 The Rise and Rule
of Ancient Empires - PC
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| GENRE |
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| PLAYERS |
1- 6 |
| PUBLISHER |
Sierra Online |
| DEVELOPER |
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| ESRB |
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Win’ 98/ME/2000/XP, Pentium III 800 MHz, 512 MB RAM, 32 MB video card, 4X CD-ROM drive |
Is it my turn YET???
Plan on spending countless hours confined to watching a computer make
decisions that should, in all honesty, take but a few seconds. This is
what will happen while playing Sierra's new game, The Rise and Rule of
Ancient Empires. It is surprising that the same company that produced
such hits as Kings' Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry,
and many more, came out with a surprisingly poor product that besmirches
the good name of Sierra Online.
| Minimum System Requirements |
| Win 3.1 or Win95 |
| 486DX 33MHz |
| 8 Meg RAM |
| 20 Meg Hard Disk Space |
| 2X CD-ROM |
You begin the game by choosing one of six ancient cultures (Greek,
Egyptian, Indian, Mesopotamian, Chinese, or Celtic) whose ultimate objective is building an empire that will rule the world. After
the opening credits (which are not all too impressive), you are left with a
screen containing a mostly-darkened map and one lone settler. It
is now up to you to direct your settler's path and build the ultimate
empire. With the new city built, you have a few choices which
gradually increase with your population and intelligence (as if your
intelligence could increase while playing this game). From then on you are
on your own to explore, build, and hopefully conquer anything in your way.
Various archetypes such as military units (which include light to heavy
infantry, cavalry, missiles and galleys), merchants, settlers, and
philosophers exist in this mind numbing game.
 Along with an endless array of characters
under your direct control, you also have the opportunity to build and expand your
cities in order to develop a nation capable of conquering the world. When you
first start out, your city consists of just two buildings, but with time and energy
you can slowly build your city to a bustling metropolis (or at least its equivalent
in ancient times). Although the box says that it's possible to "complete a full
game in one sitting" I don't know anyone quite this bored. Waiting for this game
to progress is like waiting in rush hour traffic in Los Angeles. The computer
takes far too long to make computations and simple decisions, in fact the average
college student would be happy to know that they could easily play this game at
the same time as writing a twenty page term paper (and would probably finish the
term paper first).
 Although Rise and Rule is
Sierra's poor attempt to remake the hit game Civilization, it shouldn't
be reviled completely. While the game left me wanting more (a LOT more) the video
was at least satisfactory. The graphics overall were not very intriguing, particularly
after seeing the same ones for several hours. This problem is best described as
the same numb-narcosis effect that occurs from looking at the sun too long. The
sound, on the other hand, was enjoyable, but that leaves me wondering why Sierra
couldn't put as much time into the game itself as they did in the soundtrack.
A simple point-and-click interface allows easy control of your army's movements,
and also gives you something positive to say about the game, other than the fact
that you are able to play head to head via network or modem.
This game is recommended for those who are lonely enough to spend hours
dwelling in front of a computer trying to figure out why Sierra would
chance losing its reputation for good games. Others who should play this game are those that suffer from insomnia; this may be the cure.
Personally, the only reason I found myself playing this game so intently was
to find the true meaning behind Sierra's less-than-par attempt at a
strategic game.
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| D- |
| + Interesting Idea. |
| + Couldn't tell if it was a game or not. |
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| Reviews by other members: |
No member reviews for the game.
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