Rise of Legends demo now available

Rise of Nations, released in 2003, allowed gamers to build a civilization based on real history, it was a critical success, and it won GameSpot's best PC game that year. So what does lead designer Brian Reynolds do with the sequel? He takes it to a whole new world, literally.

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends abandons its predecessor's history book content in favor of a fantasy world. Instead of Shermans and jeeps, players will duke it out with dragons and genies, among others. The game also incorporates many sci-fi elements, including so-called "steampunk" technology.

The real-time strategy game may not be in stores until May 9, but GameSpot readers can now see how the new fantasy-laden Rise of Nations sequel fares. The game's single-player demo is now available for download from GameSpot.

The demo features campaign and skirmish modes, and hovwers around 600MB in size. For more information, check out the official promotional page or peruse GameSpot's previous coverage.

Rise of Nations is rated T for Teen and will retail for $49.99.