Rise of Nations

"From the ancient times, to modern times, great game!"

Gameplay 10/10:
This is my favorite rts of all time, it has everything you ever wanted in an rts game. You can do pretty much everything! The fighting system is solid and has few flaws, one thing that steped out was the formations, Which is great if you are doing flanks. Its very realistic, like you want to take a bomber in and bomb their major cities before invasion, or even bomb. And a wide array of vehicles to use, tanks, helicopters, halftracks, etc. And each nation (18 I belive) had their own special units, according to their history. The resource gathing is good also, easy becuase most resources are abundent, except oil. Which you have to scour the map to find, even in the ocean. You can even spawn merchents to go out and and make trading posts (furs, wine, etc). And then there is the Conquer the world mode. Which is great, everyone must scramble to take the unclaimed land, especialy land that has lots of oil. The only flaw i can think of would be that there is no medics. In order to heal your troops you must garrison them in buildings. The graphics are, well as good as most rpgs, the men are 3-D and look very good and colorful. The fram rate rarely drops. And the age changing is realistic and fun. yes you can change times, and research different things (herbel lores, to super computers). And as you pass in time you can upgrade your army size and units ability. And there are wonders, which will give you boosts in econemy, or extra trainging for your troops, the best wonder IMO is the Eifel Tower, because it generates more oil.

Sound 8/10:
The sound is flawed, the bullet sound are good, but the reason I gave it a good score is because the tutorial, which isnt really a tutorial its more of just scenarios, one of the good ones, battle of britian, which can be replayed over and over, you can even make your OWN! scenario, which means, recreating D-day, or the hundred year war, cool huh. But back to the sound, The tutorial has a man talking, which is solid and doesnt skip or slow down. Personaly I like the sound when you make a flamethrower class. And the nukes hitting the ground sounds good to.

Controls 9/10:
Controls are very easy, mostly just point and click. There are many hotkeys, which dont bother to learn they are useless, i would have liked a POV button, but there isnt (point of view). You can learn the hotkeys at your own pace. Meaning you will most likely learn the hotkeys to the buildings that you use most of the time during play. Easy controls, you can also place rally points for your troops to get to. And you can make your troops run if you spawn a general.

Rent or buy: Well since you cant rent it, you should buy it, its a very creative and fun game. And BTW its more than just an rts, its an TBRTS (turn based real time strategy).

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/03