Rise of Nations. The game that I first heard about a good timeframe ago, and that didn't have me too excited yet, then. I was thinking that we're just going to have yet another [real-time strategy game (RTS)] on the market that will have some nice things to it, but nothing spectacular in that regard. Anyway, I was too busy expecting Age of Mythology then, and didn't really care.
Soon, though, I changed my opinion. After reading some of the enthusiastic [forum] posts by Markos [Giannopoulos], I understood that this one might indeed be something more than just another RTS game. I went into the depths of various information bits, to see whatever was known about the game at that point, which was quite a lot – the best part there being the conversation that Dan Quick had with Brian Reynolds at his home. That's when I thought, Brian Reynolds can't screw a game. He worked with Sid, he made [Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri], so he can't fail this time.
I myself can't help but compare RoN to Empire Earth all the time. EE was a game with great ambition that everyone in the RTS community was hooked on for some period of time, and then that excitement passed. So it happened to almost everyone, and I was saddened to see how the EE community was dying shortly afterwards. I kept thinking of EE as a game that had some awesome potential, as well as some very poor design decisions and, what scared many away, one of the worst multiplaying systems I've seen. I mean, the game was very fun, but when there are nuclear weapons that will take just two Barracks at a time, it's somehow wrong.
Don't be afraid, this is not the case with RoN. From my experience, there are no major balance issues or weapons that should be great but are absolutely ridiculous. Likewise, I have noticed no things that made me go all over wondering why the heck are they included in the game and what's the very point of them.
If you've read anything about RoN, then you probably know that it's different from other RTS games, some people go as far as saying that it might be a new genre by itself. While I'm not sure whether it will be a new genre, I'm pretty positive that in many regards RoN will be the new standard for RTS games. Yes, it's different, and the difference there is especially welcome to Civ[ilization] players such as me and the other Apolytoners – this is why I think that the Apolyton community will, in general, really love this game. RoN requires thinking, and I mean it. In most of the other RTS games, you can sort of memorize what its RPS (rock-paper-scissors) model is, and then go ahead playing it with moving your wrist around as fast as you can. Well, surely you need to do some strategic thinking during the games, you need to memorize a few things, as well as know the advantages and disadvantages of various units and upgrades, but, by and large, all the RTS games were won by players who could move their mouse and click faster, not necessarily think better. I have only seen a few players who really took the strategic thinking to RTS games, and won their games by making clever decisions.
'Rise of Nations' Beta 2 Review (Page 1) 
