Summary

This is a great strategy game. With two game modes, Real-Time strategy, and Turn-Based. The strong point of this game is that it incorporates both of those into one. The conquer-the-world campaign is great if you like turn-based strategy games. You control a primitive contry and play through the ages, gaining new technologies. You play on the strategical map where you can see all of your armies stationed in various provinces. When you invade another nation, you switch to the Real-Time Strategy part of the game. You start out with one cty, and you then research technologies and build your armies to go and conquer the enemy country. With its great real-time battles and its strategical view-point, Rise of Nations is a great game for anyone who lobes a good Strategy game of any kind.

Sound

The sound is great, giving you the realistic sounds of battle. Listening to your armies clash with their metal swords in the earliy medievil age, and in the firing of muskets and cannons in the gunpowder ages and beyone into the modern age with modern warfare and machine guns.

Gameplay

The gameplay is great, seemlessly incorporating real-time strategy with turn-based strategy into one.

Summary

I didn´t like AoE cause of its short history evolution, RoN corrects this, you begin with tribes and build up a nation until u can make nuclear missiles(you will be sanctioned if use them) or make Stealths planes and other technologies, the conquer of the world campaing feels a lot like a risk game where u need to know were to move your troops in the world map, its one of the best RTS i have played and i have played a lot.

Sound

A very cool music kind of final fantasy.

Gameplay

Classical RTS, with the difference that all units have auto-do-this and auto-do-that, and if u make a general and have it grouped with your units they will align in perfect formation and will have a better perfomance and more abilities, you can manage your cities and send troops to the front even without looking at the battle, just hearing the background sounds of the figth.

Summary

Rise of Nations is one of the few games I keep going back to.. It stands out as quite simply being the best the historical RTS genre has to offer right now. I've really not felt the need to go back to Age of Empires, C&C or even Civ3 since this came out. Thats how well 'Rise' manages to fill the niche so many of us have in our lives to play Ceasar. The game features numerous gameplay modes and is probably the most configurable game in its class. The usual, linear campaign (often the weakest part of any RTS), has been replaced by a RISK-like grand strategy scheme not unlike that found in the Total-War games or even Warlords Battlecry II. A game that puts gameplay before fancy graphics. Rise of Nations still looks pretty decent in a 'no-frills' way and certainly doesn't offend. Recommended to everyone who played Age of Empires to death.. (which is just about everyone)

Sound

The music is very 'Civ3': if you liked that.. you'll love this. I find it a little irritating sometimes, and feel the game would have benefitted greatly from a more orchestral score. Sound effects are really good though, and theres a welcome lack of cheesy 'order acknowledgement' lines from the units when you click on them.

Gameplay

Although it initially feels much like the Age of Empires games, RoN incorporates some subtle changes to the usual system that, you eventually realize, turn the whole thing on its head. Forget 'build the base and tankrush' gameplay, RoN shows how it should have been done. The gameplay focuses far more on expansion, global strategy, realistic tactics and technological development than silly micromanagement and tank rushes. Not only does it positively encourage you to build an EMPIRE, it delights in giving you the tools to do so. From the 'Are you having fun yet?' tutorial, the interface goes out of its way to help the player, rather than hinder. Box-selecting a mixed group of villagers and military units automatically selects only the military. Idle villagers find something to do on their own if left unattended. You don't need to rebuild farms or move groups of woodcutters about either. Instead, you set up resource collection points that are self sufficient. In combat, units get bonuses for outflanking the enemy. You can also enlist generals that can get surrounding infantry to entrench themsleves. RoN is packed full of features that make you wonder why no-one had thought of implementing them before. The computer opponents have good AI, and the difficulty settings offer a nicely scaled level of challenge so that most of us should be able to have a good, satisfying game on our own. Like most games of this type however, its totally awesome in multiplayer!