 BHG - Legends of Strategy!! |
| Review Date: May 13, 2006 |
| Reviewer: James A Fisher, |
Anyone who played Rise of Nations, BHG's first outing, will know that it was an absolutely gem (anyone who hasn't check out the review on gamespot! 9.3 Rating and strategy game of the year last year). This game was so balanced strategically that I played it online for 2 years. Every strategy had a counter and every game was a new challenge. Playability was faultless and the sound, graphics and single players campaigns we're top notch. It is without a doubt the greatest real-time strategy game I have ever played.
Well luckily for me I've had the pleasure of playing the Beta of BHG's second offering, Rise of Legends, to help with testing and BHG have delivered another classic. They have created a game with the same unparalleled strategic balance and gameplay that Rise of Nations had but have now thrown in some jaw dropping graphics and a fantastic new online interface (anyone who played the original will know that the multiplayer interface was a sticking point at times). They have speeded up the general pace compared to its predecessor so that right from the start you have important stategic decisions to make (aggression vs. booming) and there are now just 3 main civilisations to pick each having unique Hero's, powers and technologies (akin to Age of Mythology). It should also be noted that yes this game has brought to life legendary mythological stories and characters, its refreshing and fantastically executed.
For the person who was dissapointed with the mythological slant then all I can say is go and play the original Rise of Nations - its still the best real-time strategy on the market and it has the knights of old and world war 2 units you desire ;-). Not fair to give a game 2 stars just because it wasn't what you wanted - its like giving a platform game a bad mark because you wanted a racing game! hehe
If like me you are looking for a new game to get your creative strategic juices flowing and you want a fun and enthralling capture the world single player campaign and a supreme online real-time strategy experience that's all wrapped up in beautiful graphics and flawless gameplay then Rise of Legends is for you. |
wow buy it!!
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| Review Date: May 31, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Mr. Dmc Clews, |
ok. this game is awesome! the graphics look great. the 3d art is unbelieveble, making the land and building look huge.
it is a really cool timeset too. its like another planet that has developed its technologies at totally different rates to us.
the vinci army is cool, with clockwork robots and machines.
it just has the essential gameplay that a good rts needs. and the scale of it on one pc monitor, how do they do it?
my first rise of nations game, what have i been missing?? |
excellent sci-fi RTS
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| Review Date: May 31, 2006 |
| Reviewer: J. Hulme, Bolton |
Great RTS game. My favourite are the vinci with there machines. Think of battle for middle earth crossed with dawn of war and you'd be on the right track.
The game is quite resource hungry especially when theres many units on screen at once. Would liked to have seen more races, theres only 3 to choose from but they are all totally unique and have many units and upgrades. Hope this review helped. |
Great Fantasy RTS action
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| Review Date: July 22, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Mr. N. Stevens, |
Rise of Legends is an unusual sequel to Big Huge Games' successful Rise of Nations. Instead of simply creating an improved version of Nations, BHG decided to create their own fantasy world. And here's the good news: it works!
Instead of countries at war, there are three races - The steampunk Vinci, the mystic Alin, and the Aztec god-like Coutl. The game revolves around a storyline, which is split into three different campaigns - in which of each you will control one of the three races. What's even more interesting about the game is that you don't actually fight a different enemy like in so many similar games - in each of the campaigns, you will fight the "evil" version of your race (For example, as the Alin, you face the Dark Alin). Perhaps it may seem a little bit unimaginative, but then again, there wasn't a whole lot of difference between you and your enemy in Nations.
The RTS battles are similar to Nations, but with many significant changes. There are no Age Advances, but you are able to research during battles (in familiar fields such as politics). Cities are totally different - they now consist of a centrepiece in which you build city districts around. This can look great, especially if you are the Vinci - you can build a massive city of steam and clockwork. There are exceptions, however. You can build structures such as barracks and fortresses anywhere inside your territory. For the die-hard Nation'er, the game still entails pushing back borders, suffering attrition, caravan trade routes, storming and reducing cities, and in some cases, diplomacy.
In-game units are imaginative; the Vinci have clockwork and steam powered weaponry, the Alin rely on magical genies and beings of "dark glass", and the Coutl have stonework giants and flying saucers. And with many RTS' these days, each race has their own "hero" units. Giacomo, a Vinci inventor, is the main hero of the game, who is available in each of the campaigns as a leader of each race. He oversees the battle in his Walker mech, where he, like the other hero units, is able to release unique powers on the battlefield.
As with Nations, you have your world map, where you decide what territory to attack next. It operates on a similar turn-based theme. One thing I was disappointed with was the fact that, unlike Nations, you are only able to have one army to attack territories. However, to be fair, the maps are much smaller (but there are three of them) than the ones in Nations. On the map view, you can also add districts to your territories, using "Wealth" points. The districts (Although differing slighting depending on what race you are) are Palace, Military, Industrial and Market. Each district gives you points per turn to spend on such things as upgrading units, to adding to the amount you start a mission with. Hero Points can also be spent here - they are gained by completing certain extra objectives during a mission. Hero Points upgrade your heroes' powers.
For Legends to run moderately we're talking 256mb Graphics Card or higher - and even that depends on the architecture of the graphics card itself. 1Gb or higher RAM would be nice too. I wouldn't recommend anything below that (even medium detail I found the game lagged). I was able to upgrade from a 256mb card and got the game onto high detail, so I was able to see it in action - looked pretty sweet, but medium detail was fine.
BHG could have just as easily put together the same game as Nations but with "better graphics". Instead they opted to create a game in with a decent amount of Nations influence, but many significant (and welcome) changes. I loved Nations and found this equally enjoyable, although some of the features in Legends were even better and more accessible than Nations. Great game, but you may be disappointed if you are looking for a Rise of Nations 2. |
Seriously Hardware Intensive
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| Review Date: June 1, 2006 |
| Reviewer: midnightraveller, UK |
This seems like a truly awesome game, but be warned, unless you have a seriously powerful computer, you won't be able to get it running very well.
I have a fairly old-fashioned Athlon 2500+ with 768meg RAM and a Nvidia 6600GT, and it is nowhere near capable of running this game smoothly. Even with all the very lowest graphical settings.
If your PC is comparable to an Xbox 360 in spec, then I envy you and you are sure to love this game. |
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