Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy unless you enjoy frustration.
Review: I really have enjoyed age of empires, but this game is one big frustration. I have not been able to actually play the game. It always stops responding after two or three minutes into any part of the game. Microsoft's customer service has been of no use yet. Their general suggestions is to upgrade everything. When I get a game I don't want to take all day to download updates so it will work on my computer. My computer passes the requirements posted on the side of the box. Maybe they think everybody buys a new computer every month or so. I have been reading on newsgroups and forums and there are many buyers with similar problems.
It might be a fun game if I every get it to run. Save your money until Microsoft comes up with a new version or a patch that will fix it numerous problems.
Rating: 
Summary: A True RTS Classic
Review: The original Age of Empires and its sequel Age of Kings are often considered amongst the greatest RTS' ever made, and the new addition to the "Age of" series is a worthy claimant to the name. It retains its predecessors' great gameplay while adding new twists to the gameplay.
The first thing you notice when booting up the game is the great new 3D graphics. Ensemble Studios has done an excellent job here, and AOM is the first of the series that can be called truly stunning looking. Flaming arrows cut impressive paths in the sky, finding their mark on beautifully detailed units and buildings. Intracitely detailed boats land, oars pumping and sails waving, in the frothy surf to discharge a phalanx of hoplites. Forests burn and buildings fall into dust; battles rage on for control of ht emap and the game.
A cursory glance at a battle will reveal the second major innovation in the game system, as towering Colossi, powerful Mountain Giants, fearsome Fenris Wolves, and feline Sphinxes battle it out amongst the human soldiers. These creatures are constructed with a new resource (replacing stone) called "Favor." These creatures from Greek, Norse and Egyptian mythology are much more powerful than their human counterparts, as the "myth units" are able to toss soldiers like rag dolls, turn them to stone, or even convert them into undead. They too have their match in the great Heroes, able to slay the myth units with brutal effiecency.
Each one of the three major cultures has its own heroes as well as a distinct playstyle. The Greeks are the conventional culture, and the one most familiar to those who have played Age games past. Their units are strong but expensive, they gain favor by praying at the Temple, and they only can have four very powerful heroes at a time. The Egyptians have weak, cheap units that can be produced quickly. Their buildings do not cost wood, like the other cultures', instead they only cost gold or are even free. To balance this out, their buildings take much longer to produce and their peon unit is less efficient. They can counteract the ineffiencywith their powerful Pharaoh unit though. The Pharaoh dramatically increases the efficency of anything is is taked on. Buildings build and reaserch faster, and dropsites gather resources faster and more efficently. The Pharaoh also functions as a hero unit. They gain favor by building great Monuments. The Norse are the strangest culture of them all, but also possibly the most powerful. Their units are neither particularily strong nor cheap. Norse Infantry can build buildings, allowing Norse bases to pop up all over. Their villagers do not drop off rsources at buildings, instead they do at mobile Ox Carts. Their Heroes are built at the Longouse like regular units, and they gain favor in battle.
There is another level of strategic depth to the game granted bythe coice of Gods. Before a game starts and every time you advance an Age, you choose a God to worship. Each God brings its own myth unit(s), special technologies or bonuses, and most importantly a God Power. God Powers can be only used once and do such things as burn forests, create magical healing springs, give your units flaming weapons, create undead armies, turn enemies to pigs, destroy towns with meteors or earthquakes, or even transform all your peons into mighty warriors. These God Poers add another strategic layer to the game.
Rating:
Summary: Academic Suicide.
Review: This game is so addicting, you might as well crush the CD into a fine powder and roll up a dollar bill. I'm serious. Forget your job, your academics, or even the people in your life who are important to you, because after you start to play this game you will no longer have time for them. I am a huge fan of the other AOE games, and this one does not disappoint. I have read a lot of reviews saying that this game was not up to par with the others in the series. However, there is no room for interpretation or opinion on this one. They are simply wrong. The opening mini-story graphics sequence alone is worth the price of the game. It kind of reminds you of a battle scene in Lord of the Rings. Anyway, to say graphics throughout the game are drastically improved is an understatement. I was actually yelling for the little villagers to get out of the way because I thought they were real people. You too, will enjoy creating a cyclops and watching him grab an enemy soldier by the ankle, swing him around like a lariat, and fling (actually, hurl) him at other soldiers. The game's detail is exquisite both graphically and intellectually. Is your 50-ft. collosus hurt? Eat a tree or some gold. That will help him regain some health. Yes, you read that correctly, I said "eat". Also, when advancing through the ages, you must choose which god to worship, and each has different special powers and advantages. The best part about this game is that the mythological creatures and gods are included in ADDITION to, NOT INSTEAD of the other soldiers, cavalry, etc. Ensemble Studios deserves to get rich off of this one. The game is different enough to be fun and interesting, but similar enough to keep old fans happy. Don't try it, just buy it. Oh, and here's a "PS" for people who are bashing the game saying it's too much "fantasy" - History is history, and there's only so much to go around...AOE covers pretty much every part of it before the use of guns. Mythology was a great idea. I doubt you could come up with something better or more imaginative.
Rating:
Summary: Whats not to love?!
Review: This game rules!I mean, who doesn't want to see a massive golden soldier (aka colossus a greek myth unit) crushing buildings with his rather large hands until a fiery bird swoops and and starts attacking him(egyptian pheonix). This is but a small example about this lets take it up a little. Your opponent is sending in an army 10 times the size of yours, your doomed, unless you use the big kahuna, one of your god powers meteor shower! Almost the entire bulk of your enemies army is crushed under massive burning rocks.very cool.It is also good cause you can learn alot from this game, like greek, norse, and egyptian gods. Plus about ancient battles like the trojan war, and real myths like .ones about the hydra and cyclops, or about other cultures beliefs like the norse ragnarok. You can build magnificent cities and train grand armies. Each civilization has its strengths and weaknesses + their own heroes, mortal units,(basic infantry like archer spearmen and ooo so much more!) and last but not least their own choosable Myth Units. The stars of the game are MU's (Myth units)have special abilities and powers such as eating trees to heal itself (colossus unit) or growing heads after defeating an enemy (hydra unit). I would recommend this game to anyone from 8 to 91!!
Rating:
Summary: Buyer beware--game not compatible with many computers
Review: Like other reviewers, I've been disappointed by recent Microsoft Game releases. AOM is the last straw. There are literally hundreds of video adapters that AOM does not support. My home PC is right out of the box and won't run AOM. Think twice before buying this game.
Rating: 
Summary: worth the money
Review: I am a huge AoE and AoK fan, so learning to play the game took almost no time since the controls are very similar. The graphics and cinematics and aweseome. Although there are only three playable races (the egyptians, the greek and the norse) they are all so different that it makes it really fun to learn how to play all of them. The single player campaign is, I believe, the best part of the game. The story is really interesting, and intertwines many different stories from ancient mythology, a fact that a world history buff like me appreciates. Random map and mulitplayer games are nothing really new...its just like slipping on the old AoE shoe. Overall, this game is a great RTS and worthy of being added to any strategy gamers collection.
Rating:
Summary: Great game, but......
Review: I think that this game is really good. However, I'm averaging one freeze or so a night. It gets frustrating. Also, every so often when I run scandisk it's telling me about dates/times being recorded wrong and has to change them to the correct ones. I also get a message having something to do with my boot values are messing up. I didn't have a problem before I got this game. I downloaded the patch, but it didn't stop the game from freezing. I hope that they fix it soon. In the meantime I'll just save often and become better aquainted with scandisk!! My system is an AMD 900mhz 256k ram 64meg nvida4 accelerator running win me. Problems notwithstanding, the game is very fun to play. The myth units are pretty nice as well. As an Egyptian you can mass an army of Anubites and swarm enemy units and cut them to shreads. They are my favorite unit against infantry. The Greek Colossesses are real tough. You can get a half dozen and level ememy buildings like crazy. I wish that it was easier to heal units though. I miss having priests to heal on demand, but I guess it's more realistic this way. This game will give you hours and hours of fun. There are a lot of simularities between AOM and AOK.
Rating: 
Summary: Step-by-step analysis on Age of Mythology: hope this helps
Review: This game is fun, but it does not offer anything new compared to the old Age of Empires series. I've played all four of the Age of Empires titles, and this game offers nothing very new. In fact, it has regresses in certain areas. Graphics- unbeatable, they are in stunning 3D and are near-perfect. No complaints here. Sound- This is one of my major gripes. While the battle sounds are decent, the music is ismply abhorrable. Listen to the original, epic AOE music, and then listen to this .... You will see how much the Ensemble Studios music department has regressed since 1997. It is pathetic- the music is random bits of notes strung together into something that can barely even be called a soundtrack. And the opening musical theme- I don't know how to express my dismay about it. The composers were proud at being able to use a "real orchestra" to create this "music" but that didn't help. Gameplay- It gets a B+, because while the exotic myth units and "god powers" are fun, you will have to think to much about balancing the units and creating counter-units to the enemy's units, and making sure that cavalry don't come up against infantry, and infantry don't fall under the fire of archers, and archers avoid cavalry, and human units avoid myth units but still attack heroes, and myth units about heroes but deliberately try to attack human units, and heroes stay away from human units and focus on myth units... you get the idea. Playability (how addictive and fun is this game?)- The single-player campaign is VERY good, and it is well written and will give you hours, if not days, of fun. As for multiplayer, Ensemble Studios has set up an elaborate (albeit cumbersome and confusing) system where you can find opponents who are equal to you in skill. This allows you both to improve, and prevents you from unknowingly being crushed by experts. There is also a rating system so that you will know how you rank, in skill, compared to all of the other players in the world. The multiplayer connection also allows you to download free "patches" that fix bugs and errors in the game. Overall, this game is good, but not anywhere near perfect. The gameplay is a virtual clone of the original Age of Empires games, there is barely any sense of "newness" in AOM. The sound is pathetic, and personally I think they ought to fire the Ensemble Studios music department, or at least make them churn out better music. The gameplay is too complicated for a casual gamer to embrace quickly, but it is rather addicting (which is usually a good sign in a game). This game is, overall, nothing new or great; the designers had over 1.5 years to work on this title, and yet it still has its vital flaws, and that is why I give Age of Mythology a 3/5.
Rating:
Summary: great game
Review: I really liked how the game emphasizes the approach to battle that each civilization offers. I felt the most difficult parts of the game were leaving one civilization and morphing into the next one. My favorite by far is the north lands segment as you are rewarded for slash and burn techniques as opposed to the other two civs where you must first build your "culture" the northlanders are rewarded for battling. just like real warfare you better learn to scout before you put down roots somewhere. Only thing that I differ with is there is no place in this game for "love thy neighbor" if you will, sure it's no fun in a game but as realistic as the game is it could have made things much more interesting from an economic point of view.
Rating:
Summary: AOM...It's up to you
Review: Is an incredible game if you like the Age Of Empires series...but, you will be bored in 5 days...so...is up to you... <APQ>
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