most underrated RTS of the year
Rise and Fall have a very impressive naval combat system. Instead of your troops disappear inside a ship, you could see them move on top of the deck. If you had archers on your ship, those archers could still shoot enemy ships, buildings, and troops on shore from the deck. You are also capable of taking over an enemy's ship and use it for yourself.
The AI in the game is very challanging for those who are looking for challange. There are ten challanging setting for the AI in Rise and Fall. You could make it very easy and kill them within 20 minutes, or you could make it harder taking you two hours or more to finish off the AI. The AI can be nearly impossible on even higher settings. Depending on your level of challange, this game would be great for you.
Rise and Fall also have a small mix of RPG within this RTS. You are allowed one hero in this game. By pushing one button you could zoom into third person view and start slashing or shooing away at enemy troops. You are only allowed to kill so many and you will zoom back out into RTS mode.
The biggest fault for this game is the subpar graphics. First looking at Rise and Fall, you could assume this game was made four years ago. It was actually released two months. Stainless Steel seem to have recycled the same graphic engine from Empire Earth and used it for Rise and Fall. This might have been ok two years ago, but with games like Age of Empires III using superior graphics, it was a misstep for Stainless Steel to use older graphics.
The game does experience lag in some really large battles. It would be recommanded for a player who is wanting to see a battle up to 400 without any lag to upgrade more ram. Otherwise expect to see the FPS drop in the larger battle that can happen if you are wanting to have a big population.
Conclusion, I would recommand this game to someone who is looking for a challange. If you dont care about the graphics and only care about the enjoyment of what the game have to offer, then you could really have hours of fun with Rise and Fall.