here’s a certain level of basic enjoyment that nearly every RTS released since Command & Conquer can quite easily aspire to. Building up a base and an army and then using them to crush your foes is a good time even in an otherwise mediocre game. Rise of Legends is not one of those titles. Instead, it illustrates how basic concepts like these can be taken to the next level through tight design and a metric ton of polish. A visually and aurally astounding presentation – provided you have a beefy enough PC to take advantage of it – certainly doesn’t hurt, either.
It’s not as if Rise of Legends doesn’t have any good ideas, but any seasoned RTS player has seen all of the many facets of this game before. The groundbreaking (for the genre) concepts from Rise of Nations have been refined, and each and every system and notion works so well both individually and together that the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts. The resource-gathering structure puts an emphasis on exploration, while also encouraging players to keep upgrading their bases. Likewise, the design of the technology trees (which are startlingly different for each playable faction) rewards a more conservative or defensive approach without screwing over aggressive play styles. Finally, both the immensely entertaining combat and the composition of each troop set push gamers toward exploring the various types of units; it’s highly unlikely that a strategy that hinges on huge masses of a single unit will see much success.
The single-player game offers a huge number of skirmish scenarios to enjoy in addition to the dozens of hours of playtime of its three excellent free-form campaigns, which allow you to direct a board game-like metagame in pursuit of your objectives. Multiplayer has some serious legs as well, with rankings for individuals and clans, extensive stat-tracking, and a robust matchmaking service. If there’s any fault to find in this title, it’s that it doesn’t advance the Rise of Nations or RTS formulas very much – but one could just as easily argue that it doesn’t have to.
Everything about this title is simply executed on a level that we rarely see outside of a few elite development studios. If Rise of Legends is indicitive of things to come, perhaps Big Huge Games is ready to join the likes of Valve, Blizzard, and Firaxis at the pinnacle of gaming.