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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.

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++++++.

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!

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"
...

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.

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

I can't wait for this one!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 20
Date: October 01, 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!!!

The revolutionizing RTS game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I was never really a big fan of RTS games just becuase they were the same things over and over. But this game has changed my mind completly. One of my favorite games and TOTALLY addicting....oh yeah one more thing if your still reading this review STOP and drive to you nearest store NOW.

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