It has finally happened, after years of waiting I can finally play Age of Mythology. There's no doubt that Ensemble is a great developer, their Age of Empires series has long been one of my favorites, not just in the real-time strategy genre, but for gaming in general. Did Ensemble innovate the real-time strategy genre like they have done in the past, or is this game just the same game with updated graphics? Is Age of Mythology worth buying? I will try to answer these questions in this review.

Age of Mythology plays a lot like the original Age' games, as well as other real-time strategy games. You gather resources, use them to build armies, and then use those armies to destroy your enemies. Did you expect something else? :) Of course, it's not exactly the same game as Age of Kings or Age of Empires 2, they have added a number of entirely new gameplay features, impressive graphics in a fully 3D environment and many other goodies which make this game one of the best strategies ever. Basically, Age of Mythology preserves the familiar elements popular in previous Age of Empires games. Despite the hype, I think that all those who loved the originals, Age of Empires, Age of Kings and their expansions, will find this game pretty satisfying because the battle of the gods has finally begun :)

There are three sides in Age of Mythology, the Egyptians, the Norse, and the Greeks, each with unique units and resource gathering rules. The Greeks excel in raw power, and are the easiest race to pick up and play immediately, as their basic game mechanics should be familiar to anyone who has player other Age's games. The Egyptians are all about building a vast empire with legions of troops, and they have an incredibly versatile economy. Lastly, the Norse are all about wild aggression, with the ability to build up anywhere so you can expect rather constant fighting with this race. In addition you have to worship gods, and they will help you kill your enemies - each god (Hades, Hor, Isis, Odin, Osiris, Zeus..) provides different strengths for your civilization, and new god powers such as weapons of mass destruction (two different kinds of lightning, meteor swarm etc). Alike the Age of Empires games, there's also fourth resource in the game called Favor (a new resource which replaces Stone), which represents the powers of your civilizations' gods and is used for summoning your civilization's powerful mythological units (Cyclopes, Medusas...) , as well as for armor and weaponry upgrades. Favor is gathered in different ways, Greek villagers pray at a temple, Egyptian workers construct statues and the Norse getting Favor through battles.

Overall, Age of Mythology features story-driven single-player campaign divided into 36 missions, more than 20 mythological creatures, quite challenging AI, a random map skirmish mode, multiplayer up to 12 players (Scenarios /include co-op/, Lightening, Deathmatch, Conquest, Supremacy) via LAN/Internet (ESO) and highly intuitive interface that's very similar to that of Age of Empires II.

Age of Mythology is far and away the most polished, deep and beautiful real-time strategy game I have ever played. This game took everything that I liked about the Age of Empires series and fixed all the things that I didn't like. It's definitely the leading contender for Game of the Year. Download massive playable demo(340MB).


System requirements (single player)
Minimum: PII-300, 32MB RAM, 500MB HDD, 3D accelerator w/ hardware T&L
Recommended: PIII-733, 256MB RAM, 1.5GB HDD, 32MB 3D accelerator, 512MB swap-file

The following guidelines are recommended for a good multiplayer experience:
12 Players - Greater or equal to a P4 2.4 GHz, 512 MB RAM, Cable/DSL, LAN
8 Players - Greater or equal to a P4 1.7 GHz, 512 MB RAM, Cable/DSL, LAN
6 Players - Greater or equal to a P3 1.0 GHz, 256 - 512 MB RAM, Cable/DSL, LAN
4 Players - Greater or equal to a P3 733 MHz, 128 - 256 MB RAM, 56 KB modem
2 Players - Greater or equal to a P2 450 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 56 KB modem