Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War

"RTS games are ten-a-penny these days, here's a unique one to enjoy."

Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War. A simple RTS game, but with some wonderful new features thrown in that no strategy game should be without. The game is set in ancient times, and revolves around the old empires of the world. Heroic characters from history such as Gaius Julius Ceaser are included in the game, and I'll talk about why these are so important.

Gameplay: 9/10

The gameplay is simple and easy, just like a typical RTS game; most of it is mousework, although the experienced gamer can use hotkeys to help him command his troops. The game utilizes individual unit control (much like games such as Age of Empires, C&C, etc) rather than units in batallions (LOTR: The Battle for Middle Earth, etc). There are two campaigns to play within the game, one involving Alexander the Great and his battles against the Persians, the other involving Cleopatra of the Nile and her struggles with the Roman Empire. There is also the customizable Skirmish mode, where you can set up your own matches, controlling the players, colours, resources, teams, the map, and more. This game also has an online mode on the Gamespy arcade, which is free and easy to use. LAN play is also possible. For those mapmakers and modders out there, the game has a map editor, so you can create your own battles and download new battles and get the most fun out of the game.

There are four factions within the game, including Greece, Persia, Rome and Egypt. While this is not as many as some RTS games, each faction has its own unique units, strategies, and heroes to use and master in combat, adding a large amount of variety into the game. There are three resources; gold, wood, and glory. Gold is gathered by mining and taxation and wood is gathered by cutting down trees, as it typically with most RTSs. The third resource, glory, is more akin to Favor from Age of Mythology. Glory is gained by exploring the map, in combat, building large cities or by building special structures called Glory Statues. The more glory statues constructed, the faster glory is generated. Glory is used for two things; hiring advisors and levelling up your heroes. There is also the usual population cap; a limit on the units you can train. The population cap is not increased by building houses, but by upgrading Altars and Granaries to higher levels. Building certain structures (Altars and Granaries included) also generates more morale, speeding up the gathering rate of your civilians and will make your soldiers stronger and better fighters.

However, despite the game being fun and simple to play, it has two great features that you won't find in other real time strategy games. The first of these is a unique naval combat system. As per usual, you build ships at your dock. When you first construct the ship, you will see that you can see people aboard. You can control these people. Ships are like huge floating barracks, and if you train men on board they will stand on the deck and await orders, just as they would on land. You can control the men, but they can't exactly go far on board the ship. Ships can also dock on land, putting planks down which allow any land units you have to go on board the ships. Ship combat is something that many strategy games have been lacking recently. There are many ways to defeat other ships. One way is to board the ship. Sailors on board will throw grapping hooks at enemy ships and attempted to pull the ships towards you. If it is successful, a plank will be placed between the ships and the soldiers on board will fight one another. If you kill all the enemy soldiers on board, the other ship becomes yours to command. The more sailors on board, the faster the ship will be pulled towards yours. Another way of defeating enemy ships is to decimate them by ramming them. If your ship is positioned correctly, and you have a drummer on board, you can completely destroy their ship, sending wood and men flying everywhere. Good times. Alternatively, you can choose to simply sink the ship from a distance using archers or catapults on board.

The other unique feature is the excellent hero mode. Ever since Warcraft III (forgive me if I'm wrong), heroes have become a popular addition to strategy games, often providing huge bonuses to those who use them correctly. Rise & Fall takes this to a whole new level. You can actually control your hero in combat. Yes, you read correctly, control. It puts you in the shoes of the hero, allowing you to personally fight the battle using melee or ranged weapon. Archers on shore giving your ships trouble? No problem, just have Alexander kill them while on the ship, then go back into strategy mode and dock the ships. Heroes can swim through rivers and even the sea, and some of them have special abilities such as exploding arrows which can be used to huge advantage. Heroes are not without cost however, and need to be given time to recharge their ability to go into hero mode. The higher level they are, the longer they can stay in hero mode. The hero mode provides a unique and excellent way to play battles. One thing I have to say about the hero mode is don't expect huge combos and fancy stunts. It is a simple style of fighting, little more than hacks and slashes, and is hardly a combat simulator. Nonetheless, it is extremely fun to see the battles from hero and command perspective.

Story 8/10

The campaigns are based on the quests of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra of the Nile. The story is quite good and does have some unique levels including an arena level (I won't spoil it for you).

Graphics 8/10

The games graphics are good, but not excellent. On maximum graphics the game looks wonderful, but on ordinary graphics the visuals are not the best. Character models look blocky and not very detailed. However, this shouldn't be a problem for people with good graphics cards, as the environments look spectacular. On the other hand, the character models are still lacking slightly. This shouldn't put you off the game too much though.

Sound 6/10

The sound is alright. There is little music (in my game anyway) besides the title music, and the sounds are pretty typical. The campaign is well voiced and well narrated but there is nothing to give a huge shout about.

Replay Value 9/10

It's an RTS game. It is highly customizable and highly variable. You can download maps for the game, and most likely mods. You can make your own maps with the map editor. You can create your own skirmish battles. There are different difficulty levels. There is a wealth of things to do in games like this. Just use your imagination.

Overall 9/10

Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War is a great game, and highly underrated. This game should be bought for the hero mode and naval battles online. I got this game for a cheap price preowned, and you can too! I highly recommend this game to anyone who wants a unique RTS/third person action experience for the PC.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/07

Game Release: Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War (EU, 06/16/06)