Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots is the expansion pack to the historical real-time strategy game Rise of Nations (review) from Big Huge Games. Thrones and Patriots doesn't differ much from its parent in terms of gameplay, with Big Huge Games using the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory for expansion packs. They just threw a whole bunch of new goodies into the game, including new civilizations, new campaigns, and some new gameplay mechanics. Let's see what things Big Huge Games added into the expansion.

First off, there are six new nations: Americans, Dutch, Indians, Persians, and two Native American nations - the Iroquois and the Lakota. But so far, the biggest difference is the ability to choose a government type. As a nation develops civic technology government choices are provided that further customize the powers of a nation. As the game progresses you can choose between six different government types. Your choices are: Despotism, Socialism, Capitalism, Monarchy, Republic, and Democracy. Each of these confers its own abilities when they are attained. You can choose either a military-focused government, like the despotic state, or an economically-focused government, like the republic. Your government gives your nation military and non-military bonuses, and each government type allows you to create unique general or Patriot that provides additional abilities above those of a regular general. For example the Senator (the Republic's patriot) increases the armor of all buildings, increases build speed, and heals troops within his radius.

There are four brand new single player campaigns, including The Cold War, Conquest of the New World (America), Rise and Fall of Alexander the Great, and Napoleon's quest to dominate Europe. Each of these campaigns will take you throughout history so you can feel what it is like to live back then, and see if you can try to turn the tide of history. For instance, The Cold War campaign, which in my opinion is the best campaign in the game, lets you re-create the infamous game of nuclear brinksmanship from either the Soviet or American point of view. Also added are three new Wonders - The Hanging Gardens, the Forbidden City, and the Red Fortress (bonuses to nearby military units and their recovery rate) and some new units.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this Rise of Nations expansion. There's no doubt the Thrones and Patriots will likely please fans of the original game with its boatload of new content and the "government" gameplay feature. Of course, if you did not enjoy the original game, Thrones and Patriots gives you little reason to take another look.

related links: demo (244MB)

System requirements: Intel Pentium or AMD 500MHz (1GHz recommended), 128MB RAM (256MB recommended), 16MB (32MB recommended) video card.