Public service announcement: the re-release of one of the best RTS games of yesteryear, Rise of Nations, is now on Steam.
I have absolutely no idea whether or not this is a well-assembled re-release, but it’s apparently by the same people that did Age of Mythology: Extended Edition, for what that’s worth. If that suffered all sorts of internet connection issues, framerate drops, and bugs, this might too! I don’t know. I haven’t played either of them yet.
Nonetheless, Rise of Nations is an utterly sublime RTS which could lazily be described as Age of Empires meets Civilization. You take control of a nation and start off in the Ancient Age, using slingers and hoplites to carve out your territory, and eventually rise all the way up to the stealth bombers and nukes of the Modern Age and beyond. Along the way you’ll need to build up your infrastructure, research technologies, and defend your borders from the other players – all in the course of a battle on a single RTS map.
Rise of Nations is an exquisite game, and I really hope that the Rise of Nations: Extended Edition re-release does it justice. I shall, no doubt, find out soon.
