Age of Mythology
Description official descriptions
Age of Mythology is a spin-off title from the Age of Empires series of real-time strategy games, sharing most of its gameplay with prior titles in the series. However, as opposed to the numerous civilizations that are present in Age of Empires which differ in statistics, tech tree availability and a few unique units and upgrades, Age of Mythology has three factions which differ visually and functionally in their entirety - the Greek, the Egyptians, and the Norse. Each civilization has a different economic model, a different tech tree and unit roster, a different play style, and a different way to acquire favor from their gods.
Other than introducing a 3D engine, the main feature that Age of Mythology brings are myth units and heroes, as well as choosing gods to worship. Gods are split to major and minor ones - major gods act as subfactions (not unlike "countries" in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2) which have their own bonuses and abilities, and each major god has a selection of two minor gods for each age transition. Each minor god brings their own unique units, upgrades and god ability, and only one can be chosen per age.
Myth units are available for training at temples (or docks if they are seafaring) and require favor to produce and upgrade. Heroes are special units who are more effective at fighting myth units than regular human units, while human units still have entire series of upgrades. Certain units also have special abilities which require time to recharge, such as anubites jumping towards their target, or minotaurs throwing their enemies a considerable distance.
Certain economic changes have been made as well, such as farms and fish schools being infinite food sources.
Age of Mythology has a single campaign with 32 missions, titled "Fall of the Trident". The storyline is unified and played from the perspectives of all three playable factions, whose representatives (Atlantean/Greek hero Arkantos, Egyptian pharaoh Amanra, Greek heroes Ajax and Chiron, and more) end up interacting with each other despite the large geographic distances between their homelands in order to stop pirates and followers of the evil cyclops Garganensis from unleashing an imprisoned titan. Skirmishes and multiplayer matches take place on randomized maps which follow several preset templates and feature multiple game modes.
Spellings
- エイジ オブ ミソロジー - Japanese spelling
- 神話世紀 - Traditional Chinese spelling
- 神话时代 - Simplified Chinese spelling
Groups +
- 3D engine: BANG!
- Age of Empires series
- Age of Mythology series
- Fantasy creatures: Dwarves
- Fantasy creatures: Minotaurs
- Fantasy creatures: Trolls
- Gameplay feature: Fog of war
- Games that include map/level editor
- Games with randomly generated environments
- Green Pepper releases
- Middleware: Bink Video
- Middleware: Granny 3D
- Mythology: Egyptian
- Mythology: Greek
- Mythology: Norse / Germanic
- Protagonist: Female (option)
- Setting: Classical Greece
- Setting: Egyptian
- Software Pyramide releases
- Sound engine: AIL/Miles Sound System
- Symphonic Orchestra: Northwest Sinfonia
- Theme: Atlantis
- Ubisoft eXclusive releases
- Video games turned into board / card games
Screenshots
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Credits (Windows version)
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 89% (based on 66 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 84 ratings with 6 reviews)
The true successor to Age of Empires!
The Good
Several games have tried to become "Age of Empires 3". All have failed. (Empire Earth comes to mind...) O man, where to start! First of, the graphics are terriffic. While they may not be as good as Command and Conquer: Generals, they are still really good. The different civilizations are pretty varied. Although there is only nine different major gods you can choose from in the beggining of the game, every time you advance an age, you get to choose from two different "minor" gods, which gives you new abilities, technologies and units. Each of the three cultures, Egyptian, Greek, and Norse, are radically different. Each have different units, ways of gaining favor and different buildings. Some can get Calvary, others can get camels etc. This difference between civs is much more pronounced than other RTS. In other ones, most of the civs have pretty much the same units and techs except maybe one or two bonuses and a unique unit. AOM changes this, and makes each civ much different. The "minor" god feature also can have 2 players who start out the same major God, have at least slightly different bonuses. The "God Powers" are really cool. Each God has one that you get to use once. These do something pretty terrific that can change the course of the game. The powers varied from destructive to productive i.e. Meteor, which unleashes a meteor storm on your opponenets (duh) to being able to make a forest or gold mine appear. The game come with a campaign that lasts about 30 missions. (Although the ending is pretty bad. ) Also, if you don't know what a unit does, you can right click on the picture and it will automatically bring up the stats, what it's good against etc.
The Bad
The learning curve is kind of tough. When you build a myth unit, you may not know what to do. Some kind of silly stuff in the campaign, like people in those light armor suits or in "Egyptian clothing" in the middle of a tundra. Occasionally, when there's a close up cut scene ala Empire Earth, you will se some kind of ugly textures, although alot better than empire earth. Finally, units seem to move kind of slow. Even the Calvary, which zip around pretty fast in AOE. O, just remembered, the maps are small. I mean really small. Even the largest setting is dinky compared to AOE's map.
The Bottom Line
If you played AOE, you will like this game. Although the slightly steep learning curve may turn off some casual gamers, this is defenitely a must buy.
Windows · by James Kirk (150) · 2003
The undisputed Age of Empires III
The Good
*2nd Review Update
So there I was, hearing rumors of an Age of Empires III that turned out Age of Mythology. Unfortunately for us AoE fans, Age of Empires III turned out to be a pile of crap. At least AoM wasn't disappointing at the least. Hah, they finally use "mythology" has a main theme. See this is what happens when people start thinking "Medieval RPG". Hey, nothing can go wrong with "Medieval RPG Thinking" :p
Graphics
So Age of Mythology did a total upgrade to old AoE II game play. From 2D to 3D and very stable I might add, which was still rare considering 3D graphics were quite new, very unstable for a lot of games.
I remember the first time I saw the intro cut scene. My jaw was in awe. The sight of mythological units was somewhat amazing. The fact that I've never seen a giant beetle unit is very much memorable.
New Factions
The game itself comprises of the different approaches, which is represented by the 3 different races:
The age advances now are represented by gods. Each race has different gods which represent an outline of a technological tree. The first choice is to define 1 out of 3 possible Major Gods, which will branch into several Minor Gods. Each God has their own specialties effecting units, powers, and game play tactics (ie. production, etc.) Units
The units are divided into 3 major groups:
This is the most unique and complex RTS I've played yet. To a certain point I must dare say balance of the 3 races (and their hybrids) out-maneuver
In the campaign mode, you play Arkanos. Naval commander, protector, and son of Atlantis. Obviously fictional it seems, even from a mythological point of view, but I must admit the story plot leads into very interesting way. Besides advancing in the game to find out and experience new units and technologies, the story itself is also as addictive. The plot brings you around the world from Greece to Egypt to Scandinavia though what seems to be an underground subway route :p
**The Bad**
Only one thing I've found that is depressing. Unit stances. Not short keys. You actually have to click to set the "aggressive", "defense", etc. stance. Although there is a "global" stance option, I doesn't help much in fast maneuvers though.
**The Bottom Line**
Age of Mythology is an excellent sequel to the Age of Empires series!
Windows · by Indra was here (20755) · 2007
The Good
Slight technical improvements on the Age Of Empires II engine. The game is good. It's fine. In fact, it's just like age of Empires II.
The Bad
You're not going to ace any history tests because of this game. Unlike it's predecessors, it's not based on history but on fantasy. And that's pretty much the only difference. It looks and plays so much like AOEII that you would swear there were no changes, although there have been some technical refinements which consequently require more computer horsepower.
If it were viewed in a vacuum, Age of Mythology adequately represents the competency of the folks at Ensemble Studios. It has more visual whiz-bang than AOEII because you have colorful spells instead of simple hand-to-hand combat. When viewed in the real world where there are other choices, it seems like a dud.
The Bottom Line
It's just like Age of Empires II, only with magic spells.
Windows · by Dan Spencer (6) · 2002
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
disc 2 | dolphin-san | Apr 22, 2008 |
Trivia
1001 Video Games
Age of Mythology appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Board game
The game was adapted into a 2003 boardgame of the same name published by Eagle Games.
Code
Age of Mythology has over three million lines of code.
Engine
This is the first game in the Age series, developed by Ensemble, to use a 3D engine.
Mountain giant
The mountain giant unit has a unique, little-known special attack – it can kick dwarves like soccer balls.
Online servers
The game's online servers (which were hosted on Ensemble Studios Online or ESO) were shut down by early 2013.
Sales
In 2003, Age of Mythology won the Gold-Award from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more then 100,000 (but less then 200,000) units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Awards
- 4Players
- 2002 – #7 Best PC Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
- Computer Games
- March 2003 (No. 148) - #4 in the 10 Best Games of 2002 list
- Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (Entertainment Software Association Germany)
- 2003 - Gold Award
Information also contributed by Maw, PCGamer77, Pseudo_Intellectual and Xoleras.
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Related Sites +
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Age of Mythology Heaven
This is one of the biggest fan sites for Age of Mythology. It contains forums, faqs, downloads, screenshots and even toons. -
Age of Mythology Temple
Fans site that also has an official clan. -
Planet Age of Mythology
One of the biggest AOM sites, it contains complete news and game information , thorough guides to the campaign, helpful strategies for each civilization, downloads sections. -
The Magic of Myth
An Apple Games article about the Mac version of Age of Mythology, with comments provided by Lead Game Designer Ian Fischer (September, 2003). -
Through the Ages - Starting into a new Age!
A fan site that contains forums, downloads, screenshots, faqs and help files. -
interview (November 10, 2003)
for Inside Mac Games with lead designer Ian Fischer
Identifiers +
Contribute
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Kartanym.
Macintosh added by Corn Popper.
Additional contributors: Andrew Hartnett, Unicorn Lynx, Corn Popper, Maw, Zeppin, Paulus18950, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Plok, FatherJack, Zhuzha.
Game added November 3, 2002. Last modified March 3, 2024.