Age of Mythology

November 18, 2002

Platform: Windows PC
Developer: Ensemble
Publisher: Microsoft
Written by: BabyMo

Gameplay: [10] Graphics: [9] Audio: [9] Replay: [9] Overall: [9.3]

I have been a big fan of Ensemble Studios since the release of Age of Empires 2 (AoE2). When I found out that they were producing an "Age" game based on the mythology of various civilizations, I knew that this was a game I had to own. I don't know how long I've been waiting for it, but the long wait was worth it because I'm absolutely loving the game. Even if you don't have much of an interest in mythology, this game is still worth getting.

The Setup
Age of Mythology (hereafter AoM) is a real time strategy game. This means that you are working at the same time as your opponents- the opposite of this is turn based in which you must accomplish everything you can in one turn. So, while you are churning out soldiers to launch a sneaky assault, your opponent can be launching his own attack but since the game takes place in real time, you can waste no time setting off a meteor attack on your opponent's town center.

AoM is made up of three civilizations: the Greeks, the Norse and the Egyptians. This is a lot lower than the number of civilizations in AoE2, but AoM has something that AoE2 does not: myth units. Each civilization has its own unique myth units and at the beginning of a game, you must choose a major deity to worship. As you progress through the technological levels of the game, you must select a minor deity to worship at each technological juncture. The deity you choose will affect what sort of myth units you get and what sort of technological advancements and spells you will receive. The spells really improve gameplay. These spells are one-time-only and they have a variety of purposes: depending on who you worship, you can have a spell to restore health, a spell to turn the skin of your soldiers to brass (and increase their defense) and my personal favorite, the meteor shower that sends soldiers flying across the battlefield and reduces citadels to mere rubble.

You are the leader of your civilization and it is up to you to defeat your enemies so a big part of the game is building an effective army and deciding the best strategy and adapting your strategy depending on what bonuses the deity you are worshipping offers. However, building an army costs resources and you are also responsible for the upkeep of your civilization: you must instruct your villagers to collect gold, food and wood. You no longer have to collect stone (like you did in AoE2) but you now have to collect faith, which builds mythical units. Harvesting faith is easier than it might sound and each civilization has their own way of collecting faith; the Greeks pray at temples, the Egyptians build monuments (which become bigger and bigger as the game progresses), and the Norse engage in battle. You can also build specific buildings that make the harvesting of resources even easier. By building a mining camp, for example, your villagers will deposit their gold there instead of schlepping back to the town center. Since productivity is key here, you will really suffer if you don't build mining camps and lumber camps.

As for military buildings, the names of buildings vary by civilization, but you will be able to build infantry, archers and cavalry as well as civilization-specific units like chariot archers. You can upgrade your soldiers and you can build an armory and improve both offensive and defensive characteristics. AoM also introduces heroes, who are super-charged characters who also tend to be immortal and will come back to life after they are killed.

AoM offers fewer "high-tech" civilization advances than AoE2, and I like this. Some civilizations in AoE2 were incapable of learning to use gunpowder and so playing against a civilization with gunpowder when you had none was not that much fun, and having gunpowder when others did not was still not fun because they offered little or no challenge. Everything starts out on a level playing field and depends less on the civilization you choose and more on your playing skill and your ability to discern which deity will give your civilization the biggest advantage at any given time.

I did have a problem with the tutorial, though. It pretty much taught you to walk and attack, which are very basic skills that anyone who has played any real time strategy game ever would be able to figure out. They don't teach you about resource collecting or deity selecting or much of anything. I know that Ensemble Studios is capable of creating a top-notch tutorial, so what went wrong?

GamePlay
In AoE2, the campaigns were more of a side dish in which you could reenact famous battles throughout history. I did not think much of these campaigns although I did try to reenact the Battle of Hastings (Norman Conquest of England, 1066) before taking a English Medieval History exam. Needless to say, it did not help. Granted, AoE2 is not intended to be edutainment but I did not really get into the campaigns even when I was not studying. I just didn't find them nearly as exciting as the single player games.

This has all changed in AoM. Now, the single player campaign is the "meat" of the game. You follow Arkantos, a resident of Atlantis, all around the world (and underworld). Like most campaigns, you have to complete the current mission before you can progress to the next mission but you can go back and re-play old favorites. I liked that the campaign offered exposure to all the civilizations and even offered tutorials when you entered a new phase of the campaign. I also liked that the goals of the missions were varied: you will build, sneak, attack and blow up stuff as you and Arkantos take a world tour.

Single player mode (in which you take on the computer) has returned and you can also play online in against other people. You can choose the end goal of your game which gives a nice change of pace and keeps gameplay from becoming repetitive. I must admit that I don't enjoy single player mode nearly as much as the campaign.

Choosing a Deity
I wanted to devote a section of this review to choosing a deity. As I have mentioned before, each game involves selecting both major and minor deities. This really lets the player focus on what s/he enjoys working with- for example, if you are playing as the Greeks, selecting Zeus focuses on infantry and heroes but selecting Poseidon focuses on cavalry and Hades focuses on archers and buildings. Egyptian major deities are Ra, Isis and Set and the Norse offer Odin, Thor and Loki. Since one's stranglehold on the competition can change without a moment's notice, choosing minor deities that will play to your advantages will determine whether or not you defeat your enemies or find yourself defeated.

Control
Since this is a PC game, you will be controlling the action with the mouse and keyboard. Veterans of the AoE games will be able to very quickly adapt to AoM's control scheme, as most of the interface is very similar. Wall-building, which was a major time burglar in the AoE games, is now almost a pleasant task. Instead of dragging the length of the wall from end to end, you now simply click on the endpoints and the wall foundation is set. There are lots of other minor improvements to the interface like this that make the game easier to play, but most of the control is very similar to earlier games in the series.

Graphics
I am very impressed with the graphics, which are fully rendered in 3D as opposed to AoE2's 2D graphics. I admit that they are a little blocky, but considering how much is going on at any given time, things look quite attractive. Imagine a pastoral landscape with a quaint cobble road winding through it. Wild animals run freely though the gaming environment. If you are fortunate enough to be near an ocean, you will see the waves lapping peacefully up against the shore. It is almost upsetting to destroy this lovely landscape with a meteor strike, which is quite a sight to see. In fact, battles are a lot more fun because of the oversized myth units and battle spell effects, like lightning strikes and the aforementioned meteor storm. I don't care if the myth unit is an Egyptian scarab, a Greek hydra (which looks like a dinosaur until it starts growing extra heads after eating some enemy soldiers) or a Norse troll, myth units definitely give the game a new twist, both graphically and in terms of gameplay.

Sound and Music
AoM is sort of like a movie; during my siege of Troy (as part of the campaign), the music would swell dramatically while I was being attacked. This contributed to the "authenticity" of the experience (because having background music while you fight epic battles is very authentic). When not engaged in battle, the music provides a pleasant backdrop to the action, while managing to not overpower the ambiance. As for voice acting, allegedly, the villagers actually talk in their respective ancient tongues, although not speaking ancient Greek, Egyptian, or Norse myself, I can neither confirm nor deny this particular fact. However, the voice acting in the cinematic scenes is, I am happy to report, entirely in English, and is extremely believable, though a bit wooden at times.

Appropriateness for Children
AoM is rated T (for Teen) for blood and violence. Personally, I didn't see any blood; if there is any actual bloodshed, it is probably so small on the screen that you would not see it unless you were actively looking for it. While there is killing in the game (you do engage in warfare, after all), the violence isn't particularly graphic. Chances are, if you are buying this solely for your child, and your child is old enough to not be immediately bored by the game, then s/he is likely mature enough for the amount of violence found within AoM. Of course, that decision is up to the individual family as to whether the game is appropriate for their household.

Summary
This game is an ideal holiday gift for a classics major (who can finally apply all the skills they worked so hard to acquire in college), or any fan of the real-time strategy genre.

If you've played out Age of Empires 2 and/or Warcraft 3, and you are looking for something new to pique your interest, then you should definitely look into Age of Mythology. AoM takes what makes both the Age of Empires series and the Warcraft series great, and blends it all together into a tasty frappe, and the end result is simply divine.

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-search66