GameSpot: We got a chance to play a level of the game and learned more details. One is that neutrals will play a large role in the individual battles. For example, when you start a level, your territory will be surrounded by neutral territories, and you can attempt to conquer them by force, buy them outright for an expensive sum, or assimilate them peacefully. For example, to generate revenue, you must create caravans that travel back and forth on trade routes. If you trade with a neutral site, you'll discover that the purchasing price will slowly decrease over time. You can then purchase the neutral for a lower cost--or if you trade for a longer period, they'll just voluntarily switch over to your side. While this takes longer, the benefit is that you'll also inherit their standing military, which is a boost for your troops. So there's very much a cost/benefit thing going with this decision. If you try and conquer them early, you'll require military resources, and you won't get any in return. But, again, if you go for the peaceful assimilation, it'll take longer.

GameSpy: The first thing I noted when I fired up the game is that Big Huge Games seems completely serious about making the game's races distinct from one another. Everything in the game, from the artwork to strategic feel of the particular races, is built on the basic philosophy and mindset of that race. The Vinci, the first race I tried, are not just technologists, but like their Renaissance inspiration, they're also artists and craftsmen. That means that the entire philosophy of the Vinci is predicated on the creation of things that will stand the test of time (or, in the case of their military, a brutal pounding from their opponents.) Therefore, every element of the player's strategy needs to be predicated on the concept of building large, tough, expensive things

IGN: The most obvious of differences is the visual style of course. The Vinci have Leonardo DiVinci inspired designs for steampunk kinds of machines. Clockwork men, flopping and floating aircraft, whirling cogs, and pumping pistons are all part of the Vinci faction, giving it a very cool look and feel that's easy to appreciate as something different in the world of RTS. The Alim take a little more traditional magic approach, but with a very Arabic feel. They're a desert race with efreets, glass dragons, minarets, golems, and delicately designed architecture. Everything has an air of magic surrounding it on the Alim side including the cities, which float on a tempest of magic and swirling boulders.