In 2003, Rise of Nations was crowned the year’s best RTS by many international sources and won a special place in the hearts and minds of gamers. Remarkably, even with its kind of weight on its shoulders, Big Huge Games has (thankfully) resisted the temptation to develop a sequel, and have instead released its next game as an evolution of the theme explored by the ever popular Rise of Nations. Big Huge Games clearly don't want to be known as a one trick pony, which is evident when playing Rise of Legends.

Rise of Legends is a departure from the historical backdrop explored in Rise of Nations and the beginning of an exploration of a fantasy world inspired by magic and technology. There are three races to choose from: the Vinci (Steamboy meets Leonardo Da Vinci), the Alin (Prince of Persia meets D&D) and the Cuotl (Blade Runner meets Egyptian mythology). Although each race is distinctly different, with its own storyline and techniques, the game remains balanced. Gaining the upper hand is done through fast paced resource allocation, achieving in-game goals and ultimately decision making.



The single player story provides insight into the different races, and a whole lot of gameplay for your money. The AI will make your life quite difficult if you become gung-ho about attacking an overly powerful foe on a whim. Expect retaliation from the AI, especially if you attack opponents before you should.

Resource hunting is a tricky business, as there are two types needed in the game but only one, Timonium, can be mined. Timonium has to be traded for wealth at nearby towns and cities, and if you capture them you'll get a better rate, but they are always guarded heavily by villagers. If you have geared yourself to be rich in resources you can simply buy the town without fighting the defenders. If you are so inclined you can avoid the whole business by researching scavenging techniques to scrounge resources from defeated enemy units, which lets the bloodthirsty rely on the march of their war machine for financial support. That knocks out other traits that you could have been researching though… there's a lot of scope in Rise of Legends.



City construction has an organic, ad-hoc feel to it. Instead of planned plots on a grid, they sprawl out from a centralized hub. If the ground you build on turns out to be cliff after a short distance, your construction space becomes limited. You do return to your cities as you play the single player mode as the game progresses. Your empire is illustrated for you in Risk-esque format on the world map, which also acts as a post battle screen where you choose how to develop your forces. Units are made available and upgradeable through points gained throughout the game, as do your starting army, occupied cities and heroes.