Home > Reviews > PC > #884

Screenshots (8) | Reviews Archive

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends Review - PC

Rise of Legends is the first full sequel to the well received Rise of Nations game (reviewed by us here). An add-on Thrones and Patriots was released about 18 months ago and offered a few more nations and features. Whereas the original Rise of Nations was set amongst the nations of real history, Rise of Legends transports the player into a mythical realm of magic and machine.

Gameplay

Rise of Legends takes place through 3 main scenarios, each of which has their own unique units, cities, and feel. The game has a main storyline, and as it twists and turns, you travel to these new scenarios part-way through the game in your quest to stop the Stalin-esque Doge. The concept is similar to Age of Empires III, however in ROL, each of the civilizations is a bit more uniquely styled. Being a fictional world, the slate is open as to what can be created, and developers Big Huge have done well there to make best use of this, and a lot of creativity is exhibited. With other RTS, there are only so many times you can play out the Roman Empire, Egyptian Empire, and the like without things looking a little familiar.

You start off as the Vinci, who are a steam-technology based civilization, in the style of great inventor and artist Leonardo DeVinci. The Vinci have a steam-punk feel throughout with strange contraptions that are a mix of pulleys, gears and steam engines combined with wood and steel. It has touches of the the 20th century mixed with the 15th, and the overall effect is a pretty unique one.

The next major scenario has you travelling to a new world, where you play as the Alin, a mix of middle-eastern elements, and the Persian empire; a world of genies, magic and other desert creatures.

The final scenario of the game you play as the Cuotl, a dark race loosely based on the Mayan empire, mixing elements of technology and dark magic. This scenario is probably the best one in the game, as the storyline reaches a hectic climax and some of the units are great to utilise.

As with Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends take things to an interesting new level of nation building, splitting the game into two main dimensions - managing your civilization's world view (similar to Civilization, Warlords, etc), and your standard RTS close-action real-time city-building (Age of Empires, Warcraft, etc). Designer Bruce Reynolds worked on the classic Civilization II, and Alpha Centuri and it's nice to see some of the elements of this style brought across.

The start of the game presents you with the world map and your home territory. Other nations have their own home territory / city, and you can see the different nations across the map, and the neutral cities. From your territory, you can choose to expand into (continued next page)