Rise of Nations Gold review:3 stars (Pretty, but once you beat it, why play it again?) - I was hoping that this would be a game with a lot of replay-ability and what I got was a game that, once you learn it, just becomes tedious.

Once you figure out what you need to do to get your civilization going, it's a matter of building the same city the same way over and over.

And, it didn't take me long to find an approach to beating the computer that the AI couldn't cope with. I suppose this game would be a lot more fun to play against other humans, but you'd think that in this age of 2 gig and faster processors these game manufacturers would be able to build a game where the computer could really think out some challenging tactics. Not in this game.

So, for me it was fun getting up the learning curve, but now it's boring and once I win the current game I'm playing, on "tough" mode on a "big huge" map, I plan to sell it used. 2 stars (Tedious and a step backwards) - Rise of Nations is a tedious game. It plays like Age of Empires (AoE1) with regards to the structures, units created, and map scale. The game units are small which causes an eye strain. Infantry units are produced 3 at a time while cavalry units 1 at a time. Do they have any attack bonuses or strengths against different types, supposedly, but it really isn't noticeable, the player spends most of the time trying to gather ridiculous amount of resources to build the army and tech tree.

The tech tree is confusing and do not seen any real bonuses to the troops by having a high tech level, aside from being able to produce more advanced units. One has to build multiple structures and multiple cities to gather resources at a fast enough pace to keep up with the computer instead of concentrating in building an army and trying to decide how to out fight the computer. The player has to build universities to get science points for research, then there is the food, gold, metal, and wood harvesting. Oh wait, if you are mechanized, now try to find the oil. But wait, each harvesting area and city can only have a fixed number of workers gathering the resources (only 5 farms per city, etc). Now you have to build another city and build the same structures in it, each city needs a granary to get the food collection bonus for those workers, same goes for the smelter, etc. It is a waste of time bouncing back between the cities and resource gathering in an RTS.

If I wanted to play a city builder game, a turn based game like Civilization 2 would be the choice.

The game gives you a "historical leader" in the campaigns, but there is no real noticeable difference in the battles by having a general. The Generals do not fight, even the mighty Alexander just stands there immobile on a horse unit and does fight to defend himself. The game AI is also poor, when you select an Army to attack a certain unit, the soldiers will move off to fight, while the Generals and supply units remain behind instead of moving in support of the army. As a result of this glitch, the units become out of supply (suffer from attrition) and lose any command bonuses from their General.

Rise of Nations is a regression in the RTS genre to AoE1 with illogical tech trees and too much time being spent on sending merchants, and trying to gather the multiple resources in building cities. Empire Earth also suffers from having to gather multiple resources instead of focusing on strategy in defeating the opponent.

The campaign game, I played the Alexander one, is also quirky. You move your armies and fight one battle per turn, but there are no historical scenarios like in the campaigns in AoE2.

Overall, the game was not enjoyable and a waste of my time. AoE2 is much more enjoyable. Recommend Civilization 2 for turn based city empire building, AoE2, Starcraft, Warcraft 3, or Warhammer Dawn of War for an RTS game instead.5 stars (Go Through The Ages In Under An Hour) - RON is a real-time strategy game. Play one of 24 nations from the age of the chariot
To the age of the jet. Research different technology.Fight on land sea and air.
If you liked Age Of Empires you will love Rise Of Nations.
WARNNING: It will suck the hours away from your life.
Rise of Nations Gold Features:
Fantasy
Historical (historic) Recreation (Recreations)
Military (Wargames
Computer Games
Action
Adventure
Strategy (Strategic)
CD
Challenge up to 8 players on the Internet or via local area network
Lead 1 of 24 diverse nations in this epic, historical, real-time strategy game
Engage in 5 single player campaigns and over 130 scenarios
Brings to life 6,000 years of history from the ancient age to the information age
6 new nations, 4 unique single-player campaigns, 20+ original units, and more

Rise of Nations Gold is the Software version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 27.99USD.