This game is more than meets the eye
One of the most underrated strategy games made, it suffered from the exceeding amount of hype surrounding its release. While this game plays very similer to its spiritual predecessor Rise of Nations, there are some core differences in the game that make it stand appart, which will be out liined later.
Rise of Legends is an RTS, or real-time-strategy, hosting the typical three factions, build a base, then attack your enemy. It also includes a single player campaign, and a access to multiplayer over the internet and LAN. Pretty tyoical stuff for an RTS. First I'm going to tell you whats bad in the game, then whats cooler, then i'll tell you what the game plays like. And perhaps a summary at the end.
The Bad: The single player campaign is perhaps the weakest portions of the game (Although in the big picture it really doesn't matter, as the multiplayer is the main focus anyway). The missions all tend to pretty much the same, and many of them end up being "we must destroy all the enemies in this region! " and its missions liike this that really add tedium to the single player. In addition, while the story can be interesting at times, the characters don't seem to have any real depth. This is compounded by the poor voice acting in the campaign, the flat dialouge/lack of emotion, and cliche' phrases. In addtion, the different races in the campaign aren't given any real reason to intereact with each other, out side of fighting.
Out side of the campaign, there aren't too many issues, beside a occasional drop in frame, which has since been fixed in a patch.
The Good: The Main appeal ofti game for me is the totally unique and quirky races. Each have their own play style, which can also be adapted and changed for various strategies, and to illustrate th diversity,i will describe them to you here. First are the Vinci. This nation is based almost entirely off the conceptual drawings and blueprints of the genius/artist/inventor Lenordo Da Vinci. Combine that and an element of steampunk, and you end up with incredible and ridiculous units, like large walking clockwork men and clock work spiders, steam powered cannons and tanks, and flying machines whose wings could in no way realistically support their weight. They are the most conventional of the three races, and will be easiest for begining players to understand. The progress through their tech tree in a more simplistic pattern, and their units have clearly defined functions, such as seige weapons, anti-air and such. The second race is the Alin. They are a desert faring nation that seems to be based around the tales coming out of 1001 & 1 Arabian Nights. They are a race that is magical in nature, and that manifest itself in their play style. Instead of building units per se', in stead they summon them to the battle field from summoning circles, which can be built anywhere on the map, even in enemy territory. This makes them very unpredictable as a force when trying to fight them. They have units like dragons, genies, giant scorpions, manta rays that come out of the sand, glass golems, and many other fantastic creatures at their disposal. The Alin also carry out their research differently than the vinci, who have general upgrades for each unit. The Alin instead do their researdh at their tower defenses. The uprades they research are also extremely focused, such as only improving range for fire units, or speed, or line of sight. But Once all is said and done, the Alin with all their upgrades are a much more capable fight force, although they start off one of the weakest. The final race, The Cuotl, is a nation based off the idea that many of earths ancient cultures were founded upon technology given to man by aliens, as expressed by the pseudo-science book, Chariots of the Gods. Their visual style is most closely associated with mayan architecture, and they seem most at home on jungle maps. Their units consist of Massive walking stone idols, stone jaguars, Death snakes, and flying cities that fire super heated lazers (lazers with a Z, because anything with a Z in it is automatically more dangerous ;-). Their units and buildings have shields, and with the right research, cloaking devices. The Cuotl are different from the rest in that the use a different resource model than the other races.
Aside from all the differences that are in the races, it doesn't hurt that game that it looks gorgeous for its time(this game was made in 2004). But in an RTS, it isn't the graphics that matter, but the balance that exists between the races, and this game is excellently balanced for all the differences that exist. One rule that exists in game design, is that the more different you make your races, the more difficult it is to balance them. Big Huge Games has done a fine job in respect to that.
Gameplay: Typical base building exists in this game, but is superceeded by the idea that you main strength comes from your cities. You start off with one city, a handful of infantry, and a scout, and from there, you strategy is up to you. You can expand your city with districts, like, military, merchant and palace. There are also unique districts for each race that further differentiat them. For example, while the Vinci and Alin collect one of their resources, wealth, with merchant district by sending caravans to different sites around the map, The Cuotl gather Energy instead by building reactor districts. They use energy for many things, like activating their shields and cloaks, as well as using their heroes powers. The other resource, timonium, is gathered the same by all the races, by building a mine next to it.
Heroes also make an appearance in this game, with each faction capable of summoning 3. These heroes have powers that make for interesting and dynamic battles, such as summoning fire breathing salamanders, or encasing units in a glass prison that must be attacked to release them, or activating a tiny black hole on the battlefield, sucking in enemy units.
Other gameplay elements include a multitude of capturable sites as well as cities around the map which let you purchase additional types of units or add to your income levels.
Th singleplayer AI is actually pretty good, at times flanking your army, and making use of counters. The game has 5 difficulty levels, which make for a goo learningcurve before you go against human players, which, by the way, is a blast.
In conclusion, Rise of Legends is a game with a poor campaign, but manages to provide its core enjoyment out of its multiplayer, which its what any good RTS should want. If you want great gameplay, excellent visuals, and some off the wall races, this is the game for you.
