Rise of Nations Critic Reviews

Possibly the best AI ever found in an RTS.

The maturation of a genre. More "Civilization" in scope, feel, and satisfaction than even the popular "Age of Empires" series, Rise of Nations is the world's first 4X RTS.

Hidden beneath that glossy surface is a game that takes almost everything that's annoying with real-time strategy titles and fixes it. It's deep, yet accessible. It's action-packed, yet manageable. In short, it's everything you could ask for in a real-time strategy game.

A well-designed, well-executed paragon of strategy gaming, although mouse-click maniacs may be disappointed that the game requires more thought than the typical RTS.

Rise of Nations revitalizes this genre because it blends the mechanics of real time and turn based strategy games into one. As weird as this may sound, the game does this flawlessly and expounds the gameplay a hundred fold.

A worthy product with far more assets than shortcomings and a campaign game that will keep you playing.

A stunning achievement in RTS design.

In many ways, Rise of Nations is better than the strategy games that have come before it. It's smarter. It's more challenging. It gives you more to do.

Graphically, this game is amazing.

While other games may offer more to immediately get excited about, its charms will last long after their 3D glories wane, and for fast-paced but thoughtful strategy action, you simply cannot do any better.

No current strategy title can give you the clash between horseback cavalry and industrial age tanks and howitzers as compelling as what Rise of Nations brings to the table.

Yes, Nations emphasizes military might over diplomacy, but it's still one of the most intelligent and riveting strategy games we've played in a long time.

A towering aggregation of everything that's good about strategy gaming.

The second, more significant disappoint that RON inflicts upon the gamer is the mind numbing singularity of the conquest battles. As much as I love toasting the opposition into roasted marshmallow oblivion, doing so 22 times in a row gets a little old.

As solid as bedrock.

Merging the best of the historical strategies of Civilization and Empire Earth with the dynamics and appeal of the Age of Empires and C&C, giving this RTS the level of detail reserved for turn-based strategies and simulations. And the best thing is - this really works!

Animation of the beautifully rendered characters and unit models particularly livens up the screen, and the attention to detail is often quite remarkable.

One of the most impressive strategy games we've seen in years.

Aside from the lackluster sounds, Rise Of Nations has Gameplay that rocks and beats out any recent RTS offerings and at a pace that you can be done in 90 minutes or less - all of which makes this an ideal game for almost any gamer.

An enormous game... Classic real-time gaming simply doesn't get much better than this.