Rise of Legends is more Command and Conquer and less Rise of Nations
Unlike RoN there isn't much nation building. It's pretty straight forward gather resources, gold and create military units. The technology advancement reminds me of Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War only a little deeper.
You don't make settlers in this game (Mr. Reynolds left his Civilization roots behind in RoN). Instead you have to either buy, conquer or trade to gain control of other towns.
The graphics and sound are superb. Animations are excellent from the littlest musketeer up to the King Leviathan which is huge.
If you hated C&C and Warhammer: Dawn of War then you will want to get the demo first. I didn't care for C&C much, but loved the Civ series and Warhammer: DoW.
Big Huge Games should have dropped Rise of Nations name and just called it Rise of Legends. We all get it. Calling it RoN:RoL makes it sound like a sequel which it isn't. They should just stick with the "Rise of" naming scheme and go on. That way people don't think of it as a sequel as much as a new game.