthy and really does provide a great atmosphere.

RTS is multiplayer

Let's talk multiplayer, cue the team atmosphere, cue the clans, cue the rating system and community, its time for some RTS action. Rise of Nations uses the GameSpy Arcade matchmaking service to find games online. Many gamers use GameSpy to play online and enjoy its matchmaking service. Unfortunately, GameSpy does not work well with RTS games. Finding a game can be hard when compared to Age of Mythology�s Ensembles Studios Online or WarCraft III�s Battle.net, as GameSpy just cannot compete with game-specific servers. Aside from that, the Rise of Nations online community is quite good; online games are a blast and knowing that you are improving in skill with every game becomes a lot of fun. There is plenty of fun to be had with Rise of Nations online and not even GameSpy can deflect that the game's multiplayer is superb. Team games such as 2v2 and 3v3 games only make Rise of Nations more diverse and install a sense of teamwork. Rather than being an independent nation, working as part of a team gives you geat advantage.

Important Steps

Rise of Nations has made a very important step in the progression of Real-Time and Turn-Based Strategy. If you liked Civilization III for its management factors and the Age series for the fast pace action, you will love this game. Gameplay is phenomenal and keeps you coming back for more. Rise of Nations multiplayer is great if you can look past GameSpy. It is a true strategy game and is a serious contender for Best Strategy Game of the Year.

Anti-Empire Earth

Rise of Nations did live up to expectations set by the ever-growing Real-Time Strategy community. Gameplay played a big part in its success. The fact that Rise of Nations didn�t turn into another Empire Earth was enough for me. Its multiplayer modes are great and new concepts and ideas such as the border element makes the gameplay all that much better. GameSpy matchmaking issues hamper the online experience but Rise of Nations is too good of a game not to play online! Rise of Nations can go to show that sometimes new strategy gamers have to be careful what they wish for.