Rise of Nations

The Basics:
Platform: PC
Developer: Big Huge Games and Microsoft Studios
Price: $45-50
ESRB rating: T (Teen 13+)

Summary: Conquer the world through strategy, economic force and military might.

Note: Although much of the game focuses on military conquest, it is presented in a somewhat historical context.

Further Breakdown:

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Best for Ages 13+
Playability: May be difficult for those who are not familiar with RTS type games
Graphics: Slightly above average for this genre
Entertainment value: Excellent with a lot of room for re-playability
Educational value Some: Some. Gives a historical perspective of eighteen nations; economics
Reading Level: 6+ Some reading required to understand gameplay.
KidScore Rating

Ages 3-7: Red
Ages 8-12: Yellow
Ages 13-17: Green
Violence Amount: Yellow
Violence Portrayal: Yellow
Fear: Green
Illegal/harmful: Green
Language: Green
Nudity: Green
Sex: Green

Review:
For those kids, both young and old, 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 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; in fact from an entertainment level it is excellent. However, a little more effort could have given players not only an entertaining time, but also an educational one.