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If the trial version is any indication this Xpack rocks

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 21
Date: April 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just downloaded the trial version and it's great. Definitely recommed Rise of Nations. The Xpack seems to be adding a lot of great new content - including the American nation

A world class expansion pack for a world class game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 78 / 82
Date: April 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Like many who have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Thrones and Patriots, I played a social-life crippling amount of Rise of Nations when it debuted in early 2003. That's why when my co-junkie CIO barged into my office yesterday with this expansion pack I was both elated and petrified at the potential darkening of my social life that might occur if this follow-on was half as interesting as press has made it out to be.

I went home, and savagely thrust the CD into my eager drive, loading....anticipatory sweat began to bead on my backhair....loading...

Fast forward 20 minutes, and if you asked me "how is it", I wouldn't answer you. That would be my answer. Now, sitting here in my office, I'm jones'ing to run home and play again...the crackling of US Marine Machine Gun fire, screaming Persian Elephants....

So much has changed, yet thankfully, for RON lovers, the gameplay is still comfortably familiar. There are however some notable differences in this game.

First off, there are 6 new nations, 20 new unit types, and 4 new maps. But so far, the biggest difference is the ability to choose a government type...

At the Classical Age you establish a Senate and choose a government. Your choices are: Despotism, Socialism, Capitalism, Monarchy, Republic, and Democracy. Your Government gives your nation military and non-military bonuses, and each government type allows you to create a Patriot. The Patriot is a special unit that acts as your leader. They are produced from the Senate and give certain bonuses to units and buildings within a proximate radius of their location. What's interesting is that each of the six governments produce a Patriot unique to their type.

So in choosing government type (which give you global bonuses), you also need to balance that governments value against the unique set of Patriot bonuses. As if there weren't enough choices in Rise of Nations to begin with. But really, as I expressed in my review of RON, that's what I love so much about this game. I know of no "one way to win". Much like chess, there are counters to every efficacious strategy and tactic, "rushing", "turtleing (holing up defensively)", "age leaping"...every game must be played dynamically against your partners strategy. A "thinking mans RTS".

Needless to say, I'm thrilled. I haven't been this excited to game since I was learning Rise of Nations a little over a year ago. If you love RTS's like Civilization, you'll should pick up this habit. If you're already addicted to RON, well, your next fix is on the shelf...

I hope this was helpful.

Enjoy.

awwwsome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 19
Date: May 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

if there were 6 stars this game would get it. its soo cool. you have to get it. its no ur ordenary game,i've play age of empires, warcraft,and starcraft but, none of those games came close. theres only one thing I DON'T HAVE IT YET but i have played the trial and i can tell you this is worth every penny, you should get the trial first but after you play it you'll be begging ur mom for money

Great Expansion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: May 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This expasion improved the game alot. The new armys make the take over the world campaigns more interesting. I also like the alt take over the world campaigns. Napoleon, Alexander the great and the new world campaigns are very fun.

They Keep On Rising

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: May 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Rise of Nations was a really fun game, but with the addition of Thrones and Patriots the game has gained a great deal of depth. The biggest change is all the cool single player missions. You can play through the game during the cold war as Russia or the USA. Or try conquering the world as Napolean or Alexander the Great. They also added a bunch of new nations like Native Americans, United States and India. The Indian elephants look so awesome crushing the enemy troops. Also look at all the details in the buildings! Some of them have running water!

If you like strategy games and dug Rise of Nations, then you should definitely pick this one up. I just took over the world and defeated the Russians last night, next will be some Alexander the Great action.

Not a Necessary Expansion

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: May 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you have 30 dollars to kill, then youll still enjoy it. I'm not saying that the expansion is a bad game, I just think that for all the things you get in the amazing basic Rise of Nations, the expansion pack isnt really necessary. It comes with 4 or 5 new nations, 2 of which are native americans, but with only a few new buildings, I think that youll be happy with just the original. Its still a great game nonetheless.

So glad they made a great expansion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: May 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I really loved Rise of Nations but I wanted more from the Conquer the World Single player. Thrones and Patriots delivers on this. Now the world map is playable in cool campaigns. What's nice is that I've actually learned some interesting things about Napoleans campaign (that's what I'm playing now) and I'm sure it is the same for the other campaigns as well.

The new nations are great. They did some great art for the new civs like making native american archers, riders and cities made with tipis. It's also cool to play as the Americans and use the new capital building, it looks like the US capital. All the others are represented by cool new buildings and they allow for some cool new gameplay.

To sum it up Thrones and Patriots does what a good Ex-pack should, it really expands the scope of play and content of an already cool game. It's also getting great reviews on all the game sites, which I checked before buying. Oh yeah, be sure to run the credits, they made a cool new song for this Ex-pack, it's really funny, but I still like the RON credits song the best.

Great package, yet it would be nice if it had more

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: May 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am a big fan of Rise of the Nations! I think it combines the best things of Civilization series and the Starcraft series... making me addicted to this darn game.
The expansion pack is great! It comes with great features that make the game more interesting:
1) More units, not puny ones, these new units really get the job done!
2) New civilizations... now you can represent even more countries. Even the Lakotas are there (who in the hell are the lakotas), never heard of them before in any other strategy game.
3) Additional campaings. Sometimes after playing a while, you get bored because you do the same campaings over and over again. With the new scenarios, be prepared to spend some time on the refreshed game.
4) Architecture perks, some new wonders of the world are added. There are only three of them.
By now, you might think that I am crazy for this expansion pack, I am. But I do also realize that there are setbacks. I think that for about 30 dollars, Microsoft could have done a better job. With the thousand programmers that Microsoft company has. Adding 20 units, 3 wonders, some new campaigns seems puny to me and the worst part is that it costs the same as the game itself (even when it involved less time and effort to make the expansion pack). So that is why I give this game a 4 star. Good, but not perfect. Maybe if the expansion pack costs $10 bucks, that would be perfect.

Definately Worth The Money!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Good Lord, this is an Awesome game!!!!
If you like strategy war games this is the game for you! It's "Age of Empires II" meets "Command and Conquer".
Buy it, you will not regret it!!!

The BEST Strategy Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a great strategy game. Make governments to raise commerce or military strength. I can play this game for hours every day. It is very hard to beat. Games are usually 1:30 long. I strongly reccomend this game.

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