Hands-On: Rise of Nations
The motto for Rise of Nations is ?History on your lunch hour.? You can burn through human history in under an hour in Microsoft?s next big RTS.
Billed as a ?real-time Civilization,? Rise of Nations sets itself to face down the hordes of historical RTS games dotting the PC landscape. It?s armed with enough innovations to bridge the RTS and empire-building genres, though, and that could be enough to set it apart from the rest of the pack.
Rise of Nations? biggest draw is that it will charge through the entirety of human history from beginning to present, spanning eight distinct ages of human development. The game will also be in real time, so your nation will hammer through age after age in record time?before you know it, your archers will be commandos and your trebuchets will be tanks. There?ll be 18 nations to choose from, each with its own unique set of advantages, and each nation on the map will have a border to expand and multiple cities to establish and grow.
What?s more, developer Big Huge has tossed out the most annoying bits of the average RTS. In the preview build, new units found something to do if they didn?t get orders, resources never depleted, and rally points drew new recruits right into battle, leaving you to manage your nation with ease.
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