exQUIZitely 🕹️@exQUIZitely
Rise of Nations (Big Huge Games, 2003) was another one of those great RTS games that - maybe - got a little lost in the shuffle of the juggernauts of that era. It was designed by Brian Reynolds, who was formerly with MicroProse and Firaxis, creating Civilization II and Alpha Centauri.
Rise of Nations featured over 100 unique units, a huge selection of buildings and wonders (that greatly affected your nation), excellent graphics (zoom in/out), and a campaign mode and multiplayer option, received extremely positive reviews (often in the high 90s range) and was a commercial success.
If you were a fan of Age of Empires, Empire Earth and other RTS games of that kind, Rise of Nations was probably also very high on your list. I remember many, many epic LAN weekends in 3v3 matches... good times!