Rating: 
Summary: A fantastic strategy game
Review: The latest release in the Age of Empires line is Rise of Nations, also created by Microsoft. The graphics are better, there are more units, and there's a bit of Civilization and Pharoh thrown in.First, the graphics, because they impress you right from the start. The graphics for the buildings, terrain and units are simply beautiful. From the rotating windmills to the reflections in the water from the sailing ships to the ways in which the units move, its really like watching a little world. You can zoom in and out with ease to get a detailed look or a strategic overview. Microsoft has been making these games for a while now and really brought together the best of many of them. Much of it is based on the Age of Empires system - build up your civilization, work through ages, build and grow. But they threw in better people-management a la Pharoh and Caesar. Instead of peasants standing around stupidly while farms wait for them, the workers actively seek out what needs to be done. They'll sign on at the lumber mill or farm where workers are needed. Set up a university, and the building is quiet. Start creating scholars to study there, and you'll see them out front, taking their classes! Of course there are opponents to deal with. You can of course build up a massive army and go wipe them out. But you can also try to set up diplomacy with them, or out-tech them. The little touches throughout the game are just amazing. Build in an arctic area and there's snow on your roofs. The music in the backround really draws you into the mood. The controls are all very intuitive and easy to use. Highly recommended - it's a game that really shows how amazing strategy gaming can be!
Rating: 
Summary: IM disappointed
Review: well, im bored by the monotony of all those RTS games (WC3 is one rare exception). DOn't be fooled by what they called innovative or creative elements that were added to this game. I'd rather spend my money on some European games, believe me or not, strategically, European games are far superior.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good.
Review: I've been disappointed by most M$ games past year, and after reading some of the negative reviews, was cautious to buy this game. Luckily Micro$oft put out a trial version, which I ve been playing. This game best compares to "Empire Earth". It's almost identical, but in my opinion much better. 1.) A lot of people here complained about how fast you get through the Ages. This is exact opposite of complaints about "EE" - the game is painfully slow. 2.) AI interface is much better then Empire Earth. 3.) Airplanes are managable - (In EE they just do their own thing and are useless in the game) 4.) Game flow is very smooth, you get a feeling of your nation's gradual development. 5.) "Missile Shield" research prevents players from simply annihilating each other with nukes. 6.) I won't say anything about graphics, until I get a better video card. Mine's pretty old by today's standards. 7.)Addition of Knowledge as a resource is very cool, puts a new spin on the whole thing. 8.)It adresses issues of all other RTS games, such as queueing upgrades. In general, I have more fun playing "Rise of Nations" demo, then full version of Age of Mythology. Don't take my word for it, download the demo and try it out. It will also show you if the game will run on your PC.
Rating:
Summary: Best RTS since Chris Taylor's Total Annihilation!
Review: Rise of Nations even blows away Empire Earth, which I felt was much better done than the Age Of Empire series. There are many, many reasons why this game is worth picking up. Customization. There isn't a setting that can't be changed. Don't feel winning by building Wonders cuts it? Remove the option. Every possible winning scenario can be altered or removed. This is nice since it allows you to create the game you want to play the most. Do you like building perfect little cities before the war? Force your opponents to not invade until the age you choose. The Risk-like World Domination mode. If you really enjoy the strategy behind the classic board game of Risk, then the price of admission alone justifies this mode. Enough can't be said about how unique and well done this aspect of the game is when you play it. The way the war unfolds is the greatest factor. I was tired of having to find that one peasant who ran off into the woods before winning in past RTS's. You have the option of determining victory based on map percentage you control. This is a great feature and a nice improvement. You don't have to destroy an entire town and rebuild. You "assimilate" your opponents capitol by weakening it to the point where you need troops to finish the deal. Even then, your opponent has a time period where it can be retaken, forcing you to defend your new conquest. What is nice about this feature, is the controlled territory is constantly changing hands. You might be excited about taking a town and watching your borders move to realize you just lost control somewhere else on the map and your border has actually shrunk. The ebb and flow of dominated territory makes the game challenging and a lot more fun than prior RTSs. Portability. It runs as smooth on my wife's Intel P3 933mhz machine with 384 MB of PC133 RAM as it does on my AMD 1800+ XP machine. Granted, she has to turn down the graphics, but I was surprised to see her not slowing down with large forces of 250 troops. The fact that she hasn't been hooked on a RTS since Warcraft II, says a lot about how well done this game is. We have yet to experience one crash or bug since purchase and patching the game on both systems. Both systems run Windows XP Pro. Everyone has their favorite style of RTS. Rise of Nations is the first to take the best parts of all prior accomplishments and make it better. Not make it another clone in a long line of the same old game we have been playing for years now. Try the demo, you might find yourself hooked too.
Rating:
Summary: Empire Earth Meets Civilization
Review: If you like empire earth, this is going to be very similar, the maps are a little smaller than empire earth and the max population needs to be adjusted, but other than that the game offers some fresh ideas and has a ton of replayability. You also advance through the different ages way to fast.
Some great things about this game are attrition, when an enemy invades you as soon as he crosses your borders he takes damage, example would be the russian winter and its effect on german soliders.
I also like the fact that in multiplayer 2 people can control one nation for shared responsiblities.
to many great things to list. At least check out the demo and then youll be ordering it from amazon.
Rating:
Summary: typical BSOD error
Review: i should have known not to buy a microsoft game. It gives me a BSOD error EVERYTIME i load the Conquer the world option. There is absolutely no support and no patches available. The only microsoft software worth keeping is the one that is pirated. This game is otherwise well designed but of course, i can't let my Windows XP home go BSODing every time i load the game, can I?
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Blend of Real Time and Turn Based Strategy
Review: I'm a long time veteran of the Civilization series as well as the Age of Empires/Kings/Mythology series and I must say that this game brings the best of both worlds. In its Conquer the World you have a turn based strategy game when dealing at a global scale, but in the individual battles it transforms into a real time game. The gameplay is the same as in the AoE series, while the graphics are breathtaking (you can almost feel the blast of a nuclear explosion). I particularly liked the fact that you can't just nuke the world indiscriminantly without any repercussions. If you use nuclear weapons, a trade embargo is imposed on you. If a total of 10 nuclear weapons are used by ALL sides, Armageddon occurs and EVERYONE loses (much like in real life). Other features I like:
* The villagers don't idle anymore but will actively look for something to do (build or gather)
* Units can autoexplore the map
* Resources don't get depleted
* No hunting
* You can't assign more than a set number of villagers to any single resource
* Knowledge (a very important resource in the later stages of the game) is gathered by scholars that can move from university to university
* Wonders give a bonus like in Civilization
* Who controls what area of the map is clearly marked Things I don't like:
* The computer controlled players aren't much of a challenge
* There are no campaigns or scenarios like in the AoE series
* Units don't "speak" like in Age of Kings
Rating:
Summary: Best RTS I've ever played
Review: Frist off this game is great. You can control 18 nations. 18! From the Chinese, Russians, Greeks and Aztecs you rule the world. I thought what one of the neat things about this game is all the nations have very different special features than other nations that make them stand out from the rest. For instance, when I was playing online the other day, eight players were in the room and no two people choose the same nation! You can choose your nation depending on your style of play. Multiplayer is AWESOUME! Truly. You can make all different kinds of scenarios with your friends or people you've met online. You can recreate the American and Japenese civil war, firght with tiger tanks in the modern age or battle it out with your knights and archers in the medavil age. See you can start in whatever age you want and end in whatever age the hosts wants you to end at. So you can recreate many historical battles.
You can test your skills many of the skills tests in tools and extras and dominate the world in conquer the world campaign. You can also play a quick battle against the computer to try out new nations. Personally I like the Japanese but many many people would disagree. I have a blast with the conquer the world campaign but I can see how you would disagree. Conquer the World a great scenario to conquer nations and earn skill points but I think if they would have made a few campaigns with nations in historical battles the single player options would be more fun as you could play with your nation in battles that really happened, but please please dont let that stop you. This is a great game with many options, because you can create your own campaigns anyway online or against the computer. You can build cities and trade routes to build up your ecoonomy and conquer the aztecs by hitting them hard with nukes and going in with special forces and stealth bombers. From knights to tanks this is a great game. Also the resources dont get chopped down so controlling key resources is A major factor in multiplayer and agains the computer.
Rating:
Summary: The best game I've played in years!
Review: I haven't had this much fun playing an RTS since Age of Kings came out a few years ago. It's a fast paced and addictive game and it takes some time to master, but once you know your way around, it is one seriously fun game. I have to say the graphics are absolutely stunning for this type of game. The 2D/3D hybrid game engine allows details in the graphics that you just won't find in other games of this type. And if you like adrenaline charged battles, Rise of Nations has you waging war with hundreds of units on the screen at one time, not just the 10 or so that you find in other games. I cannot recommend this game highly enough!
Rating:
Summary: Good Game
Review: Pat Emerson doesn't know what he is talking about. There is a single player mode on RoN that isn't the Risk-type one. It's called "Quick Battle". Overall, the game is really cool. You can set troops in different formations to help with strategies. (You'll have to turn on the Advanced Options in game though, it isn't that hard to.) I would reccomend this to anyone. it is really that good.
| 
