Customer Reviews

Age of Mythology: The Titans Expansion Pack

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After recovering from the sluggish "Civilization III" - a single game there will last you 14 hours and bore you after 6 - I went back to the fast paced "Age of Mythology" and its "Titans" expansion pack. The differences are stark, with truly evocative visuals, a constantly appealing non-obnoxious soundtrack, and some very special God powers. I would like to point out some flaws - maybe someone at Ensemble/Microsoft Games is reading?

1. Every player would want a massive crushing Titan, but there's little point in bothering when you're using any map of archipelagos and islands. None of these Titans can get across the water, so you're basically spending resources time and energy to create a hundred-ton defensive paper-weight for your island.

2. Unlike the original "Age of Empires", I could not change diplomacy with any of the computer's players. It was fun to double-cross my allies in the past - now I'm stuck with them till we win.

3. The maps are not randomly generated, so after about a week of playing you figure out VERY quickly exactly where you are and what the terrain looks like. This is repetitive. I tried to use the Editor to create my own landscapes, but couldn't get any of the other CPU teams to do anything. Way too complicated.

4. The voices of characters in the actual storyline campaigns are very cheesy - dialogue is also pretty kid stuff.

5. Worst flaw of all - a big one. You must have at least one ally to have a chance of winning any games that have more than 4 CPU teams. When your allies are attacked, they always ask you for aid or troops. But they never help you do anything. Sometimes an Ally builds a Titan and it stays perched in another town until the game ends - which it will as your own civilization is demolished. I miss the old "Give Me Your Extra Resourses" or "Attack An Enemy Now" or "Help! The Enemy Is In My City!" option. Some allies.

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

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.

The expansion really surprises me. 12 scenarios in the campagn was very disapointing. Also there was almost no storyline in the campagn. The Atlanteans were almost the same as the Greeks. The Titans all have the same animations. The Titans really unbalances the game. The new units were not really interesting. But all the graphics and AI were good at least. I did not expect there were only 6 new random maps. (I think)

I honestly believe that the original game was better.

The Titans expansion adds the Atlantean civilization to Age of Mythology along with its gods, heroes, myth units and their Titan. Titans are an incredibly powerful myth unit, capable of destroying entire cities. Each civilization has the capability of researching the Titan gate, which will allow them to unleash their own Titan upon the world. While Titans can be defeated, it usually takes another Titan. So, you'll need to play like Nathan Bedford Forest, "Get there firstis, with the mostis", before an enemy opens their gate.

All in all, this game is a definite keeper.

Don't get me wrong; this expansion pack is great. It just wasn't really necessary and didn't add that much to an already almost flawless game. Basically, this expansion pack adds a new civilization, a new single-player campaign, and four huge, almost all-powerful "Titans," one for each race.

The new civilization (hereafter "civ") is the Atlanteans. At first this confused me--wasn't Arkantos is the original campaign from Atlantis? and if so, why did it say he was a Greek?)--but it turns out that the "true" Atlanteans got their start from Kastor, Arkantos's son. As a civ, the Atlanteans are good to the point of imbalance. Their citizens, even though they're more expensive and take longer to build, are like citizens on steroids. They are tougher, bigger, and faster-building and gathering. They also don't need to drop off resources at drop-off spots. This sort of uber-unit is typical of the Atlanteans. I won't go into detail, but rest assured that the Atlanteans could easily be called the most powerful civ. For example, any unit can become a hero. Their god powers and myth units are also really souped-up, like the self-repairing Automaton.

The second new feature in the expansion is the new single=player campaign. First of all, I don't see why people aren't impressed with the original; the voice-acting is good, the story is interesting and is intertwined with "real" myths (rescuing Odysseus and co. on Circe's island in pig form was awesome) and the in-game cinematics were nice-looking, if not phenomenal. The new campaign continues in this vein, although I don't know about the myth aspect as the Atlanteans weren't real. The new campaign follows the story of Kastor, whom we briefly saw as Arkantos's son in the original AOM. He has grown up a lot, and now sports a deeper voice and a dorky (IMHO) ponytail. Now he leads his people, the Atlanteans, to a new land where they try to rebuild their shattered lives. Players of the original will recognize many of the main characters, including Queen Amanra and Arkantos. Since the new campaign sports only 12 scenarios, compared with the original's 32, their isn't quite as much depth; however, it's still interesting and fun to play--that is, until about halfway through, when the Titans are introduced. Then almost all the missions involve defending your base against a given Titan. No fun--not because it's especially hard, but because it's boring. Still, overall the new campaign is up to snuff, and players who like the defensive maps in Starcraft and Warcraft (Helm's Deep, Redwall, Bunker D, etc.) will no doubt be pleased.

The third and final new feature is the addition of the Titans--massive (really massive, like 80 feet) creatures from the depths of the Earth that are pretty much omnipotent. Although each civ has a different Titan, they are really the same in every aspect except graphics. The Greeks have a three-headed dog (Cerberus, Fluffy), the Egyptians have a huge eagle which I think is one of the three gods (probably Ra) the Norse have a sort of pumped up Frost Giant with a huge wooden hammer (not Thor), and the Atlanteans have an odd humanoid with some kind of crystals on his back. I have two main issues with the Titans. The first, and major, one is that they tend to tip the scales hugely. Whoever gets the first Titan usually wins, although a skilled player can manage to defeat an enemy Titan. This can cause games to evolve in a massive tech-fest, with each player desperately gathering resources enough to get a Titan. The second issue is that Titans can't cross water. This is sort of a minor issue, but it can get very annoying when you're playing on the Island map, or any other map with large amounts of water (the Nile River is particularly frustrating). Still, the Titans are awesome, if only because of their sheer brute force and incredible size (I'm really not kidding. On my 17-inch CRT monitor, they're literally 2 1/2+ inches tall and an inch thick).

To conclude, this expansion pack is really nice. What little it added was excellent and well thought-out. Go out and buy it.

Now.

There are alot of reasons so you dumb people that rtae it low probably never played it heres why i think its great.

WHY ITS GREAT:

-fun in editor to just mess around (no need to test map to have people fight)

-many units that can make diffrent stratadgies

-god powers are great

-many mythical units that make the game unique

-the Titans are crazzzzy

-you beat the campaign? well download the new free one online go to the main website of AOM =D =D =D

-beat every campagin that exsists? You can still play online make many skirmish wars and even make your own campaigns

-many fun maps

-can be easy or hard depending what difficulty's you choose so its great for everyone

-new armies/gods/powers all that good stuff =]

So basically this games greta buy it actually better yet buy the gold edition which has this expansion and the original which you need to use the expansion.

HAVE FUN

If you loved the original Age of Mythology- this is a great followup!
It would be better if the campaign part was a bit longer but it is still a great fresh addition to this game. The addition of the Titans adds a whole new dimension.
One can only hope that Microsoft will come out with another expansion with Celtic/Chinese mythology too!

A great improvment on an Excellent game. Only disappointment is that you can't access the same titans from the campaign in the quick game and that the titans aren't named. I think that they should be, afterall, they are Gods. I'd also like to see a patch that gives you access the the Norse Giant Hero. He was pretty cool. But the Roles of the heros are great and The atlantean army is awesome.

I almost gave this game a 3, but it really is FUN to play, so a 4 is in order.

Just as with the original game, the story line and voice acting are outstanding. The new myth units, special abilities and the titans themselves are really great. And as with the original version, the graphics are astounding.

However, two of the campaigns were really jumpy on my AMD 2800+ with 1.5 gigs of RAM. But more importantly, the whole expansion pack is too short. In "moderate" mode I was able to complete the entire series in a single evening (7 hours). For the price, I expected a bit more.

Don't get me wrong, what was there was a really great game, but we didn't get a chance to re-visit Tartarus (perhaps a campaign to revive Chiron to help fight against the Titans) and we only got a chance to fight a few of the Titans. Unless they plan to release another expansion pack within the next few months, this one leaves you feeling empty.

If you are a TRUE fan of AOM, then you have to get this expansion pack, but take my advice and start off playing it in the hardest mode. That way you won't finish it in a single night. And be sure to update it before you play. I forgot to do that and it locked up my computer.