If ever a game were to catch our eyes and keep them steadily transfixed to the screen, it would have to be Rise of Legends, the next game in the Rise of Nations franchise. Big Huge Games has taken a different direction in the Rise of Nations franchise with this next game in the series. Rather than continue in the direction they were headed with Rise of Nations they have opted to add a fantasy element, which in our opinions, should really spice up the gameplay.

Those who have played the original Rise of Nations are aware that Big Huge Games did a fine job with its gameplay, but graphically it just wasn't completely up to par with other RTS games of the time. This time around Big Huge Games has pulled out all the stops. To put it bluntly, Rise of Legends is stunning. The graphics, the character models, and the lighting effects are all top notch. When we first set our eyes on this game at E3 2005 we were literally blown away by how much they had improved the visual quality of the franchise.

Of course, graphics don't mean everything. Naturally, Big Huge Games is aware that gameplay is just as equally important as eye-candy and have concentrated a lot of their energies on improving what was already amazing in Rise of Nations. On top of an improved physics engine (more on that later) they will be introducing a hero system into this game. We haven't seen too much on exactly how the heroes will work, but from what we have seen we can almost guarantee that it won't be just another stereotypical hero system.

The story in Rise of Legends will focus on the growth of technology and its introduction into a world ruled by magic. Rise of Legends will feature four different races, each having their own unique abilities. Two of the races will be technology based and the other two will be magic based. The concept of Tech vs. Magic should prove to be an interesting one, to say the least.

The physics engine has been built from the ground-up to be as realistic in combat (especially siege combat) as possible. It was amazing the way that damage was done to buildings in the E3 demo. As missiles plummeted down on one of the technological races' buildings, it fell apart piece by piece, and debris would even roll down the side of the mountain. We were definitely impressed by the physics engine, along with almost every other aspect of this game. Rise of Legends is definitely shaping up to be one of the must have games of 2006, and we cannot to get our hands on it.