'All hope for the new RON is gone,' wails one unhappy chappy, while others toss around words like disgrace' and horrible' with typical Internet fanboy abandon.

Moaner LisaĪs I write this, however, details of Big Huge Games' change of focus have only been available to the public for a matter of days, and already a vocal minority of Rise Of Nations devotees has whipped itself into bitching overdrive on fansite message boards. So it's not like it's an unprecedented step. In the past, we've seen Ensemble Studios take the ever popular Age Of Empires series in a similar direction, following up the historical Age of Empires II with the fantastical Age of Mythology. To call it a sequel, however, wouldn't be entirely accurate, because developer Big Huge Games is sending Legends in a slightly different direction, keeping the core gameplay much the same but ditching the real-world historical setting in favour of a fantasy realm called Aio.

As You might be able to work out from its full title (you clever bunch, you), Rise Of Legends is the new Rise Of Nations game.