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Graphical Anonymities Go Widescreen
Performance on a not-quite high-end PC was more than acceptable, and native support for widescreen monitors was much appreciated. Some users have reported issues with missing battle sounds, but I never noticed a lack of sound while playing. Mostly I enjoyed being able to focus on the game without having noise bombarded at me. Still, your mileage may vary given your taste for Jerry Bruckheimer-level sound effects.
What most impressed me about the game wasn't the solid performance, smooth map scrolling, or sound effects; but rather how beautiful everything was. Rarely do 3D models convey the pull of the original artwork like they do here in Rise of Legends. Maybe it's that the game isn't set in a post-apocalypse world, or a Saturday morning cartoon dwarves-n-dragons world… but rather something unique that makes it such a strong breath of fresh air.
Oddly, the only things that seemed off were unit animations. Some units skated awkwardly across maps while others moved with grace. Despite much fiddling with graphical and performance options, I was unable to fix this problem, which leads me to believe it's just a case of some units not being as slickly animated as others.
Judge others as ye be Judged
It's said that things rarely turn out as you expect, and Rise of Legends is clear proof of that. My expectations that the solid gameplay elements found both in the preview build and previous Big Huge Games titles would translate into a compelling single-player campaign were obviously misplaced. Yes, the gameplay is great… but the story is so poorly presented that Rise of Legends ends up being better served as a multiplayer experience.
Online, or across the room, the gameplay holds up very well. In fact it may be one of this year's best real-time strategy games. Yet, in a year that's brimming with big RTS releases, you have to bring more than great gameplay; you have to bring compelling gameplay, and that's where Rise of Legends falls flat on it's imaginative face.
If you're a competitive person who plans to play mainly online against others, add another star to the score, otherwise you may want to wait and see how the rest of the year pans out.
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