Rise of Nations (Microsoft PC)

By PETER ELEY

(Herald Rating: * * * * *)

At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that Rise of Nations is Age of Empires 3. AOE, of course, is Microsoft's classic title and a traditional real-time strategy game.

Rise of Nations bears more than a passing resemblance to it graphically, but the gameplay is more complex and addictive.

Where Age of Empires was a war game, Rise of Nations blends in elements from the Civilisation-style god game genre to become truly imperial.

The result is a sort of turn-based game, much like the board game Risk, but played in real-time.

Its depth is impressive. There are 18 playable civilisations, ranging from the Bantu of Africa to the Russians.

All have widely different abilities and units. For instance, the Bantus' underlying strength is the power of migration, while the Russians have the power of the motherland.

Bantu special units range from Umpakati spearmen and Impi regiments to Eagle jet fighters in later stages of the game.

Their sphere of influence is Africaand. They can fight for the unclaimed central territories of the Congo and Guinea, or attack the Nubian and Egyptian civilisations to the north.

Russians have Cossacks, Red Guards and Katyusha rockets. They are able to attack a variety of European nations.

All 18 civilisations have common units and many, such as slingers and scouts, will be familiar to anyone who has played Age of Empires.

The eventual goal for any civilisation is world domination, a task which could well take weeks if not months at the hardest levels.

Those with shorter attention spans can play quick battle mode. This can be customised for quite long, involved games, or set up for short, intense ones.

Comparisons with Age of Empires are inevitable, given the game's striking similarities. But Rise of Nations has a much more complex technology structure requiring frequent upgrades, which need to be paid for with resources such as gold, food or timber.

It's a cleverer game, too, in terms of its artificial intelligence and the demands it makes on the player in terms of building a viable society and managing trade and diplomatic affairs.

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