|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Game Information
- Platform: Windows NT / 98 / 2000 / Me / XP
- PEGI Rating: Ages 12 and Over
- Media: Video Game
Product Features
- Cross genre gameplay-Combining pulse-pounding real-time gaming with the epic scope of turn-based strategy games
- Zooming capabilities provide players with a global view of many cities and sweeping military campaigns while still controlling the progress of individual cities and battles.
- Multiple victory conditions - Players succeed through non-military and quasi-military strategies including espionage, economic manipulations, political maneuvering and population growth.
- Streamlined multiplayer, players build up resources and move through different time periods quickly, reaching the game's climax in a timely fashion.
Product details
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
PC gamers, as a breed, aren't short of strategy games to play. But the canny mix of real time and turn-based gameplay that underpins Rise of Nations proves to be initially intriguing and deceptively addictive.
The game's focus is spread over some 6,000 years, with numerous scenarios pitching you initially into the midst of ancient history and ultimately bringing events right up to date. In each scenario, several skills are at times aggressively tested; there's the need for diplomacy, the odd bit of combat, resource management and trading. In short, pretty much the staple diet of most strategy games.
Where Rise of Nations takes a different path though is in its approach. The single player mode brings into play a strategic map--think of the board game Risk and you're about there--and charges you with the task of capturing fresh territories whilst successfully defending your own. It's a weighty addition to an already long-lasting game, and marries up nicely to the real time strategy element that subsequently kicks in.
Furthermore, the game's surprisingly easy to get into, and as you progress your people from a basic beginning through to a more advanced society, it's hard not to get immersed in it all. While ironing out the need for petty decision making that's brought several other titles in the genre to their knees, Rise of Nations still demands much taxing of the grey matter, and to its credit, there's rarely just one way to approach a problem. And that's before the highly entertaining battles kick in.
From time to time, you could argue that the gameplay gets slightly repetitive and the mixing in of two different styles of strategy style isn't going to appeal to all. --Simon Brew
Manufacturer's Description
Dominate 6,000 years of history from the Ancient Age to the Information Age. Which forces will you deploy to lead your nation to global prominence? Trade, espionage, diplomacy… war? Whichever path you choose, you'll experience 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.Rise of Nations is a new historical real time strategy game from Big Huge Games' Brian Reynolds, designer of PC game classics such as Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri. In Rise of Nations, you'll create new cities, improve city infrastructures and expand national borders. Conquer foes through military might using everything from sling-shots to cannons to stealth bombers to nuclear weapons; corner the market on key commodities and consolidate power under your rule; wheel and deal across time with history's eminent cultures.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Game splicing at its best,
By
This review is from: Rise Of Nations (PC CD) (Video Game)
Rise of Nations is a curious game in that it is so large that it spans both globally in-game and categorically when one considers its genre. The influences of its predecessors Civ II and Age of Empires are readily apparent, indeed the game is almost a polished mix of the aforementioned games and also Empire Earth. The superior graphics and delightful unit animations emphasize RoN's visual prowess. The real innovation lies in the Conquer the World campaign. A 'Risk' type map of the world allows nations to use any possible means to gain as much territory as possible. The multiplayer is excellent, fronted by GameSpy, and many a gamer may expect to lose their afternoon attempting to expand their nation's borders. If there are shortcomings, then they come in the form of the scenario editor. Several significant attributes have been excluded, but the developers have promised more soon. In short, Rise of Nations is a credit to the RTS genre and a must for any strategy fan. With far more going for it than aginst, it will keep you coming back for more.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome RTS game!,
By CodE-E (Vienna, Austria) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rise Of Nations (PC CD) (Video Game)
Rise of Nations is a real-time strategy game and is similar to (but a lot better than the already great game) Age of Empires.You start off with a city, some farms, a lumber camp, and a library, and you slowly expand your nation by increasing your resource incomes (food lumber and wealth at first, and later knowledge, oil and rock become necessary as well), researching (military / civic / commerce / science) and entering new ages (there are 8 ages in Rise of Nation, compared to just 4 in Age of Empires - they range from before a few years A.D. to today), building new cities, upgrading units and conquering enemy territory with your armies. That all might seem very complicated and very difficult to do, but don't worry, Rise of Nations has a good tutorial which will help complete beginners learn the basics of real-time strategy games. Players already familiar to the genre will be able to start playing very quickly after playing through the tutorial battle. I was able to have fun playing this game after this, and didn't require any manuals. Rise of Nations also has a bunch of specific training missions, such as the Age Madness missions where you try to simply age as quickly as possible. The "Conquer the World" single-player campaign isn't made up of pre-made missions as in nearly all other RTS games. The whole campaign is dynamic. You can choose your enemies and allies and you can choose which parts of the world you want to conquer, so it offers plenty of replay value. Real-time strategy veterans will be kept busy by this game's multiplayer mode for months (I'm sure this game will still be popular in a few years). It's full of strategic depth, offers numerous multiplayer game modes, and lets you play 14 different civilisations. What will lead you to victory? Should you build as quickly as possible so that you have a strong economy in the future, or quickly build a force up now, and try to get rid of the opposition immediately? Or should you build a strong defence, and try to win by building wonders? Every little move you make requires strategic thinking. There are numerous multiplayer game types, such as "Death Match", "Barbarian at the Gates" and "Sudden Death", all of which should be interesting. Anyway, I could write a few thousand words on Rise of Nations, but I'll keep it brief and end it here. This game is a "must have" for anyone who likes strategy games, and I'm sure people who aren't all that familiar with strategy games yet will find this game awesome as well.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The simple man's review!,
By Mr John K Jones (LONDON United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rise Of Nations (PC CD) (Video Game)
Easy to get into and easy to play. I quite enjoyed the game overall as a single player - there's no way I'd play it over the net with a 56k modem! It was easy to get up and running, especially as it is (almost) engine as the other microsoft 'Age of ...' games. Playing at 'Easy' level was just right for seeing how it all pans out, but when you up the ante to 'Modest' it got much tougher - more than I would have expected - but gave the AI a fairer fight. I frankly could'nt be bothered to try any harder, because after a few solo 'quick' games I found myself with all the gear and nothing more to do but fight it out - endlessly! I found that once everyone else had developed their armies it was trench warfare all over - win a few/lose a few - and whilst you can try a develop new stratagies after watching how the AI deals with your S&T, it began to get boring.Playing the solo 'World domination campaign' was good fun - but again if you want to get through it in a day it had to be played at 'easy' level and you don't seem to be able to swich the levels once you start the campaign. The unit graphics were excellent. Sound pretty good, music.. disable! Interface good. Overall I felt fairly contented with its value, but its appeal fell away fairly quickly. Start slow, end fast, but always the same route from beginning to end... research the same things, do the same things. It's re-playability is low. I've played about 3 campaign games/ 5 or 6 quick matches and, well, its always the same. Maybe I've missed something.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
