Rise of Nations

"Brian Reynolds proves who the real genius was at MicroProse"

Designer Brian Reynolds has an impressive resume. He was the lead designer on Civilization II and on ''Sid Meier's'' Alpha Centauri, a game in which Sid himself had more of a consultant's role. Looking at the quality of the four Civ games (counting SMAC as ''Civ 2 1/2'', as most people tend to), it's easy to see that Reynolds did more for the quality of the Civilization franchise than Meier did.

So lo and behold, bigger things awaited the talented designer. Brian Reynolds left Firaxis Games and went off to start his own company, Big Huge Games. Securing a publishing deal with Microsoft, he set out to create a real-time strategy epic that would match the grand scale of a turn-based game with the fast-paced combat that RTS fans have been used to since the first Warcraft game appeared on the scene a decade ago. That game is Rise of Nations.

Rise of Nations puts the player in charge of a fledgling tribe, which can be anything from three citizens to a decent-sized city from the outset. The player must gather and manage a total of a half-dozen resources while building an army, navy, and air force and trying to defend his own lands while conquering his foes.

This all would be overwhelming if it weren't for the masterful automation. Citizens left idle will find something to do with themselves, whether it's building structures or gathering resources. The way the resources work together means that it never becomes cumbersome to accumulate them, and the RTS conventions of selectable groups and unit waypointing combines with a decent unit pathing AI to produce tactical-level combat that is, if not ''greatest of all time'', certainly way above average.

Reynolds and his team clearly drew some inspiration from Rick Goodman's Empire Earth games as well, as advancement through the ages plays a key role in the game. You'll start off with some primitive spear-throwers or guys armed with pointy sticks, and as time moves on gunpowder will play into the equation, eventually leading to modern warfare and all the big scary weapons thus associated. You'll even have a chance to build nukes, but beware the Armageddon clock that will make every nation a loser in the event that too many nukes are used.

Graphically, the game is functional but unspectacular, a clear concession to RTS games' need for utility first. You can easily tell at a glance what things are, and textures are modeled nicely, with enough detail so that you're not wondering if you've stepped back into an old Dune game. Solid but not eye-popping, though you'll be glad for that fact after a few hours' play.

Sound is somewhat lackluster, but in a good way. Music stays out of the way, unit sounds are limited to the sounds of combat or of industry doing its thing, and all in all what sounds there are are very well put together. Warcraft devotees may miss the ''personality'' that exists in those units, but that kind of ''personality'' would be way out of place in this game.

The game runs smoothly; with the 1.03 patch installed (the game will patch itself with a minimum of fuss), it's completely stable on my rig. If there are bugs, I haven't seen them, a sign that what bugs there are manage to be very far from obvious.

All told, this is a solid effort that has earned the various Game of the Year honors (including Gamespot's overall PC GotY award) bestowed upon it. Of all the 2003 releases this reviewer has played, Rise of Nations is by a significant margin my favorite. You should go out and buy it sooner rather than later.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/23/04