PC Gameworld
- Preview by Michael Askounes. "...it's almost a lock to say that Rise of Nations will be a must-have game for any fan of civilization-building titles."
- http://www.gwn.com/previews/gamepreview.php/id/22/

Rise of Nations
- Reviewed by John Breeden, score: 4½ out of 5.
- http://www.gameindustry.com/review/item.asp?id=141

UGO
- Previewed by Eric Eckstein. "Rise of Nations sounds hot..."
- http://ugo.com/channels/games/features/msgames02/riseofnations.asp

GameSpy
- Previewed by Dave Kosak. "The whole of human history on our lunch hour? We can't wait until lunch."
- http://archive.gamespy.com/previews/march02/riseofnations/

GamePro
- Previewed by Dunjin Master. "You can look forward to spanning the centuries without spending almost as long to play."
- http://www.gamepro.com/computer/pc/games/previews/26165.shtml

WorthPlaying
- [9.3/10]. "Lives up to the hype it created for itself."
- http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=10942

Counterglow
- Reviewed by Sean, [A-]. "Everything good from other RTS games and brought it together cohesively."
- http://www.counterglow.com/article.php?id=rise_of_nations

Rise of Nations Heaven
- Previewed by Angel Spineman. "...a very innovative and unique game with many features that cannot be found in any other [RTS] game on the market."
- http://ron.heavengames.com/library/articles/e3-2002_preview/index.shtml

The Entertainment Depot
- Previewed by Ryan Newman. "Without a doubt, this one will be huge."
- http://www.entdepot.com/pc/riseofnations/preview.php

IGN
- Previewed by Dan Adams. "Either way, at this point, it's really looking good."
- http://pc.ign.com/articles/376/376691p1.html