RISE OF NATIONS IS THE SWEETEST GAME EVER! (well, almost)

[beer]

I really, really like this game. I played age of kings a lot, but there were some game issues with that. Namely, forward bases allowed attacks way to early, among other, smaller issues.

Anyways, rise of nations is really a phenomenal game. The balancing is done in such a unique way that I really think it's probably the best RTS game ever. It's not for starcraft junkies who can't handle the complexity though.

I only have two issues with the game, really.

1) How come I can't use paratroopers in the Modern and Information ages? That really irks me, there's no way to sneak up on enemy lines as there really would be in real life. But it's a small complaint I guess.

2) The game almost seems TOO balanced. It would seem hard for one player to totally dominate the other economically. There's only so many ways you can progress and the resources are so tightly controlled early in the game.

 

[ChrisIsBored]

Sweet... thanks for the review.

I loved AOE & AOK but haven't played in a long time.

 

[Spoooon]

Could you play it on a laptop? I wonder if there's a demo...

 

[phonemonkey]

Originally posted by: Spoooon
Could you play it on a laptop? I wonder if there's a demo...

I'm not sure if you can play it on a laptop or not, but I can try when I get home today (*sigh* 7 hours to go....). I'll let you know.

 

[Spoooon]

I'd been thinking about getting the game, but my desktop is a little dated.

edit: Downloading the demo. Looking at the system requirements, I ought to be able to play it on the desktop.

demo doesn't work on the laptop.

 

[Justorq]

The only other prob with the game is that there aren't that many servers online

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Spoooon
Could you play it on a laptop? I wonder if there's a demo...

Yep you can. Me and my wife play it all the time over our network. Only thing that sucks though is the game would disconnect us after an hour or so of play which would piss us off.

 

[CtK]

another good one is Empires: Dawn of the Modern World

 

[TommyVercetti]

Originally posted by: Spoooon
Could you play it on a laptop? I wonder if there's a demo...

Yeah there's a demo available on the official microsoft website. It's around 50 MB. The demo gives you a very good idea of the game.

 

[CraigRT]

never played it, i'll have to try it...

 

[BeauJangles]

The paratroopers are lacking, but they are other ways to neak up on your enemy.

Try using stealth bombers, they are a PITA to take down because your opponent needs massive amounts of fighters. Also, sending small raiding parties to interrupt his trade routes is very effective. Many times your opponent will commit too many soldiers to stop your raiders and you can easily capitalize.

 

[iwearnosox]

Meta of 88, pretty good!

 

[Kyteland]

I bought this game shortly after it came out. I played for a while with a guy from work and haven't played since. It is a lot of fun, but the single player stuff is repetitive and not very challenging

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber
The paratroopers are lacking, but they are other ways to neak up on your enemy.

Try using stealth bombers, they are a PITA to take down because your opponent needs massive amounts of fighters. Also, sending small raiding parties to interrupt his trade routes is very effective. Many times your opponent will commit too many soldiers to stop your raiders and you can easily capitalize.

Great, all I have to research is Global Prosperity at something like 1800 timber and 6600 knowledge and I'm set!

Spooon -

I've been playing it on my laptop all week. The touchpad just makes it a bit harder to organize your units effectively. I use hotkeys a lot, too.

 

[CtK]

HOT DEAL!!

 

[iwearnosox]

Originally posted by: CtK
HOT DEAL!!

Damn you. Damn you to hell.

 

[FoBoT]

maybe i go to CC and buy this, my family we play AOE / AOK / AOM together

 

[WinkOsmosis]

I borrowed it from my friend once. I hated it. But I hate complex RTSes like Empire Earth too. I like my RTS gaming in one well developed era, preferentially medieval. Ex. AOE2.

 

[SSP]

My only gripe is that sometimes, fighters can?t take out tanks very effectively. Some machines seem a bit too invulnerable to other attacks (haven?t played in a while so I couldn?t give you an example). But over all I liked the game.

 

[Sunner]

I don't mind complex games, but IMO RoN is just plain boring, there's no feeling whatsoever, it's just extremely....boring.

Played it a couple of times with a friend, slightly less boring, but still nowhere near many other great games.

 

[amoeba]

There is no complexity lacking in starcraft. While the number of units /number of resources might be lower than other games, starcraft is the most complex RTS strategy wise.

 

[LAUST]

Huge fan of AoE/AoM series but I didn't like all the Micro-managment in RoN myself.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: amoeba
There is no complexity lacking in starcraft. While the number of units /number of resources might be lower than other games, starcraft is the most complex RTS strategy wise.

I'll have to agree on that.

 

[MaxDepth]

I like Rise in Shorts myself.



But speaking about RoN, I found the french to be the most effectively in early play because the supply trains heal the troops.

 

[CubicZirconia]

Originally posted by: CtK
another good one is Empires: Dawn of the Modern World

That game would be great if the zoom level wasn't in so far that it gets claustrophobic. The camera is so restricting. I had a huge thread going over on the official forums about this. All the devs would say is that it was done for performance reasons.