Age of Mythology

Rating:
Summary: Ensemble Drops the Ball
Review: I am a veteran player of Age of Kings (AOK), the previous version of this game and looked forward to the release of Age of Mythology (AOM) with anticipation. AOK was historically educational, extremely addictive and graphically beautiful. Unfortunately--as it happens with many products that achieve near perfection--the upgrade turned out to be a disappointment. A ton of cheesy supernatural characters and special effects have been added without improving gameplay. Unlike AOK, this game will appeal mostly to those 14 and under. Here is my take in a nutshell.

PROS:

1. Amazing graphics when it comes to the depiction of water and special effects.

CONS:

1. Maps have gotten smaller.

2. Units are out of proportion and often bigger than temples and buildings.

3. No controls for unit formations or finding idle workers.

4. Fantasy characters and effects lend a cheesy look and feel to the whole package.

5. Overall poor gaming experience.

6. 3D capacity is limited to a single camera setting.

Should you buy this game? If you are very young, it may be a good bet. It has many cool monsters and stuff in it. If you are over 15 and would like a more intellectually engaging experience, there is Medieval Total War, Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin and of course, AOK. AOK is now a real bargain. I don't think I will get bored with it until Age of Saddam Hussein comes out-possibly next year???

Rating:
Summary: good game... bad online play
Review: The game itself is pretty good. The graphics are very nice and detailed and the singleplayer campaign is pretty good and lan play is good too. But i rate it 3 stars because the "Ensemble Online" network for online play is terrible! the community is very small (compared to battlenet/wc3) and you can't even join any online games at all if you are behind a shared internet connection (ICS, NAT, proxy/router) !!... even with the latest patches i still cannot join any online games. this is the case not only on my pc, but my family's pcs (all behind shared internet) and my friends computers that are also behind shared internet access. Hopefully they will fix this with a patch (although from the reading the readmes in the latest patches it seems like they are avoiding the problem).

So overall its a good solid game if you like playing alone or on the lan, otherwise expect trouble if you access the internet behind a router/nat and wish to play online.

Rating:
Summary: This is a GREAT game!
Review: This is a great game! I've just gone through the entire tutorial and wow, even IT'S great. The tutorial is more of a series of stories, based on Greek mythology, which take you through a learning process without being patronizing. Nor do you even notice that it's a tutorial ... you get so immersed in the game itself.

It is similar to the other war strategy games out there -- Civilization III and Empire Earth, but it's different -- from the mythic creatures you get to use in battle (medusa to cyclops to hydras), to the mini-movies in between that give voice to the characters you're using.

The tutorial gets progressively more challenging and more detailed -- it, in itself, can make you lose about 8 hours -- and incorporates the plot from the previous lesson you've learned. It furthers the storyline, in other words.

This game is huge. The tutorial is but one tiny part of its whole. You can then go on to play different combat scenarios; play as Greek, Egyptian or Norse fighters, and explore various worlds of mythology and its creatures.

The graphics are nice. Nothing like you'd get on Two Towers for XBOX, but with great detail and fluid motion, seamless design.

This particular collector's set comes with mythic posters, a little plastic minotaur, a dvd on how the game was made, along with a music CD and heirarchical settings map for the various cultural "teams" (Norse, Greek or Egyptian). I personally could have done without the extras, but for the keen game player, this might be the set for you.

But it also comes with a pretty neat little book about mythology.

The beauty of this game is not only the ease of play and the increasing challenges, but the fact that it's expansive ... HUGE ... you'll be playing it for a long time, as opposed to other war strategy games out there that have a finite playability.

Check it out. It's a great game.

Rating:
Summary: Impressive Graphics, smarter story-line
Review: With the Age of Mythology Ensemble studios have a winner, like the Age of Empire series before. The Age of Mythology is a logical part of the Age of XYZ series.
I have played all the scenerios of this game and here is my impression on the game:
1. Graphics Quality
This is the most impressive part of the game. I played the game at 1280x1024 - 32bit, the graphic details were gr8. The characters were wonderfully rendered, the scenery was my lively, say the ripples on the water, very nice. Graphics have come a long way from the Age of Empire, perhaps a shade better than Sierra's Empire Earth.
2. Story Line
This time Ensemble have done a smart thing. The storty line has been split into smaller scenerios. As a result, most of the scenerios can be completed in lesser time, unlike the hours it took in Age of Empires. And if you are looking for a lot of mythological characters you get all of them here, Mendusa, Cyclops, Giants ...... from Atlantis, Greece, Egyptian and Norse mythology.

Overall this a nice game. However the story line is short. It does not have Indian, Chinese or Persian mythology, perhaps it will be there in Age of Mythology 2

Happy Gaming :-)

System Config: Athlon 1.1, 512 MB SDRAM, GeForce3, Win XP.

Rating:
Summary: too bad
Review: can u image that this game would make a super computer which is bulit in intel P4 2.1G, Geforce4 Mx440, 512 viking Rambus Rimm Memory... restart a few times when I was playing it?

Rating:
Summary: somebody stop me![.]
Review: I have been playing this game for two weeks now and I can't stop playing it! Lots of fun and lots of different ways to play. Online with multiplayer or with the random map that is like a quick game. I played through the entire story and it was fun! I loved becoming the hero and the troops do what I tell them. Man this is cool....It (as a game) is not easy unless you want the easy setting because the Titan setting will spank you. You can get another chance right away if you don't make it. Anyway, the game is well worth the money and fun to no end. GET IT TODAY![.]

Rating:
Summary: A of E with Monsters . . . and Bugs
Review: The first computer game I ever purchased was the original Age of Empires, way back in 1998. It would be impossible for me to relate in words what a thrill this game was to me. I was completely immersed in it for months, and over the years bought and became equally engrossed with the three follow ups. It is with some reluctance therefore, that I must comment on this game with less than outright exuberance.

The big difference between this game and its predecessors are the units. Along with the usual archers, cavalry and infantry, you now get god powers, myth units, and heroes. These are quite fun. God powers, for example, include such devastating attacks as earthquakes, lightning storms, and even pounding your opponent with meteors. They can also be benign, however, such as those that provide rain for your farms, or those that heal wounded soldiers. You must be careful when you use them, though, because you can only use them once.

The myth units are also a blast. Unlike other units, they are created at the temple, but basically they are like other units only with lots of attack and hit points. The Greeks have Minotaurs, Cyclops, and Centaurs; the Norse have giants and trolls; the Egyptians have sphinxes and mummies; but there are many, many others, and they are all unique to their civilization. What is really fun is the way they attack their enemy. The Norse frost giant blows a cold wind at his foe, freezing it in place, then bashes it with its club. The hill giant not only swings his club, but every once in a while hauls back his foot and gives his enemy a mighty kick. The Medusa myth unit, as you would expect, turns the enemy into stone, and the graphic is superbly done. The attacked unit's movement grinds slowly to a halt, then freezes in place and turns gray. There are literally a dozen more I could describe, but suffice to say, they are ingeniously done, and a joy to watch.

But for that, though, any A of E fan will be familiar with this. You still have to have villagers collect food, gold and wood. They still build buildings, and you must create and upgrade your units with the available resources. Which is fine. I never minded this aspect of the game--in fact, enjoyed it--and really, it's an integral part of the strategy. You must protect your own supply and a good way to defeat your enemy is to attack his.

My first disappointment with the game is with the 32 scenario campaign. Oh, don't get me wrong, many of them were a lot of fun. But it doesn't have that specialness, that extra intellectual challenge that most of the earlier A of E games provided. I remember actually lying awake nights wracking my mind to find some new way to end an ever increasing string of failures. What a thrill it was to come up with a new angle, try it the next day, and discover that it worked! (And what a thrill--a truly visceral thrill--to maul and smash the enemy after suffering so many disappointments.)

But this doesn't happen here. For one thing, many of the scenarios are very short, some only twenty to thirty minutes. This is far short of the epic length that I crave. And secondly, even the longer ones often end abruptly. A good example would be one of the later scenarios, playing in the Norse aspect. You are told that you will be attacked. You have five minutes to build your town and its defenses, and you have fifteen minutes to defend it from the enemy. This was a blast, with furious, non-stop attacks from several areas. After the fifteen minutes, you are told that you must then find and destroy the enemy. Yes! This will be where it gets good, I thought. So I sent what remained of my battered forces north, simply to scout out the enemy's strength. I fully expected them to be destroyed, and instead concentrated on my area, replacing dead villagers, repairing or rebuilding smashed buildings, etc. Imagine my surprise when, a mere thirty seconds later, I was told that I was victorious! I looked up to where they had gone and sure enough, there was a huge enemy army up there, but apparently, all I had to do was get to it! Man, what a drag. What a disappointment! And there are at least a few like this.

The random map aspect also leaves a lot to be desired. For one thing, there are only two sizes, and the large one is much too small. You can scout out the entire thing in three minutes. And although I've only played it a half-dozen times, I've already begun to notice a depressing similarity in the enemy AI, which can be counted on to attack early, often, with the same units and at the same place. This was not the case in A of E, where from game to game and even within games, strategy and tactics changed and you could never know what to expect.

Lastly and most disappointing is the game's bugginess. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but I have a big, powerful computer, and I have never had problems with any Microsoft game like I am having with this one. First, I couldn't get the cursor to appear. Then the game would crash, or the screen would go blank. Now, I will say that Microsoft, through the internet, has been very helpful, but who wants to go through all of this?

Look, this is not a bad game. I have enjoyed it. It's just that I have come to expect so much more from this series. I guess I've been spoiled.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: This was a really horrible game. It doesn't compare t Age of Empires.

Rating:
Summary: This is THE game
Review: I have AOE II and the Conquerers. I really liked it, and then I got this for Christmas. I was blown away. Mythology is the perfect theme because not only can you have your normal (human) soldiers, you can have heroes (such as Ajax, Odysseus, Arkantos, Amanra, and Chiron) and myth units (such as Medusa, mummys, hydras, and Minotaurs.) That makes it more interesting, because some myth units have special powers, and they're all very good against humans. However, heroes counter myth units greatly, and humans counter heroes. That's what makes it interesting and forces you to mix your troops in order to win. AOM is a very good game with very good graphics and should be played by anyone that liked AOE II.

Rating:
Summary: Enticing, Realtime strategy gamers choice.
Review: I was one that liked the Age of Empires Series I & II. This has the same great game play with some nice add ons that realy twist the game into sheer fun. It has great balance. It has excellent graphics and a highly addictive story that keeps even the most tired gamer wanting more before admitting the need to sleep.
Highly recommended for any gaming library.