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Common Sense Note

Although much of the game focuses on military conquest, it is presented in a somewhat historical context. The violence is always displayed in a non-gratuitous manner.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: National Institute of Media and the Family

For those teens who like to imagine themselves as the sometime ruler of the world, Rise of Nations provides a way to experiment with the best strategy. The game focuses on eighteen great civilizations, ranging from the British to the Japanese. The player's goal is to guide the nation of their choice through a campaign to take over the world.

Rise of Nations has a unique aspect about its gameplay. It combines the turn-based play of a board game like Risk®, with the on-the-move excitement of a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game like Age of Empires. During RTS mode the play is continuous, while both the player and the opponent build up resources and strategically attack each other's cities to take over territory. Although battles are shown fully animated, the violence is tempered by the player only having a bird's eye view rather than being fully immersed.

The game has the potential to be educational, but only on a limited level. Each nation has "specialized units and traits". For example, the British have the unique unit of longbowmen. In addition, the game follows a rough timeline of national development from ancient times to modern ages. These elements in the game may spark a basic interest in the player's mind about the history of a particular nation. Unfortunately, the game does not take advantage of this. The educational value of the game could have been greatly increased had it included information explaining the historical significance between the special units and that particular nation.

From an entertainment aspect, the game performs admirably. The game's AI offers multiple levels of difficulty in order to provide a good challenge while not overwhelming the player. Also, the player can use a multi-player option to challenge friends. Kids who enjoy any type of strategy game will like this game.

In the end, Rise of Nations is a good game; from an entertainment point of view it is excellent. However, a little more effort could have given players not only an entertaining time, but also an educational one.

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