Back in 1999 = Maybe Today in 2009 = Leave it alone
Rise of Rome is an expansion to the first Age of Empires game, thankful all the issues addressed about the first game, has been fixed in this game. Rise of Rome adds new scenerios, units and building, however that's all it does. The graphics will start to do your head in and there still a few flaws which take away from the games enjoyment. I also admit at one point, I was totally turned off when my save files got corrupted after a 3 hour mission.
Despite the fixes, the game is alot more about combat then tactics and you'll end up controling alot more of your characters in scenerios then building your town and researching technologies. If RTS and heavy combat was the main focus of game back in 1999, you're better off playing Commandos Behind Enemy Lines.
The graphics have aged well enough, computers now a days, run on 32 bit (1 million colours), the 256 colours in Age of Empires will do your head in midway into the game, maybe that feature should be called Age of Colours from now on, keep in mind, you'll be taking part in different battles and missions, however getting a headache from watching how repititive the screen looks, because of the same colour grass or sand along with the same buildings. Commandos even beat them at that. There a few new features such as the buildings and units, however the fun doesn't really last.
That's saying alot, because I've played Thief back in 2008 and that game used 256 colours, however at least that game was engaging and I didn't have a headache while I was playing it.
The cheats and extra features does the game fun and it's worth taking a look if your curioius.
You may be lucky enough to pick this game along with Collector Edition of the game, burn yourself out until you get bored and uninstall it out of your computer, that's what I did. However if you want to play this game, maybe the players back in 1999 had a kick out of it and up to 2003 when players were playing on MSN Gaming Zone, where they can build cities and knock other players out, however that's the best thing about the game and it's still possible to set up online matches, so it worth a try.