Age of Mythology (Age Of Mythology (PC))

Member Name: Monkeyboo2

Product:	Age Of Mythology (PC)
Date:	27/09/06 (259 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Balanced game, unique ideas

Disadvantages: Not many people online any more

Age Of Mythology (12+, 1-8 players online)

Age of Mythology is another amazing 'Age of ___' game. It is a Real Time Strategy Game (RTS) which is so unique with god powers, gods and different classes, species and types of unit and has hooked thousands for years.

In Age of Mythology you can play as one of nine major gods, each from different civilisations. Each civilisation is unique but each god gives more distinct difference to strategies that it can use.
The main Civilisations and gods you can choose are:

EGYPTIAN

Isis
Set
Ra

GREEK

Zeus
Hades
Poseidon

NORSE

Odin
Loki
Thor

A major difference from AOE2 is the addition of god choices; Not just do you advance ages, you get to choose in which minor deity you get to advance age in. You have a choice of two for each age, for each god which is more than i can easily write down in a reveiw, however big I make this one.

For example, Isis can advance through the worship of Bast or Anubis, each giving different bonuses and strong points. Bast's mainly technologies benefit economy whilst Anubis' mainly benefits spearmen and each has a different Myth Unit and God Power.

There are four ages just like in all other 'Age of ___' games. You start off in the Archaic Age, then you move up to the Classical Age, then to the Heroic Age, then to the Mythic Age.

In each age, you get a free God Power such as with Zeus, you get the Lightning Bolt Power which can strike down any one unit, once in the game.

When you reach the Classical Age, for example in the Hailing of Hermes which grants you the god power, ceasefire, which can stop all fighting for 1 minute, allowing you to create more military or build vital buildings. These powers make the game so different.

Also when you reach an age above Archaic you are given a free myth unit at your temple, should you still have a standing temple.
For example, using Hermes again, you would be blessed with a free Centaurwhich is a very effective Cavalry archer and if you went into the Heroic age with Dionysus you would gain a free hydra at you temple, all from Greek mythology.

Of course, myth units aren't all powerful as there is a general power triangle:
Myth Units ->(beat) Human Units ->Heroes ->Myth Units...

Another general rule is:
Infantry->Cavalry->Archers->Infantry...

There are certain exceptional human units that can beat myth units and certain other that defy the law.

So if your not impressed with triangles with triangles i suppose you want to know what heroes are.

Heroes vary from god to god and civiliastion to civilisation.

EGYPTIAN-The Pharoah and Priests
GREEK-Heroes from myths such as Hercules and Jason
NORSE-Hersirs, brave warriors.

Well I've told you some basics about the main units (not including seige and many other units) but I haven't told you about economy.

In Age of Mythology there are four resources:
Food-collected by fishing, foraging, herding, farming or hunting
Wood-collected by chopping down trees
Gold-collected by mining or trading
Favour-Specific to each civilisation

The First three resources are easy to understand (and are always collected by villagers) whilst favour is a completely new idea. I will start off by explaining how each ciivlisation gains favour:
EGYPTIAN-Build monuments which generate favour
NORSE-Men/heroes fight or die for favour (aggressive race)
GREEK-Villagers pray for favour

Now we understand how to gain all the different resources we must understand what they are used for generally.

FAVOUR
Researching unique technologies
Creating Myth Units
Building castles
Building Wonders (hold for 10 mins to win game)

FOOD
Creating villagers
Researching technologies
Creating non-ranged units
Upgrading Age

WOOD
Researching technologies
Creating archer units
Building all non-Egyptian buildings

GOLD
Researching technologies
Upgrading age
Building most buildings
Creating most units

Now we know the basics of the game we will go into detail about the campaigns.

The campaigns are impressive ideas that essential revolve around a man named Arkantos and his followers but they take us through many Myths from all cultures such as Ragnorak and the tale of Osiris.

The plot is fairly shaky but it takes you through each different civilisation, some educational myths and some basic tactics.

There are around 10 different types of regular game you can play; there is the normal supremacy and then there are other things such as the crazy 'deathmatch' which i do not have time to explain.

In campaigns and games involving computer players, you may set the difficulty according to your preference or skill level.

Online however, which is by far AOM's best feature you obviously can't set the difficulty level of your opponent. This is compensated with a rating system, starting at 1600 (but can drop down to 1), with the highest ever recorded at around 2200.

The search engine searches for a player online until you are paired up with someone of similiar rating/standard.
If you win your rating increases and if you lose your rating decreases.

The online community is good and features many sites which give free certain expert strategies, expert recorded games, forums and many other features and competitions.

These sites often support clan wars (teams fighting teams) to compete and win respect/honour and sometimes real world prizes.

Online play is definately something that helps you improve your play in all RTS games but you must be prepared to listen to advice such as 'Build multiples of all types of buildings incase some are destroyed'.

Most online matches take 10-30 mins but mine always seem to last longer...

Another great feature of AoM is its mapmaker. Its mapmaker is highly advanced and allows you to make campaigns and place over 5000 different objects on the map. You can landscape the area and add scenery to everything.

In mapmaker you can also set triggers; the action of any certain event triggering, for example, the 'Riders of Rohan' to charge in after five minutes in your Lord of the Rings reconstruction.
These Mapmaker scenarios are often found as co-op play against the computer online for abit of fun.

Graphics are fairly good but not perfect

Overall Age of Mythology is a game that doesn't particularly favour one god (balanced game), but does make each god/civilisation unique.

It has added things that have never been used in RTS games before its time such as god powers and myth units.

The economy-military sides of the game are well balanced making it reasonably fast paced with attacking but not waiting for hours for your villagers to collect the needed resources.

I would definately reccomend getting this game and watch out for my Age of Mythology: The Titans reveiw.

Summary: A great RTS game