Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War - Reception - Reviews

Reviews

Rise and Fall was received by critics with both positive and negative scores, with an average rating—according to Game Rankings—of 65% (78th PC game of 2006). PC Gamer UK called it "Pure 24-carat gaming gold!" Games Radar said "This RTS has its ups and downs...", while Games Radar UK said "The RTS Rubicon has been crossed." GameSpot remarked that "this game doesn't quite know what it wants to be."; IGN stated that "...there's very little reason to recommend this title to fans of the strategy or action genres."

The graphics were examined by the reviewers. Games Radar admired them, having said "Rise & Fall is about pretty units killing each other in a beautifully drawn environment..." GameSpy reported that they "are way behind the curve"; GameSpot agreed, saying: "Buildings and units seem boxy and chunky, suffering from a low number of polygons, while the textures themselves look grainy."

The sound in the game fared well in the reviews. GameSpot said of the music "The game sounds better, at least, thanks to some appropriately pompous Gladiator-style music." IGN reported that "Music is decent, and voice-overs are passable, but sound effects need some serious help."

The campaign was also criticized, and was said to have "poorly rendered, incomprehensible cutscenes filled with bad dialogue and characters that seemed to swagger like they were walking down Main Street in a Western-movie gunfight" by GameSpy; IGN agreed, reporting that "the cutscenes are also presented as pre-rendered engine movies compressed to questionable quality." GameSpot said that the hero-only levels required "...a vast amount of patience, the reflexes of a teenager, and a good deal of luck," and that the campaigns are "bound to turn off strategy fans". IGN complained that "these levels take a long damn time to load..."

Naval warfare was thoroughly reviewed as well. GameSpy enjoyed it, saying "The game also puts a new spin on naval combat...when everything goes just right with ship movement...this is a blast." On the other hand, IGN thought it was not well done, and wrote that "One of the features that looked fairly tasty was naval combat and some aspects of it are nice...Unfortunately it's another case of execution not coming through. Pro-G agreed, and did not enjoy the naval side of the game at all, complaining that "...it's often near impossible to dock on dry land.", and that "numerous boats in your fleet...complicate things further, with the path finding AI seemingly unable to navigate around other boats in anything but huge stretches of open water."

Hero mode was also praised by some, and depreciated by others. Games Radar thought, "...it’s cool to pick off enemy soldiers in first person...", while Pro-G's impression was that "Hero mode is a good idea that's gone badly wrong." IGN said that "the lack of personality, special combat moves, and the fun factor that most action games focus on really makes hero mode dull." GameSpot was more forgiving; they thought that "In small doses, hero command is a nice feature that lets you vent some steam by hacking and slashing mindlessly. But when it's the basis of an entire level it can be maddening..." GameSpy had mixed opinions; they began saying that "the Hero...is a genuinely fun part of the game as well as a key element of the player's strategy.", but then shifted to a more negative view: "Once players get past the visceral thrill of being able to buzzsaw through enemy armies...they'll realize that such moments are pretty few and far between." Finally, they mentioned that "the hero controls are a bit swimmy, and the game's collision detection in third-person mode is kind of wonky."

Overall, the opinions of reviewers seem to have been summed up by Pro-G: "One day someone is going to combine the RTS with another genre and pull it off really well; Rise & Fall isn't that game. The basic RTS elements are sound, but the hero mode verges on awful, boat control is a nightmare, and the campaigns are dull... There are so many other games out there that offer a better all-round RTS experience, there's really no reason to bother with Midway's effort. Some praise must be given for trying something a little different, but Rise & Fall is another idea that falls a long way short of its potential."