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A of E with Monsters . . . and Bugs

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 154 / 170
Date: January 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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.

Is the Collectors Edition worth your money?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 54 / 57
Date: November 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

(First of all, this was a birthday gift from my husband, so I had no choice in the matter)

This is a hard product to rate. The game is fantastic, though if you have a low end video card, the graphics are not as good as they could be. My husband has an excellent graphics card and it made such a difference in the feel and look of the game! I'm not going to give a review of gameplay - there'll be many of them. I just wanted to help others in deciding whether they should splurge on purchasing the collectors edition over the regular retail version.

First everyone is saying they want those "large tech trees" included in this version. They are no where near large. They are very tiny things and the Age of Kings Tech trees were much bigger than these. If you want tech trees, you can view the .pdf files that come with the game. Check your read me file and you'll see where they are. I'm assuming that these files also come with the regular edition too. I am dissappointed that there is no handy list of what is good against what and what units you can counter with. I loved this with my Age of Kings game and I hate to flip through the manual for it this time around. With a lot of new units and different names for the units, it is going to take a while getting it all straightened out.

The minotaur figurine - the box makes it look pretty cool looking from a grotesque/fantasy slant if that is what you like. I find the the minotaur looks much better in the game. Personally I find it an ugly looking thing and would have much rather had figures of the gods, especially Isis or rather the Pegasus scout unit as a figure. The minotaur figured on the box doesn't look like the actual one you get. It is a figure of cheap lightweight plastic and looks like something you could easily get from a McDonald's happy meal. Actually, I have seen better in a McDonald's happy meal! The paint details are a little different as well in terms of colour. The figure comes in a little plastic baggie, so already my ugly bull man has a flaccid double axe because of the small bag. He should have come in a plastic mold case at least to keep his shape properly.

There is a large poster of the game with signatures of Ensemble Studios staff ... I have no place for this sort of poster in my home unfortunately. It is a large poster too.

The mini posters of the gods are superb. They are good quality laminate poster board about 8x10 in size. I didn't really care for the gods though, except for Isis - I had to have her, since I've been looking ages for a beautiful print of her for my personal shrine.

Of course you get your little manual and 2 cd case of the game itself.

There is also a DVD of the making of AOM, which I can not use as I don't have a DVD player. There is also a CD AOM music soundtrack, which is lovely for providing atmosphere to your game, yet, there is already the same background music in the game itself. Here it really depends if you want to play that cd in another room besides where the one your computer is located.

You also get a small paperback copy of Bulfinch's mythology book, which is a classic for anyone's library, though I didn't really need it to come with the game. I already have an old hardcover edition of Bulfinch's book and If I need extra information on a god or myth, the library or the internet is good enough and Bulfinch shouldn't be counted on as one's sole source on mythological education.

The game itself is worth every penny, as well as the poster of Isis, and I do love the tech trees, but you can can get most of the essentials yourself without the extra goodies already provided for you.

As a degree holder in Classical Studies and a gamer of Age of Empires Games and gamer of Zeus and Pharaoh and Caesar games, Age of Mythology is a dream come true. It is an incredible and addictive game. I just don't think the collectors edition is worth it, though it depends what you really want from it.

There are only 5,000 copies of the collectors edition, which may influence your decision and there is a sticker on the box that tells you what number yours is out of the 5,000, plus a sticker certificate of authenticity on the box. Thing is with computer games, once it is open, the value would obviously decrease and I had a hard time, pulling that sucker out of the box, so unfortunately there is already a small rip on my box.

Up to you.

Forget Warcraft III, check this out!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 69 / 82
Date: August 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I am a big Age of Empires fan, and I think it is a great improvement going to 3D images in Age of Mythology. The basic idea is that you can choose one of three civilizations; Egyptian, Greek, and Norse. Each civilization has a choice to worship one of three main gods, and as you progress through the ages you can choose a minor deity to worship. Each god and deity gives your civilization technologies, unique units, and one god power. This can make the gameplay more diverse, even if two people are fighting with the same civilization.
A resource called "favor" has replaced stone, it is generated in different ways among the civilizations. Mythological units such as Minotaurs, Valkyries, and Giant Scarabs can be trained, provided you have a good amount of favor. There are so many differences between AOM and AOE, it would take a while to tell them all. Gameplay should be easy players to get used to, and even easier for AOE veterans. Bottom line: This game looks like it's going to be a hit! I recommend that anybody who likes strategy buy it.

This is a GREAT game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 49 / 58
Date: February 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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.

3 more years of fascination coming up...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 36 / 41
Date: October 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If there is one thing the Age of Empires series achieved that almost no previous strategy games have, it's longevity. Games come and games go, but Age of Empires has remained installed on my computer for 3+ years and it still gets played regularly. This longevity has been achieved through supreme game balance, great variety, and amazing depth and complexity.

In this vein, Age fans welcome Age of Mythology, Ensemble Studios' latest strategy game that uses the core principles behind their previous games, but spices up the mix with ancient lore and mythology and adds all of the trimmings that go along with it. Greek heroes like Jason and Heracles join the fray against fierce medusas and enormous golden colossus beasts. Egyptian pharoahs fend off giant scarabs and powerful Avengers of Horus. Norse Valkyries and frost giants march into battle against mummies and war elephants. And this is just a taste of what the game has to offer.

Having taken part in the pre-release Alpha Test for this game, I can attest that the graphics are very nice. While maybe not as visually spectacular as Unreal Tournament 2003, Age of Mythology uses a very advanced engine where translucent waves gently wash upon the beach, units have detailed animations, snowflakes fall from the sky, sunsets bathe the world in an orange hue, and herds of animals go about their daily lives.

To sum up: if you enjoyed the Age of Empires series, or if you enjoy real-time strategy games in general, Age of Mythology is a must-buy. Just on time for the holidays too! This game will easily outlast all the other one-shot games that have been retired to your shelf to gather dust.

This series keeps getting better & better!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 26
Date: July 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The original AGE OF EMPIRES was one of the very first CD Rom games that I bought. I bought some other similar games, but AE was by far & away the best. It brought countless hours of addictive enjoyment. Then came along the Roman expansion & the midieval versions and those were smashes as well.

Continuing on in the series is AGE OF MYTHOLOGY and it does not disappoint. The basic premise is the same: you build cities to defend & armies to go out and beat up on other civilizations. The twist is that, in addition to human combat units, you also get all sorts of myth units to play with as well.

There are three mythological paradigms represented in the game: Greek, Norse & Egyptian. Within the 3 paradigms you have 3 major gods to choose from and several minor gods. The choice you make in your deity accounts for which combination of mythological units & godlike powers that you get.

My favorite myth unit would be the cyclops as they like to throw things, be it people, cavarly or even war elephants! It's pretty hilarious to watch them throw an elephant across the screen & have it take out a patch of trees. The roar of the Numean Lion is quite impressive as well.

In addition to myth units you also get hero units. If you are Greek you get characters such as Jason, Odysseous, Ajax, Achilles, etc. These are especially effective against myth units of the enemy army.

One would think that w/all the myth units & heroes that human units would be obsolete, but they're not. You still need lots & lots of human units as, unlike myth units, they can be mass produced.

Which leads me to another point. In the previous AE series your population limit was set @ a certain number. Your enemy could not have more overall units than you, and vice versa. In AM this changes. There are only certain places where you can build town centers. Each one that you build adds to your population limit - up to a few hundred or so. Capturing these locales is crucial to your survival in the game. Failure to do so means you will be overrun by the superior numbers of the enemy army.

One aspect I particularly like about this game is the symmetry. Being relatively familiar with Greek mythology (moreso than Egyptian or Norse), it was good to see the myth units appropriately assigned to individual gods.

For example: if you worship Poseidon you're able to get cyclops units. That works because Poseidon was supposed to be the father of the race. Another creature of Poseidon's is the Scylla, which is appropriate as Poseidon is the god of the sea.

Unlike the "flat" ends of the screen that you get w/previous games in the AE series, AM looks like it has been carved out of a fantastic dream. It's difficult to describe this aspect, but I liked the touch.

If you like previous games in the AE series, you're more than likely to enjoy this one as well. If you've not ever played AE but are interested in mythology, this one is highly recommended as an introduction to the series. It's everything you would want it to be: fun, surreal & very very addictive!

Great game. Buy it Now.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 28
Date: April 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Wow!!! This is an all around great game. For those who never played Age of Empires, it puts you in control to create an empire with real ancient civilization. You must either create an army and destroy you enemy, or you can build wonders and collect relics to win. Age of Mythology has much better graphics then Age of Empires. Age of Mythology has a feel of Age of Empires but is different in so many ways. In stead of collecting stone,one of the resources youe gathered in Age of Empires, you collect the favor of the gods. Anyway, Age of Mythology requires alot more thought and planning. The new addition of units makes it much harder. Besides regular soldiers, You now summon myth units which can easily conquer soldiers, but then there are heroes which can go through myth units with ease. The last difference is that when you advance through the ages you choose gods which can greatly change the odds. You can destroy towns with earthquakes, destroy armies with electical storms, summon the mighty norse dragon, casting eclipses over the world and making myth units grow stronger,or something more peaceful like enchanting farms and making them grow faster. Anyway enough said. Brilliant campaign, great new units, buildings, and options. Great game overall. 5 stars. A++++++.

Age of Mythology or War Craft 3? Cons of AOM.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 22
Date: November 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you already like AOE type of real-time strategy game, you already know how good this game is so I don't have to explain any further to you. For those who haven't played many real-time strategy games, AOM is much more fun than War Craft III "if" you actually want to use some brain. Both AOM and WC3 have pretty 3D graphics but AOM is far better if you actually like to apply strategy. WC3 emphasizes brawling and the only real strategy involved is to churn out more military units than your opponents and launch massive and relentless attacks. Sure you get hero units but they're just another beefed up soldiers with lame powers. In AOM, you can actually counter-strategize depending on your terraine, civilization, and opponents. That's because different units get bonuses when attacking against certain units (e.g. archers have advantage against slower infantry at distance but are weak against calvary. Myth units also have similar advantages and disadvantages). So you can constantly scout what your opponent is doing and readjust your military and civilization. In older AOE games, you could defeat your opponents easily by flushing or advancing faster than your opponents because all civilizations shared somewhat similar mechanics, gameplay, and looks. So the game would become rather dull and repetitive after a while due to the same flushing or crushing tactics and countering those tactics. In AOM, the designers made significant improvement by making each civilization a lot more unique, and made flushing more difficult. Hence, you now have to use more strategy to defeat your opponents. These all add to longevity and replay value of the game. The civilizations are now more varied in looks and gameplay, and because you have to pick between 2 different minor-gods to advance at each stage (3 stages to advance), two players starting with the same civilization and same major-god can actually turn out quite different as the game progresses. Each major-god and mini-god gives you different upgrades, god powers, Myth units, and bonuses. There are 3 civilizations, each with 3 major-gods and 9 minor-gods, and 3 Ages to advance, making for a total of 72 unique civilizations by the 4th Mythic Age (assuming I did my math right). Some major-gods share same minor-gods so you can have similar upgrades and Myth units but still get different god-powers and bonuses. Heroes in AOM are also more interesting, fun, and versatile than the ones in WC3. For example, Pharaoh hero can empower buildings to speed up resource gathering and can be transformed to a super demi-god with lightning bolts later on in the game. Despite so many variety found in the game, the game is simple to learn (1hr learning curve) and easy to play. And with all the civilizations you will be trying out, AOM will give you more than your money worth of gameplay. So my verdict: If you just want to brawl, get WC3 but if you actually like using some brain, get AOM. With either game, you will get plenty of fighting but I must say, AOM kicks WC3's!

CONS (after playing the game for a while): Although you have to choose between different Minor Gods at each Age, the differences between Minor Gods are NOT so varied as to make your civilization truly unique. Let's say you play Zeus and the your friend plays Poseidon, and then select completely different minor gods along the way (in multi-player mode). Even then, your civilization won't be too different from your friend's civilization because Greek civilizations play similarly. True you get different myth units and upgrades but the strategy and gameplay is very similar. That means that instead of offering truly 72 unique civilizations, this game offers only 3 civilizations with minor variations. The 3 civilizations are unique enough to make you apply different gameplay and strategy but it's still only 3 civilizations. AOM is essentially an improved AOE2 but with less number of civilizations. So the replay value may be less than AOE2. I wish AOM had 2-3 more civilizations but I guess we will have to wait for expansion.

Comparing to AOE2, Greeks are like balanced Byzantines with Infantry-advantage, Egyptians are like Teutons/Turks with archer-advantage, and Nords are like Goths/Celts/Vikings. So if you liked playing Goths in AOE2, you will pick up Nords pretty quickly in AOM.

WHERE'S ALL THE DARNED STUFF???

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 28 / 38
Date: November 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I find it hard to believe that the world's most powerful software company is putting out an RTS game in 2002 that is this thin. Don't get me wrong, I agree with the other reviewers who say that AOM delivers the best graphics of any strategy game to date. In addition to this, I'd like to add that AOM uses system resources very efficiently (after 10 hours of gaming I have experienced exactly zero crashes), and plays quickly (no more 12 hour marathons like we had with Age of Empires). And suprisingly for an MS product, the game also has pretty darn good instructions (although you really won't need these if you've ever played an RTS before).

But, this is why I give it two stars...
1) Very limited selection of warriors and special creatures --only two types of horseman, two types of footman, and four types of mythic creatures on any one side (AOE has at least three times as many unit types)
2) Only four levels for Single User Random Map Play (and this from a game that advertises on the box: "Strategic Depth")
3) Steep limitations on use of god powers
4) God powers not really that powerful and are, at best, uninspired
5) The games AI that is used to run your opponents is more artificial than intelligent
6) Due to the above and unlike many of other RTS's, this game has very little replay value, and thus isn't worth the steep price MS is asking

Just Spent the Week Playing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: October 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I just came back from the premiere of Age of Mythology at Ensemble Studios. I spent the past three days trying to play every scenario possible. The general idea of the Age of Empires games is there, but this game is almost completely different. In AoM, you have the opportunity to rule as different mythological gods and control your society using the advantages of different gods and god-like warriors. You also have the opportunity to create new and very different characters to do battle with and collect resources. Unlike most of the societies in AoE, every society (or mythological god) is different from each other and has different warriors, different workers, and different buildings. Tha game play is also much quicker than that of AoE. No longer are the days of spending seven hours on just one game. You will be able to play the average game for about 30-90 minutes, depending on how you want to play.
Hats off to Tony Goodman, Bruce Shelley, and the crew at Ensemble Studios. They have created the next best-seller of the year.

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