Sunday, August 19, 2012

Review of the week - Age of Mythology

We're going back to a different Age! An Age of Gods and Titans, and Lightning Bolts/Earthquakes/Tornados/Plagues, and every other power that the gods had to use.

Age of mythology is from Ensemble Studios who has created and bestowed to use one of the best game RTS series ever Age of Empires. AoM was a step in a different direction for the company, because of the fact that Age of Empires was all historical based and this was/is mythological (Who can really say that it is fiction though, one never knows!)

Another thing to note for this game was the new engine that it was created on, this was their first shot at a 3D engine and it did a really amazing job. The graphics are amazing for the time and can still hold up to this date. You can easily tell an enemy from an ally or even one of your own armies. The game does make a note for it as well when you put your mouse over a unit like a soldier or Medusa, etc. that if it's an enemy you have the sword/attack pointer as the regular mouse pointer. It's still easier to tell them apart then other games I've played both recent games and older games. The attention to detail that they put into the game shows very well from buildings have some kind of animation (lanterns, glowing items, etc.) to the waves of water crashing against the shores. There's always something moving making it feel more real than a game. The sounds in this game are also stunning, from the music in the background (which is actually quite good) to the sounds of your villagers mining for gold, or chopping down trees, or even your units attacking enemies. Both the visuals and the sounds make this game feel more alive, like it has a soul.

The story of the game is lengthy but exciting, it keeps you on your toes. It's not one of those games that has a 60 minute story or part of a story and before you know it either the game is over or you fell asleep and forgot what happened. You control Greek, Egyptian, and Norse forces (The three main factions of the game) over a span of something like 26+ missions I believe. Each force has their own buildings (Although each building is technically the same, they way the look/the style is different for each) The forces are also like the building i9n the fact that an archer is an archer but depending on what forcwe your using depends on what they would look like.

There are many different types of units that you can use like villages, regular soldiers, cavelry, minotaurs, mythical creatures, and heroes. There are more but I forgot what they are exactly and there are 1-3 different ones for each unit. I believe the caverly one there are 3 different ones that you can create.

The random map mode is really fun you can choose a variety of options like an arid desert of Egypt, to the shores of Atlantis. You can also make the opponent harder or easier depending on your skill level. You can also create a map of your own and make it so that either you or them have more resources at your disposal.

Online multiplayer is fun, I can't tell you eactly everything about online because It's been years since I've played online and I don't know if you can anymore. I doubt it. Basically you can have 1v1 or a have 3 duke it out at once. Depending on your skill level though I suggest trying the map mode giving your opponent the advantage because the online players (When this game came out) were incredibly good at it.It was super easy top find people to play wether you were playing with someone you knew or never met before, it was so easy to find people wanting to play matches that were the same as you were.

The game playes really well, as well as other Real Time Strategy games play. The controls and how to play come second nature if you've either played Age of Empires or another type of RTS. Or even if you never played an RTS like me it was really easy to learn how to play it.

I would suggest you pick this game up, also get the (I think gold edition) because it comes with the Titans Expansion for free. The Titans expansion added more storyline missions and units to control, but unfortunatly they didn't amek any more expansions.

I give this game a 9 out of 10!

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