Below are user reviews of Age of Mythology Special Edition and on the right are links to professionally written reviews.
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User Reviews (41 - 51 of 252)
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Addicting
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User
Age of Mythology is one of the best RTS (real time strategy) games I have ever played. The game hooks you with the good single player campaign and then keeps you hooked with the insanely addicting multiplayer.
The single player campaign consists of about 30 missions where you must guide Arkantos around the ancient world. The single player game is really a big tutorial, getting you ready to test your skills online. It teaches you how to use all of the civilaztions, how to use god powers efectively, etc. Still, it is very engrossing and much better than the "campaigns" in the previous Age of Empires games.
The civilaztions are very well balanced. There are only 3- Egyptians, Norse, and Greek. Each civ. has their own distinct advantages and disadvantages. For example: The norse can create mobile resource drop points, the egyptians have the best god powers, and the greeks get siege weapons the earliest. Also, there are 3 major gods under each civ. that give you further advantages. The game really encourages you to choose your Civ and major god wisely.
The units are also very interesting. The new myth units all have various skills and unique attributes. The units in the game are wonderfully detailed and are very well balanced. For every unit there is a counter unit that can easily kill it. Strategy, strategy, strategy - without careful planning you will certainly lose (offline or on). This is not the typical "build a huge army and conquer the world" RTS. The population cap and counter units make sure of that.
Forget about single player random map games against the computer (they suck). Instead, head into the online realm and test your skills worldwide. It's very fun and the people online are very good. This really strengthens the replay value of Age of Mythology. Without the multiplayer the game gets 3 stars- but w/ the multiplayer it is easily 5 stars. You can easily play for months online without getting bored. If you are a fan of RTS games (like warcraft, starcraft, age of empires) then get Age of Mythology. You will not be disapointed.
Good, but nothing new
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User
I want to say right away that there is nothing wrong with this game. It has good graphics, intense gameplay, and enough diversity and strategy to last a while. My only problem with it is that there is very little that seems amazingly new to old fans of Age of Empires. Sure, there are mythological units, godly powers and there are more choices involved when advancing through ages. However, there's still a barracks, a stable, and an archery range. There is still a pikeman type unit, a champion unit, a skirmisher unit, an archer unit, a cavalry unit, the same "mangonel" stone thrower. There are still four ages. At least they have been renamed, but it's not much. Even the interface is the same. The buttons have new icons, but they are still in exactly the same layout. Frankly, half of the new features in AOM could have been in a new patch for AOE2.
So, I still recommend this game to anyone who hasn't played the AOE series a lot, but if you have, and you are looking for something different in the RTS genre, I would suggest something like Medieval - Total War, or Battle Reals. Both games are more innovative.
In the end, this whole genre is becoming old - there aren't that many ways to vary the "gather resources, build a base and army, and destroy your opponent" theme - while there are fewer and fewer new concepts, there are still some left, and I think that if you are an experienced RTS gamer, you should go for something different.
This is THE game
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User
I have AOE II and the Conquerers. I really liked it, and then I got this for Christmas. I was blown away. Mythology is the perfect theme because not only can you have your normal (human) soldiers, you can have heroes (such as Ajax, Odysseus, Arkantos, Amanra, and Chiron) and myth units (such as Medusa, mummys, hydras, and Minotaurs.) That makes it more interesting, because some myth units have special powers, and they're all very good against humans. However, heroes counter myth units greatly, and humans counter heroes. That's what makes it interesting and forces you to mix your troops in order to win. AOM is a very good game with very good graphics and should be played by anyone that liked AOE II.
THE BEST PC GAME OF THE YEAR!
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User
And here I was thinking that it couldn't get any better. I mean, really, how could Age of Mythology possibly get any more interesting, exciting, addictive, and fun? Well, the long-awaited "Age of Mythology: The Titans" does just that. It is, simply put, AMAZING! Everything you loved about Age of Mythology is back, but this time it's all BIGGER and BETTER.
The new culture, the Atlanteans, adds tons of new myth units, cultural attributes, god powers, maps, buildings, upgrades, characters, gods, heroes, and the deadly Titans which can overpower all other units if created and can be created by all cultures. You can even play around with time! The new graphics and music help to enhance game-play to a level not previously reached by Age of Mythology. Ensemble Studios have also polished basic aspects of the game. The new "repeat build" button will continue to supply you with units as long as long as you have the resources. If found this to be very helpful as I got to concentrate on other aspects of the game (such as destroying all enemies) instead of constantly commanding "create new unit" every time I lose one.
The new campaign dwarfs that of Age of Mythology. It focuses primarily on the Titans and is so incredibly involving that you can easily play for six hours without noticing. The story is much better and the scenery and construction of the various landscapes is far more detailed and realistic.
This is a 5 star game that isn't to be missed by fans of the original Age of Mythology or the Age of Empires games. It's all well worth your money, I assure you. Once you pop this CD into your disk drive you'll open the door to hours, days, weeks, months, years of exciting new game-play. Don't miss it.
Good name, Good game.
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User
Ever since I saw the "Age of" on the title of this game I knew it was one to get, and it didn't disappoint me.
Most of the interface is similar to Age of Empires, as well as the gameplay.
The game has an interesting campaign which spans over 30 missions. Each mission is unique and there are even some cool twists in the game. The graphics are good looking and should work well with a mid-range pc. There are three races (greeks, Norse, Egyptians) each with their respective gods that you can use to help you, with thunder, meteor showers, rain, food, etc
The music is good but can get repetitive (but with a strategy game this is always true, no matter what music) There were no bugs when I played it on a AMD Athlon Xp 1.9 GHZ 64MB Radeon graphics card.
I had a good time playing the campaign, but it took me awhile to take it back up again after I beat it, but still This is a very solid, good game.
Mythological Mixed Bag
3
Rating: 3,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User
I got this game as a Christmas present last year, and have been playing it since. I'm not a big fan of MicroSoft's other strategy-games like Age of Empires / Kings (AOE), nor am I well versed in the Norse-Egyptian-Greek mythology, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Age of Mythology. This game offers real good "dusk-to-dawn-computer-time". The game itself is entertaining, and the graphics top-notch.
As the title suggests (and for those who've already played it) the game offers Mythological units and heroes to go with your typical human army; And here lies the strengths and weaknesses of the game. For while sending a platoon of Medussas, Collossi, or Mummies, Anubites, and Giant Trolls sends chills down your pc-generated spine, this same overly powerful force gives you a feeling of disappointment at your puny human army who are left standing idly by. I mean, either they stay away from the battle or get tossed around, pummelled, or turned to stone. - Oh and by the way, you also get FOUR GOD-POWERS in this game.
The developers at MS-Game-Studios gave these mythological beings far too much power, that I find myself just building an army of myth-units rather than investing in archers, spearmen, or cavalry. And for some unknown reason, there is a fixed population cap of 100-units at the start of each game. The only way to increase this cap is to "capture" pre-existing town centers that dot the map during each game... Oh man; Talk about ideal ambush sites. Yikes!
But anyway, and as I've said before, despite not being perfect nor addictive, I really like this game. This is one good game to get for yourself or (as in my case) give as a gift. The tutorials are very good, so even a player with no experience on strategy games can pick-up the concept in no time. So check it out for yourself and have fun. Keep in mind, however, that this is only a game and whatever myth-unit you have or god-powers you get stay in the pc.
Titans expansion pack is good but has some problems
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User
The expansion to Age Of Mythology adds three major things:
1) The Atlantean Civilization -- the Atlanteans have very powerful economic benefits, but they are very slow-growing because their citizens cost so much. They also have relatively weak military units. On the other hand they have some powerful god powers (and some reusable god powers). They also have very powerful towers and walls. Probably best suited for defensive/economic strategies.
2) The titans -- all the civilizations can now create a titan. It works somewhat like creating a wonder, but instead of having to defend a wonder you use the titan to attack your enemies. The titan is very powerful but it can be defeated, especially by heroes (since it is a myth unit). They can not be transported over water, so they are of limited use in an island map scenario. They are fun.
3) A new campaign -- this is a definite weakness. The campaign is quite short, and most of the scenarios fall into the same pattern (building up an army and then defeating a titan). The campaign does not measure up to the original campaign.
However, while the expansion is generally an improvement the game is less stable. I have encountered freezes (especially when I hit pause in a one-player game) that lock up the entire system and require a cold reboot (Win98). I think the problem is a sound effects bug.
Great game, bad code
2
Rating: 2,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User
I picked this game up cheap and have been playing it on my dual 1.8 G5. It's a fun game, very similar to Warcraft III but it has major crash issues with dual processor machines. There is nothing worse then playing a strategy game for 2 hours to have it crash on you and lose everything. And the sad part is it crashes more then not. Macsoft support is nil, in-fact there is a patch for this game and all three locations linked on the Macsoft webpage to down load the patch are dead. Even for 15 bucks I would have to pass on this game, not worth the crashing and lost time. I am very disappointed they do not put some effort into porting there games to OSX.
It's okay but not as good as expected
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User
This game is very fun and has lots of action that is for sure. Many people may find this good enough for the game to satisfy them, but I am not one of them. The mythology part is good and the creatures and gods are described and portrayed very well, but the plot to the campaign messes it all up. The last campaign was much larger and it was more fun. I was disappointed in the new campaign. I'd say the first one is better. If you make a big deal about graphics though, than this game is for you. It has excellent graphics and features. The ocean and mountain looks so realistic. They do a good job showing you underwater. These graphics blow away the graphics of the Age of Empires series. If you were expecting a good campaign, your not going to be very happy. Plot isnt so good and its very short. It has about half of the other games campaigns. A big difference is that in normal games the titans always come out. They're kind of annoying. Overall this game is good but not as good as the prequal.
Graphics-10/10
Campaign Plot-3/10
Music-6/10
Mythology-9/10
Overall-7/10
It was a long wait, but not in vain!
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User
As a long time fan of the Age of Empires series I sure have impatiently waited for this one. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the alpha testers a few months ago, and those few weeks of testing the game left me stunned and amazed.
Age of Mythology has it all, and so much more than has been seen before.
Now you have true 3D graphics in a brand new engine. You are going to love the way the waves hit the beach, the different seasons, night and day, fire and smoke etc. And your viewpoint is completely flexible and controlable.
You have the choice between 3 different races, that all play completely different. I said COMPLETELY different. Within those you have loads of choices to finetune your race to your playing style and or to meet the playing styles of your opponents. All done by choosing between 3 major gods within each race, and then a combination of 3 other subgods under your major god. Each have different bonusses and skills...
All of these races are chokeful of weird and wonderful units, consisting of ordinary units, heroes and mythological creatures with supernatural powers. You gotta see the powerhouses called Fire Giants of the Norse race, or the leaping and snarling Anubites of the Egyptians or the man-hurling Cyclops of the Greeks. And the list goes on. Each have unique skills, whether he is a lowly footsoldier or a fearsome monster. The combinations and possibilities are simply endless!
God powers. Totally awesome! Makes you wish for that opponent camera option, when you litterally shower his towncenter and fortresses with meteors. Visually it is SO incredibly stunning! Or giving him a good earthquake, or how about teleporting your army straight into his city through a supernatural underground passage, or how about turning his army into swine (which you can hunt for food later ;-) ) and the list goes on. Each combination of major god and subgods will give you a unique combination of 4 god powers which you unfortunately only can use once...
Everything is neatly balanced. All in all Age of Mythology is worth the long wait as it will guarantee you an epic strategy experience!
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