Gameplay

Sex Dreams With John Philip Sousa

Of course, there are exceptions. Even though Rise of Nations can be classified as an Age of Empires clone, it isn’t a ripoff. Gameplay is varied in lots of ways. For starters, all of human history is represented. You get everything from caveman days when courtship was more club over the head than tasteful arrangement from FTD to the oh-so-happy current era of nuclear proliferation and artificial intelligence. The scale is very similar to that seen in Empire Earth, although everything here fits together better. All eight Ages—Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Gunpowder, Enlightenment, Industrial, Modern, and Information—have been carefully structured so that the major advancements gained when going from one to another aren’t so dramatic that the game mechanics are thrown out of whack.

Trebuchets are tres cool

Sleeping village

Beware the Aztec Jaguars

It’s hard to explain this to someone who hasn’t played the game, but there is a near-seamless progression to the transitions from one Age to the next. Where Empire Earth jerked along in fits and starts, Rise of Nations flows. It seems totally natural to guide a civilization through a few thousand years in a couple of hours. Though going from musketeers at the 30-minute mark to ICBMs at the 75-minute mark might look ridiculous in print, Reynolds and his team pull it off. Play balance and cunning computer AI keep everything moving together so that you never see those ridiculous spear-versus-howitzer slaughters too common in overly adventurous RTS games. Lots of victory conditions allow each civilization to concentrate on its strengths and still win the day. Even the visuals and music contribute to the elegant presentation. Graphical design is impressive, with obvious yet subtle differences to differentiate between each civilization’s buildings. Music is impressive in an understated way. It often sounds like the incidental music from a Merchant-Ivory flick, a real relief when you consider how often the tunes in these sorts of games come off like a John Philip Sousa wet dream.