Rise Of Nations: Gold (Mac)

List Price: $39.99 Discount Price: $30.04

Features:

• Lead 1 of 24 diverse nations in this epic, historical, real-time strategy game
• Engage in 5 single player campaigns and over 130 scenarios
• Brings to life 6,000 years of history from the ancient age to the information age
• 6 new nations, 4 unique single-player campaigns, 20+ original units, and more
• Challenge up to 8 players on the Internet or via local area network

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	ATI 100-435317 Radeon X800 XT Mac Edition for G5 256MB AGP Video Card

Customer Reviews:

What I expected (kind of) [Posted on 2007-05-14]
I had played a PC based demo before, so I was acquainted with the game and it was kind of what I had expected. However the game crashes about 60% of the time as soon as it starts and I have to restart it to be able to play. I doubt it is some hardware related issue since the remaining 40% of the time it plays well. I have a 12" Powerbook G4 on which even much more demanding games (as far as hardware goes) run such as Call Of Duty 2 or Doom 3.

Excellent choice [Posted on 2007-08-14]
I played the heck out of AOE II. I really enjoyed it, and then when AOE III became available for the Mac I had to have it. That too was fun. I saw Rise of Nations on the shelf one day and picked it up to see what it was all about. Wow! Simply awesome. I haven't touched AOE III for months. I haven't done any online play with it, and I am still just making my way through the Naploean campaign, but this game is great. I enjoy building new cities and linking the trade routes. Game play is enjoyable. Armies are cool. Really , everything about Rise of Nations is great. If you enjoy real-time strategy games, then you should get this one.

Strategy in RON [Posted on 2008-02-29]
Although many people have been comparing Rise of Nations to Age of Empires, despite the admitted similarities in graphics and nations building, Rise of Nation's campaigns significantly differ from their counterpart.

The Rise of Nations campaigns are "Risk"-esque. Instead of going from scenario to scenario until the conclusion of the campaign leader's life, as it is done in Age of Empires, the aim of RON's campaigns is to conquer the total territories on map. This affects the historical accuracy of the campaign, which is not compromised in AOE. For example, Alexander the Great must conquer the Italian Peninsula and defeat the Romans, an event which never occurred in real time.

The user begins the campaign with a view of the map and the territory which his/her character occupies. There is a maximum amount of "turns" the user has before the campaign is over, whether successfully or unsuccessfully completed. To enter a scenario, or as RON terms it, "battle," the user must click an area from the map to conquer and is thus transported to to a "real-time" battle. If the battle ends up badly, the user has a choice to forfeit that particular battle, but is not permitted to replay that battle until the next turn. Something of note, as well, is that the user is also given a limited amount of time to complete each scenarios (max: 80 minutes). A conquered territory also has the ability to be invaded by a parring civilization.

Despite these differences, I still enjoy RON. To me, it feels more like a strategy game than AOE. Not only is there strategy required in "real-time" battles, but also strategy required when deciding which territory to conquer, etc. Those who are interested in something more historically accurate, however, should aim for AOE.

Other differences:
- User cannot build walls
- User can obtain generals for battles, which grants his/her army powers

Bugs:
- After prolonged use, the music can become eerily distorted

I apologize for lack of further detail. I have to continue studying the triumvirate for my college class. Hope this helps!

Great Game but Sucks on Intel Macs! [Posted on 2008-08-22]
I used to play this game all the time on my power pc iMac and recently bought it for my MacBook Pro and it ran slow as a mother! I was super bummed because I've got 256mb of vram and 4gb of system ram. Unfortunately and I hate to say this, stay away if you've got an intel mac!

Sweet! [Posted on 2008-09-19]
I personally loved Rise of Nations on PC. When I switched over for mac this was one of the games I was glad had been ported over, and it's been ported over faithfully. It's true to the original game.

I had one minor issue installing on my intel...I couldn't do it. I had to install to an external HD, and drag the folder over to my apps on the Mac HD. When I called support (prior to solving this problem) they agreed to send out a fresh disc just in case. I now have two usable copies!

Amazing game. Something to note if you want to play online: not cross-platform compatible, so you can't play with the majority of players who are on windows, and there are issues with PPC/Intel compatibility in the Mac world, too. Odds are there won't be anyone online to play with, but it can be done if you arrange with a friend who has the game, etc.

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