Rating: 
Summary: If you play casually, don't pick up this habit!
Review: As you probably have read, this game is a "thinking mans RTS". I play w/ a group of co-workers who bragged constantly about how cool this game was, but I was put off by the "bigness" of it. The instruction booklet is massive, and ironically, my biggest complaint about the game is that it's not nearly big enough to even give you a good working understanding of the game!Now, if you aren't afraid of an extraordinarily complex game, this is, in my opinion, the best RTS out there today. Over 10 different nationalities progress and fight thier way through different ages (starting w/ the Ancient Age, and progressing to the Information Age). Each age allows newer and better production, warwaging units, and capabilities. It's hilarious watching inferior players defending their cities w/ catapults while a highly skilled player rolls over them w/ tanks -- or Archers being gunned down by an opposing player who's discoved Gunpowder. Yum, gaming goodness!!! Many new concepts have been introduced in this game. My favorite is "National Borders". At a point in the game, each territory has borders that eminate from their civilizations center of power. What a blast it is to see the colored borders creep out and eventually meet other territories (doing damage to enemy buildings and units it envelops). Difficult to learn, yes, but the payoff is (in my opinion) very well worth the investment. Hope my input is helpful. Enjoy...
Rating:
Summary: Oh My Cannons
Review: Well after recovering from a Photosensitive seisure (after being utterly engrossed by this game) I had to share my rapture with everyone at Amazon... This game is super-cali-fragilistic-expee-alidoscious - to use an archaic term. Simply the best, cream of the crop, strategy game I've played to this very day. I have an extensive library of sims and strategy games (10 years worth) and I will be putting many of them on eBay very soon, thanks to this game... Rise of Nations (RON) combines the best of turn-based strategy and real-time tactics into a delightable package. There are a few quirks in gameplay that any experienced gamer will notice - but EVERY game has some quirks: games are made by people who all have quirks, don't forget. These quirks are easily forgotten by the mesmerizing gameplay and frenzied battles that ensue as you seek to dominate civilization. I highly recommend getting the expansion pack with the original game - it's well worth the package price here on Amazon. As for hardware: make sure you've got a solid, well-oiled PC. Update all of your drivers, OS, and related software (directx, etc) before running this game. A good AGP video card is almost required for playing out more extensive battles and expansive empires; and decent sound is a nice treat but not necessary. 512mb of memory is, in my opinion, required to run this game properly. I can't stand stuttering or hesitation in real-time battles so it may just be me - but be prepared. Your computer should comfortably exceed the requirements listed on the box... If you've enjoyed turn-based games (various world war games, Age of Wonders, Disciples, etc...) and also love real-time games (Age of Empires series) then this game scores a blistering bullseye on your meter: you won't be able to comprehend how much gameplay is contained in this title until you fire it up yourself... I don't think I have enough years left to my life to finish all of it... maybe...
Rating:
Summary: THIS GAME RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I dont own this game myself but i have played it at my friends house and it rules. This game is very realistic. for instance you could have a huge army and still struggle for your opponents city! This is definetly the best game out there. BUY YOUR COPY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Rating: 
Summary: Very good game
Review: I enjoy playing Rise of Nations. I have played many other stratagy games, such as Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires. This game exceeds them all. In Rise of Nations, the battles are kind of like Age of Empires, except that you can not only use units from the early ages, like the midevil age, but also advanced units, like tanks and planes. Overall the only downside to this game is the lack of a real campaign. The only available campaign is a Risk-like format, with many seperate battles, in which you attempt to take over territorys. I think that this game is worth buying.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: This truly is the best real-time strategy out there. It combines two different aspects of battle games, both ancient eras (such as age of empires) and WW2 era to present as well. The graphics are simple yet still a very high quality (unlike empire earth where you have full 3D, but not good quality), and the game play can be adjusted in almost any way seen fit. There are about 20 different nations, each with 4 or 5 unique troops/ships/planes plus specific advantages to the regular rules of the game (such as extra farms to increase food income, or larger population limit) Although there are no specific campaigns in this game, like there are in the Age of Empires series, there is a conquer the world style mode of play which is very similar to the classic board game Risk in which you play multiple, regular games, to fight for regions of the world. In addition to the conquer the world you have the usual regular game, where you can customize everything from what age you start and can go to, to what kind of map to play on (chosing from arund 20). If you are looking for a game to purchase in the near future, and enjoy real-time combat/empire building types of games, Rise of Nations is definitely a good candidate.
Rating: 
Summary: Hype of Nations
Review: I've never considered myself a real-time strategist. Since Westwood's seminal *Dune II*, I've beaten about every major RTS on the American market. Yet game play hasn't evolved enough to sustain my interest. Same goes for turned-based strategy, though I've been clicking "Next Turn" since the original *Civilization*. These too, have stuck by the formula with insufficient innovations to maintain replay value. So when PC journalists began to herald an RTS/TBS revolution last year, I took notice. Developer Big Huge Games and game 'zines alike trumpeted a game to bridge the gap between the excitement and mechanics of real-time war games with the scope and sophistication of turned-based empire builders. Folks, I am still waiting. In the meantime, I received Big Huge Games' *Rise of Nations*; beneath all the hype it's a disappointingly conventional RTS. <Build, and They Will Rush> From the get-go, it's necessary to sort game from advertisement. Favorable reviewers all around have gushed some variation of the following: 1. *RoN* is a sophisticated RTS. 2. *RoN* is an epic RTS. 3. *RoN* is a hybrid between RTS and TBS game types. 4. *RoN* is a sophisticated, epic hybrid between RTS and TBS types. While I haven't tested these claims online, my single-player conquests invalidated these claims. *RoN* rigidly adheres to RTS tradition. Gameplay confines to the B3 principle: Build bases, Build units, Blow up. The developers include a Risk-style "Conquer the World" mode which offers raiding party actions, but otherwise missions are solved by building a base, amassing resources, and then smashing a computer-controlled base with a large, clumsy army. Like most modern RTS games, *RoN* offers rudimentary diplomacy, research, and economic features to upgrade your forces. Likewise, it offers a choice of combatants distinguished mainly by military power and texture skins variations. Finally, *RoN* arrays stereotypical unit types and superfluous gimmicks... like most RTS games, the player will quickly learn that building a bunch of tanks and rushing the enemy base works most of the time. *RoN* rushes with Blizzard-style play mechanics founded back with the original *Warcraft*. Players use a central building to generate labor units, units who mine a small range of archetypal resources from battlemap hotspots and typically hoof them back to the central building (though *RoN* mercifully permits players to build collection camps on-site). Players then spend these resources by ordering labor units to build factories, laboratories, and fortifications around the central building. Each has its own build queue for military units, and/or unit upgrades as well. Bases are not sprawling, well-defend affairs as in the Westwood model. Fortifications lack sufficient range and hit points while costing too much to build; discouraging base-camping and encouraging aggressive play. One usually wins by destroying selected enemy buildings. A 200-unit population cap per player constrains their entire infrastructures. Frankly, I find this game-style dated. That doesn't stop Big Huge Games from trying to adorn their product with trappings of the turned-based empire genre. *RoN* notably introduces a "library" of additional building and unit upgrades. This library also improves caps and modifiers for resources, and improves the next notable introduction, national borders. National borders act strictly as a weapon, by inflicting "attrition" damage on any enemy unit or building caught on the wrong side of a shift. Per *Civilization*, a number of "wonder" buildings unlock special powers and modifications. And the players can advance through levels of technology called "Ages". BHG emulates Stainless Steel Studios in offering peaceful technology or resource races as an endgame option for skirmish and multiplayer modes. And that's it. Big Huge Games might call its combatants "civilizations", its labor units "citizens", and its bases "cities"; in practice it's still the Blizzard RTS military model. The intricate tech trees of the *Civ* and *MOO* series are here trimmed down to lines of yet more unit upgrades. Borders have no cultural or political purpose-they just act as a force shield. Economy is still a shallow matter of collecting resources and uncovering crates to build powerful armies. Missions are limited mostly to combat, the non-military options being woefully underdeveloped. Yes, *Rise of Nations* is straight RTS, no more sophisticated than *Starcraft* or epic than *Empire Earth*. <Rise Above> With *RoN* put into perspective, I can see its virtues more clearly. It's a fast-paced entry into the "historical" genre, for those who want to upgrade armies from the stone age to modern times in an afternoon. A plethora of civilization-specific units and advantages lends a style choice to whichever side you play. BHG keeps base buildings to a minimum, and players can immediately build all units available for a given age, so long as they have the resources and the factories. Resources are widely available and players have plenty of room on each map to spread their bases and amass armies. BHG also incorporates good unit AI and path-finding. If the player doesn't want to worry about an extended campaign or story-line, *RoN* is all about skirmishes and multiplayer. <Fall of Nations> Perhaps as much as the hype these traditions fail to please me. I'm tired of the arbitrary 200-unit population caps and mindless B3 routine. Westwood games may be even more dated in their play mechanics, but at least they concentrated each game on a story and well-executed themes, instead of developing a loose collection of skirmish variations beneath a thread-bare claim of being "historical". BHG could have broke the mold; the idea of a true epic RTS is one of the great unrealized ideas in PC gaming. They played it safe instead-but had the gall to call it something it is not. Make no mistake; dedicated RTS gamers will probably love this game for the same reasons I dislike it. But serious TBS gamers may be disappointed all around. *Rise of Nations* is no real-time *Civilization*; it's as conventional a military RTS as they come. Just don't buy the hype if you buy this game.
Rating:
Summary: this game rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: this game totally rocks its the very best game iv'e ever played i don't have it my self but iv'e played it at a somewons howse
Rating:
Summary: This is the game that Age of Mythology should have been
Review: I used to be a huge Age of Empires fan. When Age of Mythology came out, I thought "What is this?". Age of Empires was all about historical strategy. All of the mythology elements belongs in another series, not in a series that gained popularity as a historically oriented game. Rise of Nations is the type of game that the sequel to Age of Empires II should have been. More historical simulation with some revolutionary RTS concepts added in. Age of Mythology is just more of the same, in 3D instead of 2D. This game brings all of the great things about the Age of Empires series, and leaves behind everything that is bad (micro managing, for example). It also throws in a little flavor of Civilization, but not so much as to bother a pure RTS fan like myself. If you were disappointed by the direction that the Age of Empires series has taken, this game should make you happy. It's much better than any of the other competitors our there (Empire Earth, Empires.. Dawn of whatever, etc.)
Rating:
Summary: THIS GAME IS SWEET!
Review: When I got this game I installed it and then when I played it(...). This is the best combat game ever! If you play Empire Earth, or even Empires dawn of the modern world, put those aside because this game rules. If your seeing if you want to get this game (...). You should really get this game!
Rating:
Summary: THIS GAME IS SWEET
Review: (...). This is the best combat game ever! If you play Empire Earth, or even Empires dawn of the modern world, put those aside because this game rules. If your seeing if you want to get this game and your looking at reviews you'll see that all of them are 5 stars (...). You should really get this game!
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