Ok, I'll just come right out and say it: the Real-Time Strategy game (RTS) genre is stale. Fundamentally, these games haven't changed much in the last 7 or 8 years. Time has only brought more themes, better graphics/audio, and larger size/complexity of maps and armies. Today's RTS games are far too similar to the first ones. For example, the Kid-Tested Mother-Approved Super Ultra RTS Death Strategy™ that dominates in most of them:

1. Start game
2. Generate mass of peasants to accumulate vast quantities of resources
3. Build whole towns of low-cost grunt-producing buildings
4. Produce swarms of low-cost grunts
5. Rush your friends
6. Call your friends girly-names while you burn their cities
7. Repeat until you suffer from acute respiratory failure due to strangulation

Now, I don't think of myself as a heavy-duty RTS fan. There are aspects of RTS games I find enjoyable and stimulating. And there are other aspects I find frustrating and requiring of therapy and medication. While Big Huge Games' Rise of Nations doesn't break the RTS mold, it does however attempt to depart from the path of the typical RTS. And from the merits of the choices made, the attempt is quite effective.

First, let me explain: Rise of Nations is a RTS game. No doubt there. But, it has a terrific collection of enhancements, additions, and details that, I feel, really make it unique and worth playing. The tutorial is well-assembled. The ingame help system is thorough. The solo campaign is a huge world-conquering epic that plays like Risk, with armies and cards and diplomacy and chicks and drugs and firetrucks. The battle scenarios have the city-building straightforwardness and atmosphere of Age of Empires along with the large-scale fights and developmental timespan of Empire Earth and the research complexity of Civilization. The scenario and multi-player games have a level of customization and randomness that will bring tears to your eyes.

I was very pleased to see that Rise of Nations does not try to bludgeon you with the uber graphics hammer. Clearly, Big Huge Games was concentrating on other things. The graphics are very similar to Ages of Empires: 2D, nicely drawn/rendered, and pleasantly presented. The graphics are not impressive but they certainly don't get in the way or detract from the enjoyment of the game. And because of that, the game seems less taxing on computer resources and allows for huge battles. Some minor problems I discovered were lack of an animation for a cruise missile destroying a building (no explosion, no anything) and the roads automatically placed around city buildings look silly especially when they evolve into paved streets. It would be tremendous if, by the time a nation reaches the Information Age, its cities have that sick urban sprawl look to them. But again, these are minor issues.

From an audio standpoint, there is nothing monumental about Rise of Nations. The sound is a ppropriate and fits the game. Giant chaotic battles sound that way with lots of gunfire and metal clanging on metal. I wish they would have added bits of unit language appropriate to your chosen civilization (similar to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings), although some of the languages probably are not around anymore (but when has that stopped places like Hollywood from making shit up). One thing that does stand out mightily is the soundtrack. It is really, really, really nice.

Even while having a really easy user interface, Rise of Nations still has a buttload of control capability. On the surface, it functions like a typical RTS and, if you have a little experience with RTS games, the interface is simple to figure out. Then you start to notice all the little details. Almost every control-based complaint I have ever had in other RTS games has been addressed in Rise of Nations. Don't like your peasants sitting on their asses immediately after being ejected from the womb? Tired of your infantry adopting suicide tactics the second they are trained and released from the barracks? Sick of your troops not quite grasping the concept of attacking while moving? Moreover, you can assign a hotkey for nearly every damn action/command in the game. And as stated previously, there are quite a few of them. While the detail and depth of control might be a little overwhelming to the initiate, it doesn't take long to appreciate it and use the abundance to your advantage.

The opponent artificial intelligence (AI) in Rise of Nations is nothing special. But, due to the large number of customizations possible, scenarios can be tailored to suit any level of player. It is possible to rush attack in the early ages of civilization development. However, unless you start the battle with siege equipment or huge numbers of troops, rushing in later eras will most likely prove disastrous. As a sidenote: one of the scenario configuration options (for computer and human alike) is a Rushing Restriction that acts like a timer/trigger before any aggressive action can take place.

There are lots of new or improved commands for units and buildings that ease the need to constantly monitor them, like auto-transport, siege guard, and default stances/actions for unit generators. Unfortunately, troop combat still seems as dumb as ever. This has always been one of my biggest nutbusters with RTS games. My combat units know their capabilities. They know which types of enemy units they attack best and they can determine the type of unit before them. Why not add a brains attribute to each unit that will influence their decision to automatically fight units of that particular type? I understand the need to create a somewhat diverse spread of troops. But always having to micromanage the combat is bullshit. Maybe have a captain unit that will provide unit-type-level of decision making within a radius around him. I dunno, but the current state of RTS troop combat still sucks ass. Overall, the game has some of the usual problems in RTS games but a host of other improvements that easily outshine the annoying traits.

In summary: Rise of Nations kicks much ass. It is worth bu ying. In fact, it's worth dropping what you are doing right now and running out to purchase it. Big Huge Games put a lot of thought into its design and added all the great shit you've always wished was in the other RTS games. Its few flaws are typical of current RTS games and are far from showstoppers. Hopefully, well-done games such as this will eventually lead the way to the next evolutionary step in RTS games: damn good AI and the elimination of necessary micromanagement.