Rise of Nations

"The RTS sleeper hit of 2003"

Yep, I've gone and done it now. Calling this game a sleeper hit. To say that would mean that this game isn't as popular as it should be, and is being ignored because of other games headed to market (HL2, War3x). And that there's literally NO community.

Well, it's true. This game is a sleeper hit, a game that will realize its mainstream popularity far too late for it to matter. And here's the reason why.

This is a great game with some odd flaws that keep it down a notch. Even without the flaws, though, the game still wouldn't catch on, simply due to the fact that it's a sleeper. With War3 Expansion on the near-horizon, ppl are more concerned with hyping up that title to be destroyed in post-release, rather than paying attention to this rare gem.

Let me tell you up front: if you like the Age of Empires series of games, you'll love RoN. It's everything that AoE was playwise, and more.

Graphics: 9 - This was a hard call to make, but I'm confident with this rating. To describe the look of RoN would be to take 1/2 C&C: Generals, and 1/2 Age of Mythology. Combine these two halves and add the ''Ages'' system from Empire Earth. And there you have it.

This game has the 2D backdrops and 3D units of AoM. It also has the tanks and planes from C&C:G, tho they looked a bit better there, as did the terrain.

The melding of 2D backdrops and 3D units works well here, though it might have been better executed in the now-ancient Total Annihilation.

Sound: 8 - Sound is mixed for me. The sound in the very Warcraft3-ish intro is great, and really gets the point across. In-game ranges from very good to lackluster, but the biggest flaw lies in the title music. The title music just isn't exciting enough. It's composed well, but it doesn't get you pumped to play the game. War3 suffers the same problem. C&C:G gets it right, tho.

Gameplay: 9 - RoN is a melding of AoE/AoM mechanics with War3 influences. There is a TON of customization options, along with several game modes. A cool idea which should be ''borrowed'' for other games of this type are the ''Skill Tests''. These range from getting the most clicks a match, to fast-teching different Ages. With the High Score inclusion, this serves as a mini-game of sorts, that ppl were meant to ace and brag over the net about.

Control: 10 - Control is fine. Lots of control options to toy with, with what is possibly the BIGGEST hotkey list in PC game history. But there is a flaw, however. In the line of fire, if you try to control too many troops, the game tends to ''dumb down'' the intelligence of your units. They'll just stand around and die, even if they're set to Aggressive stance. This could possibly be an anti-rush balance though. Hard to tell, really.

Overall: 8 - Overall, a real gem with flaws big enough to lower this potential 10 to an 8 rating. Even though this game is more fun to play than the AoE/AoM series, the lacking diplomacy options, inability to build walls/burning oil/castle sieges/battering rams/stone gathering from AoE series, along with a hit & miss soundtrack and slightly unbalanced nations serves to taint a classic game. With patches and a expansion, all of the above can be corrected. But with the average sales this title has produced, will Big Huge Games even consider an expansion?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/22/03, Updated 06/22/03