Still, the upgrade from 2D to 3D is a welcome improvement. Graphics: Age of Mythology utilizes a 3D engine well, but real-time strategy games are not about graphics. The result is fantastic, fun, and a worthy member of the Age series. Instead, games feature furious battles over centrally located resources, enormously powerful mythological units wreaking havoc, and players competing for the favor of ancient gods. Buildings are much weaker than their Age of Empires counterparts, and players will find exclusively defensive play difficult. Age of Mythology is a fast game that encourages early and constant fighting. However, real-time strategy fans will find it very easy to overlook and excuse these faults. The single-player difficulty settings include ridiculously easy, too easy, too hard, and ridiculously hard.
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 unit path-finding AI is particularly bad. Of course, for those who prefer to play against friends, LAN and Direct Connection multiplayer games are also available.Īge of Mythology has some problems, unfortunately. Extensive options are available through the Advanced Options menu. The ranking system allows a high percentage of evenly matched battles. 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. Anyone confronting a Loki player would be wise to produce hordes of ranged units when his/her opponent reaches the Mythical Age.Īge 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. Loki players, for instance, can summon the mighty dragon Nidhogg, and Nidhogg can only be damaged by ranged weapons. Players can also influence the units available to them by their choice of minor gods, and some nasty mythological units require special tactics. The Norse Ulfsark, for example, do not receive a bonus against cavalry, but are produced unusually quickly and are effective when swarming enemy units. Also, each civilization has units that don't fit neatly into categories. Heroes are very good at killing Myth units, but are expensive and succumb to normal units quickly. Mythological units, however, slaughter everything. Infantry trump Cavalry, Cavalry chop through Archers, and Archers immolate Infantry. The "rock-paper-scissors" system of units and counter-units is much more complicated in Age of Mythology.
Learning the intricacies of each major god can take many games, and tactics must constantly change. 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. Hunting is preferable, for example, on maps with plentiful herds, but on other maps early farming may be a necessity. Age of Mythology demands flexible tactics depending on the map, the civilization, and the opponent. However, the principles and methods for economic domination seldom required major adjustments, regardless of map or civilization. Sure, there were some changes for a water map and some minor adjustments between playing Goths and Mayans. In Age of Empires and Age of Empires II, a single strategy was viable for every civilization and map. 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. Each race also chooses from three major and nine minor gods, which further extends the games' complexity. The three races in Age of Mythology are drastically different - much the way the three races in Starcraft were completely different.
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More importantly, however, the wonderfully balanced gameplay of the Age of Empires series has been expanded and improved. 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.
Ensemble Studios' latest, Age of Mythology, introduces three different races - the Norse, Greeks, and Egyptians - and an entire collection of mythical creatures. 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.