Genghis Khan and his rampaging Mongol hordes now have the ability to blitzkrieg across the countryside in main battle tanks and stealth bombers in Rise of Nations.
The single-player conquer-the-world campaign is like a combination of the old Risk board game, Civilization and Age of Empires. You choose from a selection of civilizations to rule (Greek, Nubian, Mongols, Inca and Japanese are among the choices). Then the computer gives you part of the world map to call your own and divvies up the rest among your computerized opponents.
During the conquer-the-world campaign, you take turns collecting tribute money for defense funding, attacking your enemies in the hopes of expanding your empire or defending your turf against outside aggressors. The game evolves from the Classical Age to age of Future Technologies.
I toyed with the Mongols, who eventually acquired nuclear capabilities. Nuclear weapons in Rise of Nations are powerful and effective at devastating the enemy, but each detonation ticks off a countdown to Armageddon.
The game also comes with a multiplayer mode, where you can challenge real people on other computers to compete for world domination.
As with Civilization, you can research new technologies and add wonders of the world to enhance your dominion.
Rise of Nations effectively combines elements from different inspirational sources to create an addictive strategy gaming experience.
The Sims Superstar expansion pack
System: Windows
Company: Maxis
Price: $30
A star is bored.
No matter what I do, I just can't make myself feel that enthusiastic about the latest expansion pack for the Sims. To be fair, I've never cared much for the original Sims game. For me, it's too much like watching goldfish swim in a bowl and tapping occasionally on the glass to make them swim in a different direction.
However, my predilections aside, the Sims is one of the top-selling computer games of all time, and it's hard to argue with success.
For what it is, Superstar is all right. It's not super, by any means. This add-on pack lets you import previous Sims, or create a new one, and drop them into the life and times of a Tinseltown up-and-comer.
You're still responsible for keeping your Sims fed, housed and socially active. You still have to make sure they go to the bathroom lest they soil themselves in public. But now there's the added challenge of building a career as a singer, actor or model.
Your Sim will get an agent, perform in karaoke bars (as long as your Sim isn't feeling too depressed and moody to get on stage), stage publicity stunts to get his picture in the newspaper and look for his big break into stardom.
That's it. Sounds simple, right? It takes forever, or seems like it. First, you've got to practice in front of the mirror at home to build your Sim's charisma. Then you've got to juggle all those personal wants and needs to keep the Sim's spirits high. When those planets align, the studio will send a car to pick you up and take your Sim into town, where he can rub elbows with the rich and famous or take his chance on stage and see where it leads him.
But I think I really hit rock bottom with this game when I found myself watching my Sim playing games on his computer. I couldn't clearly see the game he played, but it might be yet another Sims expansion pack, where he's watching a Sim playing a computer game of a Sim playing a computer game - like that infinite Charles Foster Kane shot from Citizen Kane.
If you're a diehard Sims fan, you'll probably get Superstar no matter what I say. If you haven't played the series yet, Superstar isn't a good reason to start.
