Publisher: Microsoft
Ages: teens & up
Family
Value:
Parental
Advisory:
War
Bringing a welcome new spin to real-time strategy games, Microsoft's Rise of Nations lets players dominate some 6,000 years of history, from ancient times to the information age, using war, trade, espionage and diplomacy and a fresh treatment on cities and borders. It's an in-depth, involving and thoroughly entertaining title.
Something that sets Rise of Nations apart from other real-time strategy games is that it lets players create cities and considers territorial borders. Unlike the cities in most real-time strategy games, cities gain their own character and general function, and when players successfully attack and defeat an enemy's city, they don't destroy it, but get to own and use it.
The game features lots of compelling battle and lets players conquer foes through weaponry that includes everything from sling-shots to cannons to stealth bombers to nuclear weapons. The game does a great job of letting players maintain command over multiple cities and military campaigns while controlling the progress of individual cities and battles. Players can also gain dominance through non-military and quasi-military strategies that include espionage, diplomacy, technology races and territorial expansion.
There are 18 historical nations that have advantages and disadvantages that include Aztec, Bantu, British, Chinese, Eqyptians, French, German, Greek, Inca, Japanese, Koreans, Maya, Mongols, Nubians, Romans, Russians, Spanish and Turks, and all evolve with the passage of virtual time. Interestingly, basic resources in the game (food, timber, metal and oil) don't deplete once players begin to gather them. There are 32 rare resources that include salt, amber, sulpher, coal, whales, dye, diamonds, sugar and uranium and more than 50 technologies.
The game offers an amazing ability to zoom into the action and watch a single group of citizens or military unit at work, or zoom out to see the bigger picture. A plus, players don't have to micro-manage citizens. If citizens are idle for a few seconds, they automatically begin to collect resources or construct buildings. Another plus, soldiers will transport themselves across water without asking players to tediously manage the process using boats.
Players can take on a quick battle that includes their choice of map and nation, or play the Conquer the World campaign that lets gamers take over the world one territory at a time. The game also lets up to eight compete in a fun multi-player mode. To learn the game, the game features six helpful tutorials. The graphics and audio are excellent.
While many of the strategy games on the market- Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, and others- have begun to look much alike on the surface, Rise of Nations brings innovation to the genre. It's application of cities, borders, assimilation and elements of diplomacy and more make for a new strategy experience that's well worth the look.
7/3/03 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff
