- Platform: IBM PC Compatible
- Release Date: November 01, 2002
- Genre: Strategy
- Style: 3D Real-Time Strategy
- Similar Games: Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (IBM PC Compatible), Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (IBM PC Compatible)
Game Description
The mountainous pyramid looms over the city as Pharaoh prepares his troops for battle. Slithery wadjets and giant scarabs shuffle restlessly behind the front lines of swords and spears. To the east the enemy waits, a great Grecian mob led by godly heroes and bolstered by deadly centaurs and powerful cyclopes. Countless warriors watch anxiously, knowing most of them will fall before the end of the day, when yet another army appears on the horizon. Like a distant thunderstorm coming fast from the north, mystical valkyries and bow-wielding trolls join a horde of huskarls to follow a great Viking warlord as he leads them towards the battlefield.Three of the world's most celebrated ancient mythologies come alive for real-time warfare in this strategy game from the developers of the acclaimed Age of Empires series. Players choose to lead the Egyptians, the Greeks, or the Norse, each quite different in terms of available units, special powers, and methods of resource collection. The Greeks offer a balance of good offensive and defensive capabilities. The Norse are aggressive, driven by conquest and expansion. Sturdy and resilient, the Egyptians defend themselves well and are difficult to overcome.
Along with the obvious differences between these three main mythologies, each culture is divided into three subsets, each of these associated with a different major god, for a total of nine playable factions. Gameplay as one of these sub-cultures is further defined by its deity, as each god offers additional influence over the game world, related to his or her mythological realm. After deciding to play as the Greek culture, for example, players can then choose the tough infantries of Zeus, the strong cavalries and unique water units of
Fantastic creatures fight tremendous battles and new legends are forged in the Age of Mythology, but fans of Ensemble's earlier work will be pleased that the game retains and builds upon many of the best features of the Age of Empires titles. Cultures advance through four ages, each leap allowing new buildings and technologies. Each of the major gods also has associated demigods, more of whom become available with each cultural advance. Also like Age of Empires, Age of Mythology is designed for balanced play throughout its many layers of complexity, with subtle diversities among the cultures and sub-cultures to allow and encourage a wide range of real-time strategy gaming styles.
Roots & Influences
Age of Mythology was created by the makers of Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. While the Empire games focus on the historical record, Mythology combines history and myth.Review: Overall
The popular Age of Empires series won legions of fans with its bewitching combination of historical background information, extensive multiplayer options, and exquisitely refined gameplay. Ensemble Studios' latest, Age of Mythology, introduces three different races -- the Norse, Greeks, and Egyptians -- and an entire collection of mythical creatures. To their credit, Ensemble presents the various gods, myths, and mythological units in great detail; players will not learn much history, but they will learn the basic mythology of the Norse, Greeks, and Egyptians. More importantly, however, the wonderfully balanced gameplay of the Age of Empires series has been expanded and improved. The three races in Age of Mythology are drastically different -- much the way the three races in Starcraft were completely different. Each race also chooses from three major and nine minor gods, which further extends the games' complexity. A complete campaign for each civilization and a random map mode offers a great deal of solo gameplay, but Age of Mythology's multiplayer options make the game special.In Age of Empires and Age of Empires II, a single strategy was viable for every civilization and map. Sure, there were some changes for a water map and some minor adjustments between playing Goths and Mayans. However, the principles and methods for economic domination seldom required major adjustments, regardless of map or civilization. Age of Mythology demands flexible tactics depending on the map, the civilization, and the opponent. Hunting is preferable, for example, on maps with plentiful herds, but on other maps early farming may be a necessity. For Ra players, early farming is especially viable because of Ra's Rain god power, while Loki players, with their especially fast Ox-Carts, may choose to hunt unusually late in the game. Learning the intricacies of each major god can take many games, and tactics must constantly change.
The "rock-paper-scissors" system of units and counter-units is much more complicated in Age of Mythology. Infantry trump Cavalry, Cavalry chop through Archers, and Archers immolate Infantry. Mythological units, however, slaughter everything. Heroes are very good at killing Myth units, but are expensive and succumb to normal units quickly. Also, each civilization has units that don't fit neatly into categories. The Norse Ulfsark, for example, do not receive a bonus against cavalry, but are produced unusually quickly and are effective when swarming enemy units. Players can also influence the units available to them by their choice of minor gods, and some nasty mythological units require special tactics. Loki players, for instance, can summon the mighty dragon Nidhogg, and Nidhogg can only be damaged by ranged weapons. Anyone confronting a Loki player would be wise to produce hordes of ranged units when his/her opponent reaches the Mythical Age.
Age of Mythology includes the Ensemble Studios Online (ESO) service; players can load Age of Mythology, log into ESO, click the Start button, and be playing a game with a similarly ranked opponent in seconds. While this certainly isn't a revolutionary service ( Blizzard's BattleNet and Microsoft's Zone network provide similar services), ESO's simplicity and user-friendly interface are a decided improvement. The ranking system allows a high percentage of evenly matched battles. Extensive options are available through the Advanced Options menu. Of course, for those who prefer to play against friends, LAN and Direct Connection multiplayer games are also available.
Age of Mythology has some problems, unfortunately. The unit path-finding AI is particularly bad. Sending units across the map can be a real adventure, and trying to micromanage units during a battle can be a disaster unless each type of unit is grouped (and even then it's not advisable if it can be avoided). The single-player difficulty settings include ridiculously easy, too easy, too hard, and ridiculously hard. However, real-time strategy fans will find it very easy to overlook and excuse these faults. Age of Mythology is a fast game that encourages early and constant fighting. Buildings are much weaker than their Age of Empires counterparts, and players will find exclusively defensive play difficult. Instead, games feature furious battles over centrally located resources, enormously powerful mythological units wreaking havoc, and players competing for the favor of ancient gods. The result is fantastic, fun, and a worthy member of the Age series.






