PC Game Review : Rise of Nations

For some of the computer gamers today, the idea of becoming armchair commanders of an imaginary world in the computer does hold an addictive appeal. It is this appeal that explains the popularity of computer game titles that are squarely defined in the real time strategy (RTS) genre like the WarCraft, Command and Conquer as well as the Battle Realms series. On the other end of the spectrum, there are equally a big collection of computer game titles that fall into the turn based strategy (TBS) that employ a wider scope in their gaming experience as shown in the Civilization and Alpha Centuri series. For quite some time, these two distinct camps of the strategy gaming market was set apart from each other and never would the twain be met until the release of a ground-breaking strategy game title that successfully combine the best ideas from both genres. This blurring of the lines bridged the gap between the two ends of the strategy gaming spectrum was realized in game designer Brian Reynolds’ “Rise of Nations”.

“Rise of Nations” (RoN) allows the player to control one of 18 distinct civilization, each with their own unique military units and civilization advantageous, in a journey that spans 6000 years through all the epochs of human history. Players start off in the Classical Ages and work their way up to the Information Age by researching new technologies and collecting required resources while building an army big enough to sufficiently defend and expend their civilization borders. Like any other RTS games in the market today, players are tasked to efficiently manage their city and resources in order to achieve the maximum output in the shortest amount of time before they run into opposition.

While several game features are indistinguishable from other RTS games of its ilk, “Rise of Nation” sets itself apart from the other titles by placing emphasis on the city itself and the concept of city limits. In the cities of RoN, resource buildings are limited in number and must be placed within city limits which necessitates the need for the player to plan to expand the national borders by establishing other cities in the play continent. This makes each city an integral component of the civilizations well being and players can ill afford not to think ahead a little bit in order to ensure the survival of their cities. Cities are also important as a means of expanding the sphere of influence in this imaginary world which in turn generates income in the form of taxation which is proportional to the size of territory held.

It is the inclusion of the idea of national borders where RoN branches out into the turn base strategy game like the Civilization series. While national borders define the amount of taxes the territory will generate, it also demarks the point where forces of attritions began to impact invading armies. In RoN, the idea of attrition is referred to the damage that invading armies take to its units the farther they move into enemy territory. This concept, previously unseen in any RTS titles, is used to simulate the real life need to establish viable supply lines to support armies at war and this adds a new fresh level of realism in the game. Cities that are attacked in this game would also have the ability to defend themselves in the form of militia groups are generated the moment a city is attacked much like cities in real life. To further add to the level of realism in this game, cities that are conquered are not immediately transferred over to the invader but would need to go through a short period of assimilation before their borders are expanded with the inclusion of the invaded city.

In RoN, combat is resolved in a rock-paper-scissor like method. Each combat unit have been designed with a specific counter which it is vulnerable to. Since the size of the army allowed for each player can be limited by the amount of resources the player possess, it is in the player’s best interest to create the most balanced army they can instead of preferring any particular unit to be the majority of their army. Unlike other RTS in the market, aspiring armchair commanders in this game can also employ quite sophisticated flanking and ambushed maneuvers in their plan of attack thanks to the intelligent game AI engine. Players would also notice that the units unique to each civilization are somewhat equally balanced and that the advantage that these units give the player are of limited duration. Experience players would be able to recognize this and fully exploit the advantage when the opportunity presents itself before its time comes to pass.

The user interface for RoN is fairly similar to other games of this genre and quite easy to understand. The logistics of unit grouping and waypoints creations are similar to other games which I believe is fast becoming a standard of this type of games. There are also a lot of short-cuts or hotkeys that would allow the player to quickly control the units and buildings which is a boon for experience gamers who use them for a fast and furious game. Players also would need to set aside resources to be used for technology research in order to advance in the game world. In RoN, the technology ladder is slightly simplified compared to those we see in other turn based strategy games like Civilization but it is sufficiently broad to capture the flavor of technological progress. An added feature that is welcomed in RoN is that all tech research is conducted in a single resource building which avoids the need to keep track of which building to go to upgrade a particular technology that we see in other RTS games in the market.

Graphic wise, RoN is not much different than the “Age of Empires” series produced by Microsoft Games. Most of the resource buildings look the same between one civilization to the other with the exception of some that have an Eastern feel to them. Units on the battlefield are sufficiently differentiated that trying to pick them out in a skirmish is not as bad as an experience it could be. Players are also able to zoom in close into the game with the use of a mouse wheel for surgical placing of units or buildings but for most of the time players would prefer the larger overview of the land. The soundtrack used in the game is sufficiently accomplished and varied that it was not distracting as some are in other RTS games. The sound effects are used to the maximum effect and are appropriate for each unit action.

The only weakness that can be counted against this game is the lack of storyline based adventure for the single-player gamers. Instead of a single-player adventure that we have come to expect for a game of this genre, RoN gives the single player with a Risk board game like of “Conquer the World” segment. In this segment, the single-player chooses to play one civilization against the other 17 with the goal of conquering the world in several episodic sessions. Each session are time-limited which means singe-player game play is time bounded and are comprised of different scenarios. In some, the player needs to defend their city from invasion while in some the players are tasked to invade another civilization. Users get to employ their turn-based strategy in the world map when they try to plan their invasion in order to grab the most territory in the least amount of time possible and switch to their RTS skills of resource management when the games goes into city mode. While this combination is fresh in its execution, it is hardly enough for single-players of the game. Although RoN does have other single-player scenarios, the strength of this game lines in the multi-player appeal much like other RTS games of the type.

As a game, “Rise of Nations” is an interesting and successful amalgamation of two previously different gaming camps in the strategy game spectrum. The introduction of real life concepts not found in other RTS games allows for a new level of realism in the game that puts the emphasis on strategy instead of the normal accumulation of resources. Although it has the potential to be an instant multi-player favorite, the game’s only drawback is the weak single-player offering which lowers the replay value of this game for the lone armchair commander. Other that that seemingly glaring omission, “Rise of Nations” is poised to be one of the more interesting games to be released this year in the computer gaming industry.

Rating : 3/5 stars.