So, Rise of Nations is getting a snazzy steam version just like Age of Empires 2 and Age of Mythology did. Although unlike those two at least, Steam are selling this one for a sensible price of 12 quid. 24.99 for a ten year old game is kind of abusing people's nostalgia.

So, is Rise of Nations still good? I dug up my old copy of Rise of Nations Gold to find out.

Short answer: Yes. Yes it is.

Basically it's Age of Empires but with a lot more bells and whistles. The ages go all the way up to present day, all of the units, even the non-unique ones are styled in that nations theme which is a nice little touch I enjoy.

To advance to a new age you need to research a sufficient amount of the four main technologies from your library (or from the buttons on the top of the screen, Rise is full things like that that try to make gameplay as quick and smooth as possible) which in turn also enhance things like your population cap, the number of cities you can have, access to certain buildings like the Granary, Sawmill and Smelter (buildings that boost productivity of your resource gatherers in the city they are built) and increase the Resource Cap. The resource cap is an interesting idea, in that there is a set cap on how high your income per minute can be that is governed by the Commerce technology level, and you find yourself constantly bumping against it.
But do you use the resources to increase your income cap or do you need that income to upgrade your army to the current age, to build that Wonder or to raise that army you need to defend Smolensk?

The game also has a stronger emphasis on The City. Each city you build has a limit of how many farms, universities (which gather needed knowledge resource for researching) you can have. They also increase the boundries of your nations borders, a visible area similar to Civ5, which will damage troops that walk inside it unless they have a supply wagon to feed them.
Troops themselves are pretty much what you expect, although interestingly Barracks build units in groups of three, so you quickly find yourself with an impressive looking army which is a nice touch.

The game has tried to help minimise the amount of micromanaging you need to do, such as workers will automatically go help out any resource gathering that has free slots for them without you having to manually tell them to. Caravans will automatically set up routes if you leave them along. Or placing the 4 big techs in one big bar at the top so you can find them easily.

Of the 19 races you get, all have some very diverse abilities that can greatly change the playstyle and are a lot more extreme than minor buffs and some unique units. For instance the Chinese can build their workers and Market units instantaneously, which is helpful for early rushes, and for repairing any worker losses from raids. The Dutch get bonus resource income the more of a material they have, the Aztecs get resources from killing enemies, Spain starts with the whole map revealed and both the native american nations get some very funky abilities, with the Iroquois get troops which are invisible in their own territory, whilst the Lakota's territory is invisible, they can build anywhere unclaimed and receive food from citizens and cavalry instead of from farms.


People have been wanting a version of Rise of Nations on Steam for a good long while, and they definitely aren't going to be dissappointed when it arrives, assuming Microsoft don't cock it up and make sure it actually works on all of the operating systems it says it should. Both AoE and AoM had some early teething issues.

The question now is what RTS should Microsoft make an HD remake of now? Let's face it, the answer is obviously Mechcommander 1 or 2.