Warlords adds six new civilizations and other enhancements to Civilization IV, but the cool new scenarios are the real treat in this expansion.
The Good: It's Civilization IV, only bigger and better than before; six challenging, new historical scenarios that rewrite the civ rules in different ways; ability to finally play as the barbarians and wreck havoc on those haughty civs.
Rise of Legends Trial Version 742 MB The Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends demo will give you a taste of the single player Conquer the World campaign with two single player scenarios in the Alin campaign. The demo finds you playing as the Vinci race in the barren Alin desert. Giacomo and his weary army are relentlessly searching for the lost city of Azar-Harif which was rumored to be an ally of the Vinci army many years ago. Will you survive the scorching desert with your army intact? Play the demo to find out.
Journey to the land of Aio, a world embroiled in an epic battle between the forces of Magic and Technology. Fight through towering cities, flame-swept deserts and brutal ice plains in battles filled with mystic creatures, impossible machines, and stunning acts of magic.
Guide a young inventor's struggle to unravel his world's ancient past and unite its people against an unimaginable threat. Our award-winning Conquer the World gameplay pulls you through a new world of heroes, monsters, loyalty, and betrayal. And multiplayer carnage reigns supreme when you take the war online.
Conquer the World Campaign. The immensely popular Conquer the World (CTW) Campaign returns to “Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends” with exciting updates. The award-winning CTW gameplay guides players through a new world of heroes, monsters, loyalty and betrayal. Gamers follow a gripping story through multiple campaigns with fascinating subplots and heroic characters. They experience an ever-changing three-dimensional world with terrain and cities that evolve as civilizations grow.
Genre-defining graphics and special effects. “Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends” combines cutting-edge, industry-leading technology with awe-inspiring art design to create gameplay and environments unlike anything ever seen. Gamers experience a three-dimensional engine with dynamic lighting, deformable terrain, destructible buildings, ground-rattling earthquakes and massive armies locked in enormous strategic battles.
Innovations in the RTS genre. “Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends” evolves the franchise’s trademark gameplay features such as borders, attrition, huge armies clashing and the building of cities, but with innovative twists.
Streamlined and intuitive gameplay. To streamline gameplay, Big Huge Games has improved army and research interfaces, making for easier gameplay with less emphasis on micromanagement. Gamers can choose between fast 20-minute games or longer, more-involved campaigns for those wanting a classic RTS experience.
New options for multiplayer and online play. Several new innovative MP features will be discussed at a later date. At a high level, the game caters to those players who don’t have four hours to spend on one match; the gameplay has been designed so that even a 20-minute game is a rewarding experience. That may seem quick, but Microsoft and Big Huge Games are working hard to ensure that these are full-fledged battles, not mere skirmishes.
Compelling, integrated story line. “Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends” transports gamers into a fantastical world, where they guide a young inventor’s struggle to unravel his world’s ancient past and unite its people against an unimaginable threat. Gamers can quickly build small villages into powerful expanding civilizations and lead vast armies into strategic battles between the forces of Magic and Technology.
Another interesting game - this one I meant to write about ages ago. The Ship is a multiplayer FPS set on a series of luxurious cruisers. Developed by Outerlight and Published by Mindscape, it's kind of an interactive Agatha Christie romp - each player is given another character who they must hunt down and kill, but this has to be achieved out of the sight of security staff (or you'll be chucked in the brig) - oh and you'll be kicked from the server if you take out too many innocent by-standers.
There's also an interesting naturalistic element - your avatar needs to eat, wash, sleep and interact with other characters as well as trying to murder his or her nemesis. The Sims meets Manhunt on a big boat...
Originally developed as a Half-Life mod, the title is now available as a self-contained game, via Steam.
Last week, Epic Games' Mark Rein was blaming Intels Integrated Graphics chip for the decline of PC gaming - now another veteran developer has come up with an alternative scapegoat possibility: the success of World of Warcraft.
Speaking to Gamasutra, Brian Sullivan, co-creator of Age of Empires and now president or Iron Lore Entertainment, feels the MMORPG's huge success could be proving detrimental to other areas of the industry:
"For retail PC games, I think the biggest problem is World of Warcraft. It is such a compelling MMO game that it sucks up a lot of money and time that would normally be spent on other retail PC games."
He has a point. As we all know, MMORPGs make considerable demands on our leisure time, not only because they're incredibly immersive, but also because the subscription model itself encourages longer play. However, MMORPGs have been around for several years - plenty of time to come up with a competing business model, or an innovative means of engaging the same audience. I'm not sure if developers of retail PC games are really meeting the challenge. The industry is going round in circles endlessly re-inventing the same two or three genres.
Iron Lore's own game, a mythological RPG adventure named, Titan Quest (pictured above) is due out later this year.
