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Rise Of Nations Demo Released

Posted by simoniker on from the must-have-RTS-action dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that the playable demo of Big Huge Games' epic RTS for PC, Rise Of Nations, is now available on the Microsoft homepage. There's also a BitTorrent mirror on Gametab for this 194mb file.

14 comments

  1. praise jebus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The warez of the full version was released four days ago.

    The lameness filter prevents me from posting more info about it.

    I'm on a modem. :(

  2. Civ + AOE by Universal+Nerd · · Score: 2

    Great!

    I love Sid Meyer (Civilization and Alpha Centauri) games and love the Age of Empires series, having them rolled into one is great.

    Gotta get the demo.

    --
    Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
    1. Re:Civ + AOE by Dreetje · · Score: 1

      I love Sid Meyer

      Me too, but I am bit anxious looking at this game. I wonder if they can keep a nice balance as Sid always seems to have in his games.

      Guess I'll have to try it fast! Sure it looks interesting!

      --
      Dre
    2. Re:Civ + AOE by hymie3 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I wonder if they can keep a nice balance as Sid

      What has Sid done recently? Civ3 was Jeff Briggs. Alpha Centauri was Brian Reynolds, as was Civ2. Gettysburgh! and Anteitam! were both Sid+Brian. The last thing that was pure sid was that golf game that everyone heard was good, but nobody seemed to play.

    3. Re:Civ + AOE by analog_line · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It isn't Civilization + Age of Empires. It's more like Age of Empires 3. I'm a Fileplanet subscriber so I was able to get it a few days ago, and it's pretty much an extension of Age of Empires gameplay, as far as I've been able to divine, with some finer grain technological research.

    4. Re:Civ + AOE by tfreport · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is not a Sid Meier game. It is a Brian Reynolds game (the man that designed Civ II and SMAC). Got a lot of faith in him and this one is going to be good.

  3. Not bad... by Drakin · · Score: 1

    After downloading it, upgrading to DX9.0a and playing throughthe one map, I can say it's a not bad game. I was entirely clueless of what to do... (The tutorial isn't the greatest help at times) It could grow in a person...

  4. excellent! by ugly+colour+scheme · · Score: 1

    Microsoft is fast becoming the leader of strategy games. Looks like blizzard and firaxis might have some catching up to do!

    I have enjoyed all the games of the Rise Of series.

    1. Re:excellent! by pythian · · Score: 1

      er, this is the only game in the Rise Of series, unless the world suddenly did something very strange with time and space.

      BHG, a startup from old Firaxis members put RoN together, which is why it has some excellent Civ stylings mixed in with the nice RTS portions.

      Firaxis is never quick to push games through -- although I'm hoping that the eluded-to Pirates! sequel is mostly done and will ship this year (;

    2. Re:excellent! by Dean+Sas · · Score: 1

      you forgot about the first game in the series: rise of the robots

  5. This game seems a bit over the top by lechuck80 · · Score: 1
    Did anyone else actually play this demo? I wasted about 2 hours of my life in front of a computer... I could have been playing with my son. Microsoft, you took 2 hours of my life, and I want it back.

    Seriously, this game seems WAY too involved. I really enjoy the Civ-Style game, where you can kick back with a brew and manage your cities without worrying about managing battles at the same time. Now I know that the hard-core RTS fans out there love this kind of stuff, but there has got to be a point where there is just too much happening and not enough 'real-time' to do it in. I guess pausing is an option. I still feel like I need a team of people playing with me over my sholder making sure I click on the right research or find how many caravans I have. 5 resources to track! And on top of it all, I couldn't find a single way to save my game! WTF!

    Then again, maybe I'm just getting old. Ah, who am I kidding? I'll end up buying it like all the other suckers out there anyway.

    --
    "Mr. President, we cannot allow a mineshaft gap!"
  6. More Empire Earth or AOM than AOE by Chivalry · · Score: 1

    The gameplay definitely leads to more than most other RTS games on the market, as it seems to be a crossbreed of Age of Mythology and Empire Earth, with a few added features tossed in. The idea of national borders plays a significant role in the game, and while there can be alot to do at once, you don't have to keep yourself entirely maxed out on all traits to be successful. I'm sure that I read somewhere that the game can be won through a variety of different techniques beyond just killing of the enemy and conquering the enemy though there is now the added benefit of once conquering an enemy city, it becomes your own instead of being destroyed. I still think I'll need a few more weeks ( after RIT finals ) before I'll be able to say if it will beat out AOE II for the title, but overall it looks to offer a great combination for the RTS genre.