Well I know finally the long awaited expansion pack to Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome is out and it looks great.  A lot of people have been asking me what the new features are.  I know most people have gone to Ogre's Guide to RoR and have seen the new units and that kind of stuff, but if you have not visited the guide you would not know.  So once and for all the new features are listed below.

The Features:

• 5 new units including:  Camel Rider, Scythe Chariot, Slinger, Armored Elephant, and Fire Galley
• 4 new technologies including:  Logistics, Shield
• 4 new civilizations including:  Carthage, Macedonian, Palmyran, and Rome
• New AVI movies
• 10 new music tracks
• and much more!

Many people are probably wondering how easy it is to install.  It is the easiest piece of software I have ever installed.   When you stick it in the machine it automatically spins up and all you have to do is click install. (this only works if autostart is enabled) Okay so I know that is how most setup programs are these days, but this one actually works.  One question I receive all the time about Rise of Rome is; does the expansion pack replace the regular Age of Empires?  The answer is no, it is installed in a different folder under Age of Empires.  Another question I receive about Rise of Rome is Rise of Rome worth the money?  Yes it is worth the money.  I mean think about it, you get all this great new stuff to use against your adversaries.

This time Ensemble has put more flash into the installation program.  While it is copying files to your computer you get to watch villagers build an archway.  The opening movie has also been updated.  The intro AVI is actually pretty spectacular.  You see the Rise of Rome logo ripping through the screen.  If you want to see a little preview of the ending just check out the animation at the bottom of my review.

Now that is what I call a review. I think you can see where I stand. I am a long time Ager and will continue to be one for quite some time.& This is the only game that has captured my attention again and again. Rise of Rome enhances the experience of Age of Empires and creates a whole new atmosphere for the Ager. This is a must have expansion pack.  Usually most games have sucky expansions, but not Age of Empires. I have to say that Ensemble Studios has done a great job and I hope they keep up the good work with Age of Kings.

Many thanks for Ogre contribution to the Rise of Rome review! ^

When you think of some of the greatest Empires there is like Egypt, Persia, Greece and Babylon you think of Age of Empires, but there is one other that rises above the rest.

The famous Empire that nearly conquered all of the empires listed above. Rise of Rome takes you back to Age of Empires but adds new features, units, weapons, maps and campaigns. Some of the new units include the camel rider, the armoured elephant and the fire galley, not really to do with that age but still great units. Include the deadly new technologies and you have a great expansion with four campaigns each detailing a different stage of Rome’s history and battles. The games original concepts are still there but the expansion has added more life and goodies into the game.

There are also some other little fix ups in the game like the missile weapons (such as stone throwers or catapults) have a more accurate shot, they hit the slow moving units and the fairly fast units but they cannot hit the fast ones. This adds a bit more realism into the game. Another extra is the queuing up units and the most notable would probably be the option in multiplayer games to allow players to exceed the population limit (that restricts players to having no more than 50 units), removing the limitations on how powerful a player can be. The population limit was one of the primary drawbacks in Age of Empires, so it is great to see that Microsoft have advanced on that term of the game.

Eager players can chew on this for a bit till Age of Empires 2 comes out.

Many thanks to Beau for his review!