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It's rare for a developer (even rarer for a publisher) to follow up a critically acclaimed game with a "not-a-sequel" that strays right off the beaten path and down a canyon of "whoa Nelly." But, neither Microsoft nor Big Huge Games are ones for following conventions. This is not Rise of Nations-2.
This is Rise of Legends, the not-a-sequel follow-up that blends the forefathers' solid gameplay mechanics with fantasy trappings. The box promised me "magical creatures, fantastic machines, and stunning acts of magic," but the pretty pictures had me at "ooh, big explosions!" Having just come off Rome: Total War, I was curious to see how the "Conquer the World" campaign mode worked here, but more on that later.
Starcraft: the White Elephant in the room
What is it with RTS games having three playable sides/races? I was a little worried that yet another developer was sinking into the trap of trying to out-craft the white elephant in the RTS genre. Oddly enough I should have been spending more time taking notes. I'm starting to get rather fed up with games that have ambiguous cut scenes that focus more on pushing cool action than telling me what the hell is going on.
Yes, we're happy that CGI artists have been able to keep their jobs in an era of high-powered next-gen consoles, but enough is enough already. It's about damn time some Hollywood storytellers got some work too! A big space ship crashing into a jungle, followed by a fade into a nasty battle between two armies is not the narrative substance I'm looking for these days.
Hopes that all would be explained in better detail once the game started were quickly dashed on sharp polygonal edges. Having three sides? Sounds good on paper, but not so good when you're trying to figure out who, what, and why. Add in that one of the sides loves to fight amongst itself as much as with outsiders and things really start to get confusing. Oh, and did I mention that one of the first big baddies has a name that's about one syllable off from the name of one of the sides? Yeah. Confusion 101 here we come!
It's not all bad though. While I still need cliff notes on the story in Rise of Legends, I must commend the developers for crafting three very unique factions. The word "fantasy" gets tossed around a lot these days, and usually means "goblins, dwarves, and elves." But before Frodo became a movie star, fantasy used to mean something else altogether.
The inspirational roots for the factions in Rise of Legends come from rarely walked paths: the Vinci pump out Renaissance styled steam-powered automatons, the Alin with their magic and glassworks come across as the dark twisted side of Disney's Aladdin, while the Cutol invoke images of Mayan space travelers. All together it makes for a unique game world, even if the story is obtuse as they come.
Play the Game, Slay the Beast, Click the Button
Considering the review build came sans instruction manual, it was great to be able to get into the game quickly and easily. The user interface was clean and right to the point. Pop-up boxes and text explained every icon I moused over, and buildings even prompted me to build more units when needed. Earlier issues (preview build) with setting down build locations seem to have been smoothed over, and now graphical identifiers let you know when and where something can be place or acted upon.
While the gameplay in Rise of Legends is solid, engaging, and fun… the confusing story hampered my enjoyment of single-player. Sure you can build up your cities, choose your specialty (be it war, research, or trade) but there's only so many disjointed battles you can fight before you start to tire of kicking the computer's butt.
I had some hopes that the Conquer the World elements would be similar to Rome: Total War, but where one is a turn-based strategy element that frames individual battles, the other is a linear march from region-to-region, playing skirmishes with the computer. Still, credit must be given to Big Huge Games for trying something new.
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