One of the more popular real time strategy games to arrive on the scene is Big Huge Game's Rise of Nations. This RTS included many familiar concepts and many innovative ones as well, and for quite some time people have been waiting for a sequel. That sequel is finally here, but in not quite the form many expected. Instead of an historical game or one about human mythology, this game is about another world, a world where technology and magic clash in epic battles and huge campaigns.

Rise of Legends (ROL from this point on) is the latest RTS offering from big huge games. Set on the land of Aio, players will control the fate of races with unique and unusual technology and some with magical ability. The first campaign centers around Giacomo, a young inventor of a race known as the Vinci. The Vinci are based on the works of Leonardo Da Vinci, and their units resemble renaissance Italy's soldiers. The cities on the other hand look like 19th century nightmares filled with pipes and obtuse angles and so on. The other two races are the Alin and the Cuotl.

The first campaign follows the fight of Giacomo as he tries to defeat the evil Doge (another renaissance reference) across a series of areas that form the strategic game board. In this campaign you find that the Vinci have split into several city-states, and you meet them in due course. In each scenario you begin with the hero, sometimes additional heroes, a small group of soldiers and a base camp. The game includes hints that form an in-game tutorial, but anyone familiar with games such as Age of Empires will easily understand what is going on rather quickly. The hint feature can be turned off once things are understood.

As is the case with many RTS games players must gather resources, build new structures, research technology, and produce units. Much of what is done here is familiar but is far more streamlined. The starting city can be expanded four ways - one each for military, research, industry and size. The limitation is that costs in this game are exponential in that each module or unit costs a little more then the previous one in the series.

Economics are handled by constructing the correct building and then buying a caravan balloon which automatically will seek areas to trade with so players need not bother with such minutia. Some units can be purchased with coin but most things require minerals, which are called Timonium that must be mined. The mines are rather easy to operate, as you build one near the resource and then buy miners, and the game does the rest. One of the races collects energy instead of coins but that is the only exception.

The main base - the city - is composed of districts. Each district is purchased and added to an existing district to form a larger city. All races have a military district, which will fire on enemy units nearby as well as a merchant district and the palace district. The fourth district is race specific. The Vinci have industry, whereas the Alin have a Magus district and the Cuotl have a holy district. The cities of each race look quite different and give this game a very unique feel.

Instead of many infantry types this game relies on many unusual and exotic unit types created specifically for this game. The Vinci units are bulky mechanical looking types while the other races have magical and natural units. The clockwork man and imperial Musketeers are the most common units and will be the backbone of Vinci armies. It takes a little time to understand which units are most effective against each other, but it's not very complicated.

There is also a good assortment of air units in the game both mechanical and animal. Air units can be very effective as they can move over all kinds of terrain and are difficult to shoot down unless they are fighting other air units. One of the city states of the Vinci is an expert at producing air units and will provide high quality units that are quite damaging to ground units.

The look and feel of the game is very smooth. The units and terrain features are quite detailed and very pleasant to look at. The animations are also well done with game cutscenes built into the campaign to help the story move along. The game interface is quite simple to use and new players should have little if any trouble getting into the game quite easily. The sound is also good with nice voice acting and appropriate background music.

Overall this is a little bit different as far as RTS games go in that it isn't quite historical yet isn't quite fantasy or sci-fi either. It's in between nature as well as the unusual choice of Da Vinci inspired tech makes the game really unique in the gaming world. The campaigns play smoothly and use a proven system that is quite detailed and something I would like to see again in other games. I found this game a fun diversion from the norm.

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