Review

Rise of Nations

By Evil Star Dingo
May 23, 2003 13:22 PM PST
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Pharaoh Ramses II acquires nuclear missile technology and destroys the Roman Coliseum. Again.

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The historical RTS market became an overcrowded mess yeeeears ago?yet somehow, Rise of Nations manages to stand out in the sea of bloated clones. Why doesn?t history repeat itself?

Ascendance of Countries
The biggest difference between Rise of Nations and the 18 million other historical RTS games out there is that RON takes about a half hour to bang through the entire research tree. The rest of your time is spent in a massive tangle of hi-tech, high-speed chaos as missiles bombard you, bombers barrage you, and hundreds of little samurai-turned-flamethrower commandos get lost in the shuffle. Speed and madness is the name of the game, at least in the multiplayer mode. The single-player Campaign works a lot more slowly and unfolds like a game of Risk with full-blown RTS battles in place of die rolls. It?s a great twist on the usual ?story? mode, but the first time an enemy reattacks a territory you just conquered, d?j? vu strikes, and Rise of Nations? biggest weakness?lack of variety?becomes obvious. Every nation is the same, except for some bonus modifiers; there really aren?t that many units; and in the end, you wind up wielding them as a jumbled horde.

RON?s presentation is strictly standard: The graphics and sound have been surpassed by games like WarCraft III, and the game knows RTS PC controls were perfected long ago?all the good ideas like idle worker buttons have been incorporated, and dragging a selection box handily nabs only armies, not peasants.

Emergence of Sovereignties
Rise of Nations strives for simplicity over complexity and speed over drawn-out tactics; it addresses the fact that most gamers get really sick of RTS battles before a victor can be named. A minor jolt to a dead horse, sure, but enough to coax out a couple more breaths.