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If you liked Age of Empires 1/2 this is a nice twist

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: December 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have been a big fan of the Age of Empires/Age of Kings/Age of Empires 2 series by Microsoft. This is a decent variation of AOE2 with some interesting differences.

In AOM you get god powers/favor depending on the mythos path/tech tree you follow, there are Greek (Zeus, Posseidon, Hades), Norse (Odin, Thor, Loki), and Egyptian (Set, Ra, Isis). Each civilization has a set of special MYTH units based on favor points you gain from your god.

Greeks worship at the temples you build for god favor, Egyptians build monuments to gain favor, and the Norse wage war/battle to gain god favor points. The more favor points you accumulate the more special myth units you can create. Greeks get Pegasus, Cyclops, Minotaurs, Collosus' for example. The MYTH units change depending on the sub-deities you decide to worship at the begining of each new age you acheive. You are given a choice of 2 minor gods at each level you go up, which will award you special units and powers. To combat myth units, there is also a HERO class of unit which are best suited to take down myth units.

The God powers are fun, Zeus can strike down an enemy unit with a lightning bolt for example and kill one unit dead. The Norse can sic a pack of wolves to attack 4 town centers with one of their god powers. Egyptians can summon a tornado to devaste a town center. Another Greek minor god can give you a single use Earthquake power to devastate an enemy camp. It's fun playing god.

The AOE2 combat style has not changed much. The Greeks are pretty much like any standard AOE2 civ with archers, calvary and infantry. The Norse and Egyptian civs have units appropriate to their culture (asps and enforcers for example for Egypt, Ulthsark and Dwarfs for Norse). Mix in some Norse Fire Giants, an Egyptian Enforcer and Scarb beetle, and a few Greek 50 ft. iron collosus' and you have a battle to watch for sure.

There are seige weapons for each civ. Greeks get the standards like catapults, specialized archers, and a new heliopolis seige tower unit. Norse get battering rams, fire giants, battle boars. Egyptians get decent enchanted siege weapons as well (scarabs beetles, crocodiles).

The civ you pick can also affect the game play. A norse civ would be considered a "rushing civ" while the greeks are more of a "building civ" - the egyptians somewhere in between the two others.

The multiplayer is pretty good, but I have had a few crashes in game play when the game goes out of sync (:(). If you want to play like you did on the microsoft zone, you may be disappointed as you can only play MP through the game's GUI which is ok.

Advanced game setup lets you pick multiplayer games (2-10 players) and the standard quick start will match you up with a single opponent with a comparable rating score. Your ratings score is based on how many games you win/lose - you start ar 1600 points (I'm 1520.62 now for example).

All in all, it's a nice twist on AOE2, but people wanting a completely new and original gaming experience may be disappointed if they were not a fan of the original AOE series of games.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars - it's a lot of fun to play.

Step-by-step analysis on Age of Mythology: hope this helps

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: December 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

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.

Good game, well worth the price

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 21
Date: June 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you've played Age of Empires II, you won't be too surprised by anything this game has to offer; it's more or less the same game, with a few tweaks here and there to make it more interesting and fun.

First, the reasons I pegged it a star:

The game is now a fully-rendered 3D game, instead of the 2D bitmaps like AOE2 used. On the one hand, it's kind of need to be able to zoom in and out at will and check out different angles of gameplay, but that's about all you get. 99% of the time, the 3D engine hasn't added anything that the 2D engine didn't do just fine with, but it's bumped up the video requirements SIGNIFICANTLY (i.e. make sure BEFORE you buy the game that your video card will support it), and causes the gameplay to periodically pause and grind on my machine, which, though not exactly the latest state-of-the-art, is not exactly a wimpy either. In my opinion, this was a bad call on Ensemble's part; they should have either stuck with 2D so that everyone could play it or given us more reason to have used 3D, or better yet, given us a choice of how we want to play.

They've also taken away one feature that I REALLY liked in AOE2: the ability to record a game and go back and watch it at will. I used to play people who were better than me, study their strategies, develop as a player, and eventually (a lot of times) beat them by mercilessly exploiting their weaknesses. It's kind of like watching football tapes before the big game. Can't do it in Age of Mythology. I was hoping they'd add a "rewind" feature to AOM, but instead, they took the whole feature out completely.

Now a few notes on why I like the game:

First and foremost, it's more AOE2, which is a game that I really like to begin with.

Also, I really like the idea that there are significantly more differences between civilizations now than just what special unit they get. Fundamental rules between the three major civilizations have now changed so much so that one must use drastically different strategies both playing AS different civilizations and play AGAINST different civilizations. The result is that there is FAR more variety and flexibility in how you play, which, in my book, is always a very good thing.

There are also more different TYPES of units. In AOE2, you basically had six types of units: infantry, archers, cavalry, monks, siege weapons, and naval vessels. AOM has taken away monks, but given us two new types: heores and myth units, and given us a way to affect the game completely outside of the units at all: god powers. Yet more ways to tweak strategies and find new and inventive ways to win. Very cool.

The campaign is very useful. Yes, there is only one, but there are thirty separate missions which walk you, step-by-step, through how to play the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Norse (the three major civilizations) and give you a great feel for what kinds of strategies work and what kind don't.

All in all, I highly recommend this game. If you've played and liked AOE2, it's a no-brainer whether or not you should buy this game. If you like AOE2, you'll like AOM. If you haven't played AOE2 but you like real-time strategy games, this one is currently the standard by which others are judged.

Superb Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 27
Date: September 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have been testing this game for a number of monthes now and I can testify to the hard work that Ensemble has put in to make this a superb game. The sound effects alone are stunning as they sweep you through the game play. The thunder of meteors soaring through the sky to devestate your enemy are certainly things you want to turn your speakers all the way up for.

In addition to the great gameplay, Ensemble has updated their multiplayer interface - getting games is now faster and easier. If you are a fan of creating large armies and using your strategic wit to outplay your enemy you will enjoy this game.

"blue_myriddn"
...

Thanks to this game, I now actually like RTS!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: December 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Having never played any of the other 'Age' games, and the only other RTS in my resume is Warcraft I, II, and C&C, it definitely will take alot to get me to like an RTS game (Warcraft III...only went half way before I got uninspired).

I bought this game on impulse, like so many things I buy. Having read several positive reviews online I was hopeful. Having spent 16 hours straight after getting this game, I was hooked.

There really isn't much variety in units and buildings, but that's a good thing. Following in the veins of WCIII, you don't get to choose which civilization you can take on the Single Players campaign. You play through the boots of Arkantos (there are 3 missions where he is absent, though), a greek hero, but you spend around 10 missions each on Egypt and the Norse region, with the different gods and units of each. Each mission you play is different then the ones you've already played, keeping the game fresh til the very end. The difficulty level, however, is very daunting. Never played easy mode, but the difficult mode is hardly fair.

Although the God powers seem awesome, I played through the game using them only once in a while. But I found that if in a tough situation, using those God powers helped shift the tide of battle.

Enjoyed, and now on the look-out for other great RTS.

If I had believed all the reviews...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: December 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I never would have bought this game. I've been playing the AOE series for over a year now, and when I saw this coming out I thought I might enjoy it, being a mythology buff myself. Before I bought it though I came here and read reviews which said not to bother, nothing new here, etc. I HEARTILY disagree. I found this game to be very interesting and much more diverse than AOE. Even though there are only 3 races, each has a choice of 3 major gods and 9 minor gods, and each choice affects different aspects of your civilization. I haven't computed the numbers but it adds up to more than 10 different permutations of the game. Yes, you have to read everything so you know what you have and what you can do, but most of the data is available with a right-click of the mouse. I personally enjoy the myth units, and they are each different as well. How often do you get to create a Colossus that can renew itself by eating trees and gold? Also, I've had no trouble with villagers, in fact I think they are a vast improvement on AOK in that after they build any sort of resource building they will go ahead and start collecting on their own. Also, farms and fish never run out, which was a hassle before.
Just a few tips - READ READ READ about god things, myth units etc., that way you'll know what you get with each one. Easy level means just that - easy. I've not had the game that long so I haven't tried the harder levels yet. Do the tutorial - not for the controls which are almost the same as AOK, but for knowing about the changes made.
If you like AOE and you like mythology, get this game and I think you'll enjoy it.

Age of Mythology the best game!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 28
Date: January 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I recently recieved AOM Collectors Edition for christmas and I was over the moon. The collectors edition is defintely worth the money (I think so) as you get six awesome mini-posters of the gods, a massive one of three of the gods, which is signed by all the people from Ensemble Studios, a DVD, Music CD, a Mythology Book, three cool tech trees and a Minotaur figurine. I suppose the only bad thing about this Collectors edition is that I can't put the game down and that the minotaur figurine isn't what I exactly expected. Though otherwise this is the best game out of the AGE OF- Series

Though a word of advice to those who want best performance, I tried it on my laptop and it is pretty good, though when I tried it on my Desktop computer it plays alot better.

This Game is AWESOME, well done Ensemble Studios

Getting fed up.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 15 / 20
Date: December 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I think all senior game developers have been tranferred to the Xbox department and left the PC games to interns.

Three of my favorite series came out from Microsoft this year CFS3, Mechwarrior Mercs and now this - AOM. I am disappointed with ALL of them.

AOM is not a bad game, it's just that this is the third time for me this year that Microsoft made a few minor changes in a series, and has sold it to me as a "new" game. There's not a single MAJOR improvement or change in AOM.

Myth units? So what? They don't do anything special and you get used to them very fast.

God Powers? They are not significant enough to matter and can only be used once. How can one lightning bolt (kills one unit) affect the game at all, even on the tactical level? Snakes produced by the "Serpent power" can be easily killed off by a couple of melee units.

Variety of regular units is also very poor, although it's good to see that different civ's have all different units, that are not just the same hoplite in different color mantle. Also, as another reviewer mentioned, the civ's are NOT evenly matched. Egyptians are VERY weak. And why are there no priests? At least like the ones we knew in AOE and AOK? Conversion and healing were major parts of this game.

Dear Microsoft,

Please start doing things right, because if you don't someone else will (just as it happened with IL-2 Sturmovik game, vs CFS3). It's a lot easier to lose leadership then to build up a following.

Whats not to love?!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: December 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

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!!

I cant wait for this one

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 27
Date: October 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well being that I loved the Age of Empires series, Age of Mythology is just what the series needs to keep improving. Age of Mythology dives heads-first into the lore, religions, and fairy tales of civilizations like the Egyptians, Greek, and Norse. This means that in addition to your standard units (archers, cavalry, pikesmen, etc.), you get special mythical creatures with unique powers that can easily turn the tide of battle if left unchecked. The demonstration I saw gave me a peek at the Norse frost giant, the Greek minotaur, cyclops, and medusa, and the Egyptian Anubis. Each one of these units had spectacular attacks. The cyclops and minotaurs smashed and gored their opponents, while the medusa turned them to stone. The Frost Giant didn't attack enemies directly, but its frost breath froze them in place to make them easy pickings for allies. Choosing a civilization and god is an important strategic decision. Your race decides what set of gods you can worship, but you have your choice of several different dieties in that set. Choosing a god will determine what strengths and weaknesses you have, so it greatly impacts how you play the game. Age of Mythology includes a new, fully 3D engine that lets you smoothly zoom in and out or rotate the camera at will.
To wrap it up: The screen shots I have seen are awesome! But where the Age of Empires games strived for more historical accuracy and an air of legitimacy, Age of Mythology dives heads-first into the lore, religions, and fairy tales of civilizations like the Egyptians, Greek, and Norse. This game will be great!

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