It's basically your standard "Age of" style RTS, dumbed down and mixed with Dynasty Warriors Lite.
There are a few new twists here and there but its nowhere near enough to dispel the notion that you've probably already played this game at least three times already; and done better to boot. Streamlining the resource gathering wasn't a bad idea but the units are sparse and largely flavorless and really give an impression of a game designed well before many of its more innovative peers.
It doesn't help that the AI seems a little... confused at times. Units have a tendency to either not respond to commands at all or wander off on errands of their own without your intervention. Feels clunky, not a good thing.
Now, the "Hero Mode" idea is actually something I find rather interesting but even if the rest of the game were solid enough to be carried by that alone, it just doesn't happen here. If you have played Dynasty Warriors and faulted that game for its mindless and repetitive combat even this manages to do worse.
There are no combos to speak of and you are able to execute a few special abilities, two different melee attacks or switch to a bow and pluck away at things from afar. The overall interface isn't horrible and actually controls somewhat well but the 3rd person combat is entirely shallow and without any sort of satisfying engagement factor what so ever.
Rise and Fall is an average game made slightly more mediocre and decked with an interesting concept which was, unfortunately, dropped squarely on its face in execution; though it is an idea I would LOVE to see properly fleshed out and explored. I am already visualizing the concept on something like a Warhammer 40k-themed RTS....
This game is now available as a free download if you want to check it out but the novelty of "Hero Mode" lasts all of about 5 minutes so unless you are an -avid- fan of this style of RTS you may want to pass--you actually might want to anyhow but... hey, its free, right?