Rise of Nations
Rating:  -
This is probably the best computer game I've played! The coolest part of the game is probably how you start out with swords, and how you will end with rocket launchers and nuclear missles. You can play either a quick game (an ordenary game) or conquer the world. In couquer the world you pick a nation you want to be then you go to a map of the world (looks almost the same as a risk map does) and then you can go take territories from indians, or go take on another nation (I would'nt take on another nation at the begining of the game). By now you probably want to go by the game now, but before you do you should know that you will probably have buy a video card. I had to do that, but now I know that it payed off to buy the video card instead of not playing the game at all. This is a must buy game, so make sure you go and get it.
Rating: -
Start in the ancient age and advance seven ages to the information age.
Collecting resources, building buildings, creating an army. Marching through different maps going to conquer other nations. Starting with swingers going to assult riffle men.
This game is really fun if you like war and building your own army and going and exterminating other nations.
Play online with players around the world and chat with them while your killing them. Play with up to 8 players. Have teams or free for all (everybody killing everybody).
You also have stealth bombers, nukes, jet fighters, and these other futuristic vehicles. You also have wonders. My favorite wonder is the terricotta army (I don't know how to spell it). This wonder creates 1 unit every 40 seconds (I think). You also can build it when your in the third age and its pretty cheap.
You have over 220 different unit types, with over 500 artistically district variations based on gender, race and time period.(said on the insid ecover)
Fight on land, at sea, or in the air with everything from slingers, musketeers, tanks and nuclear missiles as a part of you army.(said on the inside cover)
Draw upon strengths and skills of 18 highly diverse nations and their unique units:
*Aztecs
*Bantu
*British
*Chinese
*Egyptians
*French
*Germans
*Greeks
*Inca
*Japanese
*Koreans
*Maya
*Mongols
*Nubians
*Romans
*Russians
*Spanish
*Turks
THE ENTIRE SPAN OF HUMAN HISTORY IS IN YOUR HANDS.
Master 6,000 years of history, from the Ancient Age to the Information Age. What forces will you wield to lead your nation to global Prominence? Trade, espionage, diplomacy....war? Whichever path you chose, you'll discover the pulse-pounding thrill and speed of real-time gaming combined with the epic scope and depth of turn-based strategy games - brought together
for the first time ever in Rise of Nations
(on back of box)
Multiple Victory Conditions:
Succeed through military and quasi-military strategies including espionage, diplomacy, technology races and territory expansion.(on back of box)
Informative Tutorials:
Learn to play with 6 tutorials for beginning to experienced strategy gamers.(on back of box)
Conquer the World Campaign:
Play on a real map of the world and take over one territory at a time. Victory in each territory gives you tribute, special resources or bonus powers.(on back of box)
Streamlined, Fast-paced Multiplayer:
Challenge other players on the internet or LAN.
Up to 8 players including matchmaking.(on back of box)
I think this game is really fun if you like war and creating an army. I would highly recommend this game. Have Fun!
Rating: -
I have to say the first time i recieved rise of nations i did not get the concept of making an empire with armies and the collection of resources through historical significant features.
I have played online for along time and if u are thinking of getting this game you should consider online play as the best. i always play in any of my online games and they are fun. If u read my review and get the game and go online and u see Nemesis Immortal or ISC_Will_02 say hello and tell him that you read this review.
Rating: -
I love RTS games. My all time favorite is AOE II, but I have half a dozen others and have played through twice that many. Rise of Nations is a great game. I do have to admit that i have only played the demo. (Waiting for Christmas!!) Here are four of the reasons that I think this game is so great. (They arn't in any specific order)
1. This game, unlike many RTS games, is not so hard that you get fed up and stop playing and not so easy that you get bored. Many RTS games I have come across are too hard or two easy, making them seem like a waste of time. This game isn't like that.
2. I think that the way the research system is set up is very simple. There are 4 catagories of advancment in the game. All of the advancments you can research in the game fall into one of those four catagories. The 4 catagories are: Military, Civics, Commerce, and Science. You advance the four catagories at a builidng called the library. You have to advance the entire catagorie at the library before you can make specific advancments at buildings such as the lumbermill. The catagories of advancment are color coded, making it easy to tell which catagorie an advancment falls under.
3. The units/nations are fun to play with. Each nation (there are 18) has 1-3 units that are only usable by that nation. The unique unit usaualy replaces a unit similair to it, but the unique unit is slightly better than the one it replaces. Each nation also has a list of statistical advantages. (for example: a nation might have the advantage of collecting wood 70% faster)
4. I love how the citizens will give themselfs a job if one is available. If you havn't assigned a job to a citizen after 20 seconds or so they will begin to harvest at a resourse that can take new workers. This lets you give the order to make citizens, and then move on to another area of the map. The military units also are very efficient, and don't have to be told to attack.
If you want to find out more, the official website is very well built. That is were I found the Demo. The address is www.riseofnations.com
Rating:  -
Rise of Nations plays a whole lot like another Microsoft title- Age of Empires, and those familiar with that game will likely have little or no time spent adjusting to this one. However, there are quite a few differences that are noteworthy:
No walls, and far more special units- many of which are age-dependent and not produced by the fort. This tends to make gameplay focus more on moving armies around and attacking, as opposed to defending.
More options in terms of age advancement (all the way to the information age), which is more akin to Empire Earth than AOE.
More emphasis placed on cities, the number of which directly impact your resource gathering.
There is a ramp-up cost for units, so they get more expensive as you purchase them (and thus, it's harder to build a big army). Same goes for buildings, so you can't spam the map with forts and towers.
Different nations actually have different capabilities aside from special units. For example, some get resource gathering bonuses for certain raw materials. Certain nations favor specific tactical situations, such as the Spanish or English for naval combat and the Germans for land combat.
In single player, the strategic map mode. The presence of a turn-based map and real time battles makes this game somewhat similar to the Total War series. However, the strategic mode is significantly simpler than that of any Total War game, and of course there's no such thing as building cities during combat in Total War.
Upgrades are based on research done at the library, which can be purchased (if you have the resources) regardless of your age. This allows for significant flexibility, though of course you'd be well advised to advance ages in order to get more powerful military units. Age advancement is quite important, and can't be ignored. As in Empire Earth, it's entirely possible to end up strafing your opponent's hapless horse cavalry with jet fighter/bombers. Being on the opposite end of such an arrangement is rather embarrassing.
There are a host of units available to every nation, though some are more effective for certain nations than others. These are usually unique units that replace the standard ones, and come with their own distinct look. The normal units also have different looks depending on your nation, though some share the same graphics. This makes the battlefield look somewhat segregated by nationality, though in fact most of the units are statistically identical.
The computer has a good range of difficulty levels and acts very similar to the AI in Age of Empires. They'll still swarm you with scouts and try to attack with a handful of bowmen at the beginning. Sometimes they charge stupidly at an incredibly fortified position and get cut down by the score. However, they do often remember to bring artillery, which is at least an improvement. At higher difficulty (with handicaps) it can get pretty rough. This is especially the case if you allow the game to go up to the modern age, since they can and will use nukes on you (in fact, they seem to save up just for that).
You can own multiple wonders, and each adds resource or other bonuses to your side. These can really come in handy, especially later in the game.
The game has great graphics, good music and sound, and is very stable. Internet games, though lacking the strategic mode, are quite fun and also stable. There are many different multiplay modes and a host of rules to play around with. The random map generator is also great, as it was in AOE. Multiplay also has a lot of fun diplomacy options. This is more than can be said for many other RTS games.
There are downsides to the game, though. I found the time limits in single player campaign mode to be irritating, unrealistic, and often unnecessary. There should be a way to disable them. The unit cap is set at 200 (270 or so with rare resources and wonders) and that is a bit too low. With the amount of citizens you'll have running around getting resources, it doesn't make for a very big army. Although the paper-rock-scissors nature of the units is very pronounced, it does seem that hording one kind of unit works just as well as making a balanced army. The only difficulty is figuring out which unit that is. For example, light infantry in the gunpowder age is quite sufficient for taking on anything else. The ramp-up tries to dissuade such tactics, but only partly succeeds. There are clearly some balance issues during specific ages for the various nations, though if one looks at things from an overall perspective, it seems to work out. Last of all, the game is remarkably devoid of voice. In fact, I don't think there's any voice effects save for the taunts. It is a somewhat minor thing, but after playing the likes of Command & Conquer and Warcraft, I had to wonder whether all my soldiers were mutes. The historical aspect of this game is also significantly watered down from Age of Empires- many of the unique national units don't even exist in reality.
All in all, I must say that there was remarkably little to complain about in this game. It has several innovative RTS features (e.g. national borders, attrition damage, and Armageddon) and has some actual strategy in it (the `real time strategy' genre is largely misnamed- most games in it are tactical, not strategic). The appeal of being able to roll over your opponent's spear-chucking ancient warriors with main battle tanks is quite a motivation to keep playing multiplayer, and the conquer-the-world mode has awesome replay value. Though Rise of Nations may not be the thing for a hardcore turn based strategy gamer, it's definitely great RTS material and is worth checking out either way.
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