The word 'sequel' has gotten a bad rap over the years. Be it for whatever medium ... books, films or even music, sequels have this natural tendency to disappoint. I guess it's the eternal battle between quality vs. quantity. Too high an expectation usually gets me a sucker smack across the face by being such a stooge. My favourite punching bag, Hollywood, gets the blame for its incessant need to relentlessly churn out mindless dribble time after bloody time. Luckily for us, the games industry isn't paddling upstream in the same leaky canoe ... well, not yet anyway. Case in point being Big Huge Games' RTS sequel to Rise of Nations, Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends.

Putting aside the less than imaginative title of the game, the team behind Rise of Legends must have had their creative juices on overdrive. Three vastly different and great looking races exist in Rise of Legends. The Vinci draw their inspiration from the wild imaginings of Leonardo Da Vinci, complete with clockwork robots, steam driven vehicles and of course, those wacky gyrocopters that look as comfortable in the air as a brick would be in water. The Vinci would have made Edward Scissorhands look like an ordinary bloke sporting a weird fetish for sharp things. The Alim are twisted desert dwellers using magic to achieve victory. From what reminded me of a nightmarish version of a children's Arabian fairytale, the Alim bring dragons, glass golems and huge scorpions onto the battlefield. All that was missing was Ali Baba and his Forty Thieves. Lastly, the Cuotl are the strangest of the lot. Like something straight out of an episode of 'The Great Mysteries of the World', (used to love watching that show) a bunch of natives deep in the jungle have their hands on alien tech, resulting in a strange blend of mysticism and high technology. If I'm not mistaken, the zany magicians over at Big Huge Games grabbed a few choice ideas from the Stargate series and rammed them into the game. How else would you explain natives with force fields?

Desert Storm..with genies

That's the peculiar aspect of this game. It's such a melting pot of ideas, looks and genres. Imagine three separate dimensions forced together into the one universe, each with their own peculiarities, looks and background. So in terms of originality and outright weirdness, this game wins the lottery. Don't know why I keep referring to old TV shows in this review, but I could imagine those freaks from The Addams Family playing this game and lovin it.

If memory serves me correctly (and it's failed me all the bloody time), fans of the Rise of Nations worried about the difference between games needn't be concerned. The two main differences would be the strange yet fascinating blend of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, plus the addition of Hero units. Even newbies to the series need not be scared of the game. It's easily navigated and the learning curve is but a bump on the road.

The campaign mode introduces you to the well established theme of revenge. Having his brother murdered by the Doge (your typical evil character looking like a cross between Napoleon and Mussolini) our hero Giacomo Vinci sets out on a collision course aimed straight for him. This is what can be expected of the first of the three campaigns. Based around the popular Conquer the World style of game play (think Risk), you choose which neighbouring territory to target, select your army then move to attack. Attacking each territory yields a decent variety of mission types, ranging from destroying specific targets, rescuing prisoners to straight up fights.

Industrial splendour

Within each territory, and in tried and tested RTS fashion, you need to farm vast amounts of resources. To achieve glory, you'll need mines, which produce Timonium, the resource needed to build structures. The other required resource is good ole money, harvested by differing methods, depending on the campaign being played. Without goodly amounts of either of these important resources, you'll find yourself stranded, with a slim chance of achieving the mission objectives. Unfortunately, nothing new in that department.

With enough resources under the belt, its time to lay down a few buildings. Being restricted to fixed city locations to lay down structures, you have a choice between four types of districts: Industrial, Military, Merchant and Palace. Each structure type has its own individual effects on game advancement. Industrial districts speed up construction and hand out Prototype points, which allow you to place particular emphasis on individual research paths. Military districts increase your population cap with free units given per city level, whilst the Merchant district allows you to bring in the wealth. Lastly, the Palace district increases the effects of all the districts. Sadly, this turned out to get quite monotonous. Get enough resources, lay down the buildings, build the army then attack. Don't know what the general consensus is out there on these types of RTS's, but it starts to wear thin after the first few territories are conquered.

Simply put, the essential requirement within Rise of Legends is patience, no mater what difficulty level you play. Build enough of the same unit quick enough and you'll stand a high chance of success. Even on the higher difficulty levels, maintain the defensive lines, keep churning out enough of those units, and you'll easily be able to swamp the opposing side. I know, not much guts but a lot of glory very quickly.

AI was a mixed affair. You might have enemy units close at hand attacking a particular building or unit, yet find that your own units are having a smoko of sorts... or have enemies approach from quite a distance away (more often than not you'll hear the crackle of gunfire indicating enemies are attacking before you actually see them) then find your guys decide to have a crack and attack. While enjoyable, it felt like the AI could have done with a boost in the aggro dept. It felt like the AI generally lacked in ambtion, but every now and again, decided to follow some order and attack in small numbers. Sure I ended up having some of the most massive RTS battles via the AI's decent defensive abilities, but it still turned into a situation of who could pump out the units faster, thereby overwhelming the enemy.

If anything, this game looks incredible. Rich, detailed environments populated by the most amazing looking and creative units and buildings make it a treat for the eyes. Nasty looking industrial complexes that would make HR Giger proud, baking deserts to incredibly lush jungles makes up for the tired RTS path you're forced to tread in this game.

HR Giger with dragons

While the graphics looked incredible, the sound was a total let down. Maybe they ran out of time, but it seems that the developers rushed the sound department. It kind of felt like they didn't think sound was much of a necessity to the overall gaming experience, which is a darn shame. That said, I enjoyed the solid voice acting. There was a decent range of emotion and feeling conveyed through out the game to kind of bring some respectability to the overall sound quality.

Multiplayer was a hoot. I know the word 'hoot' isn't such a good term to describe the experience, but I had fun (when I could connect). Even though the dropout rate from multi was slightly annoying (slightly because I kept getting my arse kicked) I enjoyed the maps. With player stats and matchmaking, I dare say I'll be getting my arse handed to me for a while yet (if you see a Rulke... for the love of god... go easy on him)

When it comes down to it, does it warrant your money? Don't be too swayed by some of the negative points I raised in this review. Rise of Legends' mix of old RTS conventions, great artwork and original races might just be enough to tickle ya fancy. Even though it follows the formula for the standard RTS, I enjoyed it.