Excellent. Well executed, and with good timing. While everybody's busy bragging at E3, these guys give us action.
The Good : First of all, on the good side of things, the game has so many things. Open ended strategy. While there are not as much of an active unit counter system, like in Rise of Nations and Age of Mythology, or Age of Empire, there is actually multiple ways to counter one set of units. Generally, infantry is the all around unit, that actually seems to be of some use in this game. The balance between civilizations is also pretty good for a just released game, and the patches will definately fix this. The lore is incredible, since two of the factions pump directly from some of the world's greatest brains. Leonardo DaVinci's twisted vision of future, and the quasi-religious text of the Thousand and One Nights, going from Genies to living Sand Storms. The Cuotl origin from an "urban legend" you could say, that hints that human beings might have been helped at some point in history, by extra terrestial forces. The lore of the game, and the subtle details of it, are wonderful. As an exemple, going through the Vinci campaign, you might see pieces of the Cuotl mothership in the background. The Vinci and Alin campaign are also very good, putting you up against a modified version of your own forces. And lastly, but not least ( There is so much more, just buy the game!) the depth of the strategy, full with good community and recorded game for analysis of strategies. Two thumbs up. Side note, many have mentionned the lack of different nations like in Rise of Nations. Wrong, Rise of Nations had 3 or 4 skin models, and the rest was but statistic. Although good in intention, the extensive care and attention brought to each civilization in Rise of Legends is astounding.
The bad : Bugginess. Dear god, I have rarely had this many problems with a game's multiplayer. All around infact. The first install around the game froze constantly, the second time around wouldn't auto-download the patch.
The Ugly : Two words. Cuotl Campaign. And plot holes in the campaign. It's good at first, but the more you progress, the more plot holes seem to be present. The conquer the world campaign is more like a not-so-linear campaign. The Cuotl campaign on its side, is 95 % skirmish games, and 5 % scenarios, compared to other campaigns, who were the other way around. The sound. The lack of good music. I would have thought of something more mystical. Although the music can be good at alot of points, at others it just feels out of place with this one specific track that sounds like it came from some 80' show.
Resumed : Typical RTS, in the Rise of Nations flavour, with fantasy, technology and urban legends. I couldn't ask for better. Although I am a little disappointed hearing rumors that there was supposed to be a 4th nation ( Who's skins you can still see in game. See Berserkers and such ), these 3 nations are just so awesome. Yet, the game is bogged down by crappy campaign and the bugginess, that will definately be fixed in patches.
Thanks for this great game, I enjoyed every second of it so far.