Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends

"Remarkable Achievement"

Released just this year, Rise of Legends has been previewed and drooled over since well before 2003. With fans and magazines alike hounding at their doorstep for more than three years (not to mention the overwhelmingly successful Rise of Nations that they had released priorly), Big Huge Games had a tremendous amount of expectation to live up to when release day rolled around. Did they manage to live-up to them?

Did they ever.

It is to this reviewer's bewilderment, however, that the game wouldn't appear to have been a terribly outstanding success if one were to simply visit the typical online gaming news stands (GameSpot, GameSpy, IGN, etc). Mediocre scores and extremely critical (not to mention completely inaccurate, or outright nonsensical) articles abound.

Brett Todd's review, found on GameSpot, I thought to be of particular interest in this regard. As such, my own review will use paraphrasing from his GameSpot article to point-out the game's many, many merits and unique conventions while debunking his strange criticisms (as well as pointing-out a number of bizarre contradictions).

The Premise

"...Big Huge Games' follow-up to its instant classic from 2003 is a pretty good RTS, but it is also an awfully familiar one that doesn't bring anything new to the table aside from some snazzy new graphics, a few rule tweaks, and a quirky storyline with three oddball races. After a dozen hours or so of the campaign and noodling around online, the novelty vanishes...along with a fair number of the compelling reasons to keep playing the game." - Brett Todd, GameSpot

The backstory to Rise of Legends, admittedly, is one that's been done and redone before. Alien technology and energy winds-up crashing down on a civilized world, and said civilized world goes to war over it.

To say that the game 'doesn't bring anything new to the table aside from some snazzy new graphics', however, is more than just a little false. None of the three playable races in the game look, feel or play like anything that's been done before (inspired from DaVinci drawings, Arabian mythos and Mayan architecture, respectively), and their interactions with one another certainly feel anything but familiar. 'Novelty' isn't the game's draw - a clean interface, innovative ideas and some very original warfare is.

The Races

"...Big Huge Games was obviously trying to manufacture one of those "you got peanut butter in my chocolate!" moments where an off-the-wall combination works out perfectly. The only problem here is that the fantasy and sci-fi doesn't so much blend together as it does clash, at least in the campaign, when a story interferes with taking the races and units on their own not inconsiderable merits. The three races, each fanciful recreations of cultures from disparate eras and far-flung corners of the globe, seem to have been pulled from different RTS games." - Brett Todd, GameSpot

Frankly, this bit is so awkwardly worded and confusing that I don't understand the crux of his argument. Priorly, he had stated that we were dealing with a game that had three unique, oddball races (which we are) - and now he suddenly switches to the argument that the races have just been 'pulled from different RTS games' (naturally, without giving any reference to back-up the statement)? As far as the 'clashing instead of blending' argument, that's an issue that, at best, is entirely subjective. The Alin are a magically themed race, the Vinci are steam-punk themed and the Cuotl are high-tech themed. IF you don't think you'd like to see a situation where these three diverse settings have it out with each other, no - Rise of Legends won't appeal to you. On tat same token, however, we ARE discussing a game within a genre that's been known to blend different settings together (and appreciated for it).

Innovation

"This wacky mish-mash of real history, Dungeons & Dragons, and Chariots of the Gods is damn hard to warm up to. Each of the civilizations is so offbeat that there are no reference points, no similarities to RTS conventions that you can latch onto and use to dip a toe into the weirdness." - Brett Todd, GameSpot

That's right. The argument he's now in hot pursuit of is that the game's original ideas and innovations are a BAD thing. Since the game is so dissimilar from other RTS games, it's weaker for it - because you'll have to spend some time learning the new material!

This is the most absurd complaint I've heard a professional reviewer voice in a long time.

The game gives players something to do other than simply tech-up, build bigger and better things, flood the map with the 'best' units and win. The tech tree is fairly reminiscent of Master of Orion II's (for those of you from that era), where you're forced to make decisions as to which way your research should lean. Players who don't want to learn some new tricks when it comes to playing Ris of Legends will be punished for it, certainly; but I always thought it was a positive thing when new ideas rolled around?

"There isn't anything here that you haven't seen before, especially if you've played Rise of Nations. Play is almost identical in character to the earlier game. The streamlined interface and unit selection and innovative border system where you can assimilate land by developing cities are carried over into the new game intact. Ages have been dropped, as has a lot of the tech research, to befit the nonhistorical fantasy setting, and heroes have been added, but this doesn't alter the feel of the game much." - Brett Todd, GameSpot.

...And now, once again, his argument flip-flops. The game falls short because not only is it too dissimilar from everything we've seen before - it's too SIMILAR, too!

...What...?

The game isn't similar to Rise of Nations at all, other than keeping the same clean interface (though also building on it) and well-loved border system. Apparently the feel of the game isn't 'altered much' with the addition of things like heroes (which play a major role in Rise of Legends. Go figure), the subtraction of Ages, and a COMPLETE re-tooling of the way research is done, units are built and upgraded, cities are expanded... and well, changes to everything OTHER than national borders and the wonderful parts of the interface. I would beg to differ.

The AI

"It doesn't appear as though the artificial intelligence quite knows how to handle the specific, unique strategies necessary to get the most out of each race, however. In solo skirmish games against the computer, the AI didn't seem to advance promptly or attack sensibly. While it always did a great job of setting up defenses around its capital city, which meant titanic battles to end games, it tended to crank out a lot of easily destroyed, low-level shock troops and throw them at well-defended points again and again. Set up some turret defenses, like the Cuotl's obelisk lightning towers, near key locations like timonium deposits, and AI units could be guaranteed to flock to them like insects to backyard bug zappers." - Brett Todd, GameSpot

This is laughably, outright wrong.

The AI knows what it's doing on any setting above 'beginner' (in which case it is, admittedly, quite tame). It will chew you up and spit you out without any mercy at all if you try to play the game in a typical 'I'll just sit here, bunker-down and turtle' fashion. Skirmishes over cities and territory are frequent, and extremely hard-won. The AI knows what strategies to use to counter a variety of unit configurations, knows how to employ meatshields and bring-in heavy guns to reinforce their front lines, know about the importance of hitting you hard and early... I actually found it to be a bit frustrating at times on the normal setting.

It DOES become cake after you've honed your skills at the game and learned all of the AIs nuances - but this is no different from any other RTS game. Real challenge, as always, can only come from playing against other human players after you've reached a certain point of extertise. Skirmishes against the computer are just for practice and amusement value.

Final Words

"Since Rise of Nations was so fantastic and innovative, it's only natural to anticipate that Rise of Legends would be similarly ground-breaking. That it isn't is disappointing. But those looking for a quirky RTS with great races and well-balanced units--that also somehow manages to pack all of that into a more-of-the-same design--will find a lot here to like, as long as they're not too hung-up on great storytelling."

This game, as has already been said, is QUITE ground-breaking and innovative. Even moreso, I would argue, than it's phenomenal predecessor. It's probably one of the best game presently one the market that features such distinct, fantastical elements.

Pay no heed to the self-contradictory Brett Todds of the reviewing world, who are probably still too strung-up on World of Warcraft to give anything new a fair shake. For the RTS die-hard out there, this game is more than worth your investment in time and money.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/07/06