I wanted to like Rise of Nations, I really did. The tactics of RTS with the forward-thinking of a Civilization-type turn-based strategy game? Worth a shot! However, the demo has simply shown me that it simply has the swarming-rush of the RTS (which I hate) taking your necesssary attention away from the tedious and constant technological advancements. Unless you can really split your attention well, you're guaranteed to suffer. This, of course, is exactly the problem I had with Warcraft III, where you have to babysit your heroes at the same time you're trying to build up your initial base. Maybe this type of constant demanding multitasking appeals to some people, but not to me.