Rise of Nations is back! Play the updated classic with full Steamworks integration and enhanced features! Recent Reviews: Overwhelmingly. Rise of Nations: Gold Edition includes both the Rise of Nations and the expansion pack, Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots.

By Review Date: March 15, 2009 Rise of Nations is arguably one of the best RTS games out there, even more so than most modern games in the genre today. With amazing gameplay, and lots of variety, it just can't be beaten.One of the reasons Rise of Nations excels over other RTS games is it's huge diversity of options and gameplay. For starters, unlike many other RTS games, Rise of Nations spans the entire history of civilization, without going into the speculative future.

Needless to say, this is a great feature, and offers unique gameplay almost every time you play the game. Most of the time, your opponent, computer or human, will be right behind you in the technological race, or sometimes, right ahead. It's a true thrill trying to stay one step ahead in this arms race, while simultaneously building up a large enough army to fend off invading forces. It makes you feel as though you are actually in charge of an important nation, as if you are actually balancing economy, military, and technology, while trying to stay ahead, and indeed you are! It should be noted, however, that the game can be quite unrealistic, which doesn't bother me, but might bother others.

For example, while you're researching such technological breakthrough's as artificial intelligence, your opponent might be struggling to come into the Industrial Age. Still, this can be downright amusing, and in my opinion, there is nothing like harassing your opponents antiquated wooden warships with modern jet aircraft. The wide range of technology isn't the only feature to demonstrate the games wide diversity in gameplay. There are many nations to chose from in Rise of Nations, and it's expansion pack adds even more. Such obvious nations as America, China, and Britain are present, but other, less obvious nations are at your disposal as well, such as the Iroquois, Aztecs, or the Turks. Each nation gets its own bonuses and its own unique units. For example, the Americans have the 'power of innovation' and all government changes (i.e Republic, Communism, etc.) are free, and any airbase built comes automatically with two free bombers.

As for units, they get special infantry, such as colonial marines. This same principle applies for any other nation, each with their own unique powers and units. Another factor of Rise of Nations is the wide variety of Wonders. When building these wonders, one accrues 'Wonder Points' that can actually win the game, although this option can be turned on and off.

In addition, building a wonder comes with additional benefits, such as economic boosts, research price reduction; even larger benefits such as revealing the entire map, or gaining reinforcements. As for research, the game doesn't really force you to research much at all, except perhaps the research needed to advance in age. All of these factors combine in such a way that embodies variety and makes the game completely different every time you play it.While Rise of Nations offers traditional singleplayer modes, its expansion, Thrones and Patriots adds another great feature.

This feature is called 'Conquer the World Mode'. It plays a bit like the classic board game Risk, but with the video game twist. Four major real life conflicts are represented: The Napoleonic Wars, The New World, Alexander the Great's Campaign, and the Cold War. Additionally, there is the more free, Conquer the Whole World mode, in which you play as any nation and the single goal is world domination.

The four real life conflicts are a little less free than the general conquer the world, but offer special battles and features. The Cold War Campaign, for instance, allows you to use Nuclear Weapons and Espionage on the map itself. Still, these also have their limitations.

Only certain nations can be played on these historical campaigns for obvious reasons, and some of the gameplay can even be linear at first. Conquer the Whole World mode is much more free. You can play as any nation, battle against any nation, and attack any region within striking distance on the map. Other features make the game even more interesting. During the campaign, you acquire cards that you can play during the battle to help you out.

Mercenaries, for instance, give you an additional fighting army during a battle. The War Path card automatically gives you a barracks, stable, and siege factory. Other cards can be played before a battle.

Sabotage weakens an opponents city strength, which in turn weakens their defenses, and one card even allows you to take over a territory that is under three points in strength, without a fight. These territory strengths can be built up using the money in your treasury. Additionally, cards can be bought with this money as well, and it costs an upfront fee to declare war on another nation. The only real disappointment for me with 'Conquer the World Campaigns' was the lack of other significant wars, such as World War I, or World War II, but perhaps the odd conflicts chosen for the game reflects the difference between Rise of Nations and other RTS games like it.One of the reasons gameplay is so much fun is due to a very simple fact. You really don't have to worry yourself too much about resources.

That's not to say you shouldn't worry at all about them, but for the most part, the economy takes care of itself. This is due to three facts. One, unlike several RTS games, villagers do not need to transport their supplies to a drop off point, allowing for a continuous stream of supplies. Two, supplies are infinite, so you never have to worry about running out. Three, upgrades will drastically improve the amount of resources you gather. Of course, with this different way of resource gathering, a completely different system is instated in Rise of Nations.

The main factor of this difference is your Commerce Cap, which is quite literally the amount of resources you can gather effectively at a time. So, if you have too many people gathering wood, and the commerce cap is 100, you will only gather 100 wood at a time, despite the amount of people gathering it. This can be increased of course, through research. Also, there is a wide variety of resources available throughout the game. These are: Wood, Metal, Wealth, Food, Knowledge, and Oil. This allows for even more diverse gameplay in a game already well known for its diversity.-Overview-Graphics: While other games at the time were experimenting with three dimensional graphics, Rise of Nations took the tried and true approach, an it couldn't look better. Each building and unit is an absolute masterpiece in detail and animation.

These are no boring, unmoving, graphics by any means.-Gameplay: Variety is the bottom line for gameplay. A great balance between nations, technology, and the wide amount of options make for some unique and various gameplay options. This is especially evident in various modes such as Conquer the World Mode.-Innovation: This game is highly innovative.

Great variety and options as seen in this game are seen in seldom few games like it, and all sorts of goodies are littered throughout this amazing game.-Story: The fact that this game spans all of civilization makes this game great in this department, and Conquer the World mode tells the story of historical events in a way almost never before seen.-Replay Value: Absolutely amazing replay value. Each time you play the game it will be different. With so much variety, it is impossible to have a similar gaming experience as the one before.Rise of Nations is a true masterpiece. Seldom has so much variety been introduced into such an impressive game. So much so it's almost overwhelming.

Truly, no review will ever do this game justice. The best advice I can give is for you to just buy the game and try it for yourself. I guarantee you will love it, and will play it for a long time to come.

Reinstall invites you to join us in revisiting classics of PC gaming days gone. This week, we revisit the mighty RTS, Rise of Nations.It all begins so peacefully. A vast field of inky darkness, with just one point of light in the middle. Within it, a library stands tall and proud, but with many shelves left empty. Next to it, a few fields are tended by villagers, and a woodcutters' camp stands in a clearing nearby. A scout sits and strokes his pet dog.

In the middle of it all stands the town centre, its homes packed with children, waiting to come of age and leave a legacy unmatched by any other civilisation on Earth. 'RoN tries to fit the entire span of human history into your lunch hour'Rise of Nations attempts something quite audacious: fitting the entire span of human history into your lunch hour. It's real-time, as in 'real-time strategy', but it accelerates that supposedly 'real' time to ludicrous levels, packing the scope of a game of Civilization into an hour without compromising on the detail.

You might send a group of hoplites into battle with bronze spears and have them arrive armed with muskets. Imagine the aforementioned Civilization blended with Age of Empires, the Total War series and Red Alert and you're getting close, but Rise of Nations has a few tricks of its own.The way resource gathering works, for example. Instead of each of your villagers gathering up as much food or wood as their little arms can carry and hauling it back to a supply depot, they contribute to an overall economy. Your resources tick up steadily, adding a certain amount every 30 seconds. Each active woodcutter adds to that rate, but here's the kicker: there's a hard upper limit. Chuck as many woodcutters as you like on that forest, you won't get any more wood if you're above your maximum production efficiency, known as the 'commerce cap'.That cap is raised in the hallowed halls of your library. By spending resources to research commerce technology you not only boost your commerce cap but also unlock various economic upgrades.

Storage of food was limited as medieval people had few options to store food without it going off. The most common meat in the medieval village was pork as pigs were easy to keep.

That's not the only thing you can research, either: military technology raises your population limit and unlocks unit upgrades, civics technology lets you build more cities and pushes out your national borders, and science technology makes all the other technologies cheaper and reduces the time they take to research. 'Advance through the ages to access the next cluster of wonders.' Every time you climb a rung on all four of the technology tracks, you unlock the ability to advance to the next 'age' – going from antiquity to classical, to medieval, to gunpowder, to the enlightenment, to industrial, to modern, and ending up in the information age.

Ages often unlock different resources. Oil doesn't appear on the map until you reach the industrial age, for example. Additionally, you'll need to advance through the ages to access the next cluster of wonders.Ah yes, wonders. As in Civilization, wonders can be built once per game and give unique benefits to the civilisation that possesses them. The Colossus raises your commerce cap, which gives its builder a sizeable economic advantage in the early game. The Terracotta Army creates a basic foot unit every 30 seconds.

The Eiffel Tower doubles oil output, and you can even build a Supercollider to enable you to research technologies instantaneously. But you've got to be careful where you build them – you can only have one per city, and if that city gets captured, you lose its effects.