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158 of 175 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A of E with Monsters . . . and Bugs, January 21, 2003

By	Paul McGrath (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

The first computer game I ever purchased was the original Age of Empires, way back in 1998. It would be impossible for me to relate in words what a thrill this game was to me. I was completely immersed in it for months, and over the years bought and became equally engrossed with the three follow ups. It is with some reluctance therefore, that I must comment on this game with less than outright exuberance.

The big difference between this game and its predecessors are the units. Along with the usual archers, cavalry and infantry, you now get god powers, myth units, and heroes. These are quite fun. God powers, for example, include such devastating attacks as earthquakes, lightning storms, and even pounding your opponent with meteors. They can also be benign, however, such as those that provide rain for your farms, or those that heal wounded soldiers. You must be careful when you use them, though, because you can only use them once.

The myth units are also a blast. Unlike other units, they are created at the temple, but basically they are like other units only with lots of attack and hit points. The Greeks have Minotaurs, Cyclops, and Centaurs; the Norse have giants and trolls; the Egyptians have sphinxes and mummies; but there are many, many others, and they are all unique to their civilization. What is really fun is the way they attack their enemy. The Norse frost giant blows a cold wind at his foe, freezing it in place, then bashes it with its club. The hill giant not only swings his club, but every once in a while hauls back his foot and gives his enemy a mighty kick. The Medusa myth unit, as you would expect, turns the enemy into stone, and the graphic is superbly done. The attacked unit's movement grinds slowly to a halt, then freezes in place and turns gray. There are literally a dozen more I could describe, but suffice to say, they are ingeniously done, and a joy to watch.

But for that, though, any A of E fan will be familiar with this. You still have to have villagers collect food, gold and wood. They still build buildings, and you must create and upgrade your units with the available resources. Which is fine. I never minded this aspect of the game--in fact, enjoyed it--and really, it's an integral part of the strategy. You must protect your own supply and a good way to defeat your enemy is to attack his.

My first disappointment with the game is with the 32 scenario campaign. Oh, don't get me wrong, many of them were a lot of fun. But it doesn't have that specialness, that extra intellectual challenge that most of the earlier A of E games provided. I remember actually lying awake nights wracking my mind to find some new way to end an ever increasing string of failures. What a thrill it was to come up with a new angle, try it the next day, and discover that it worked! (And what a thrill--a truly visceral thrill--to maul and smash the enemy after suffering so many disappointments.)

But this doesn't happen here. For one thing, many of the scenarios are very short, some only twenty to thirty minutes. This is far short of the epic length that I crave. And secondly, even the longer ones often end abruptly. A good example would be one of the later scenarios, playing in the Norse aspect. You are told that you will be attacked. You have five minutes to build your town and its defenses, and you have fifteen minutes to defend it from the enemy. This was a blast, with furious, non-stop attacks from several areas. After the fifteen minutes, you are told that you must then find and destroy the enemy. Yes! This will be where it gets good, I thought. So I sent what remained of my battered forces north, simply to scout out the enemy's strength. I fully expected them to be destroyed, and instead concentrated on my area, replacing dead villagers, repairing or rebuilding smashed buildings, etc. Imagine my surprise when, a mere thirty seconds later, I was told that I was victorious! I looked up to where they had gone and sure enough, there was a huge enemy army up there, but apparently, all I had to do was get to it! Man, what a drag. What a disappointment! And there are at least a few like this.

The random map aspect also leaves a lot to be desired. For one thing, there are only two sizes, and the large one is much too small. You can scout out the entire thing in three minutes. And although I've only played it a half-dozen times, I've already begun to notice a depressing similarity in the enemy AI, which can be counted on to attack early, often, with the same units and at the same place. This was not the case in A of E, where from game to game and even within games, strategy and tactics changed and you could never know what to expect.

Lastly and most disappointing is the game's bugginess. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but I have a big, powerful computer, and I have never had problems with any Microsoft game like I am having with this one. First, I couldn't get the cursor to appear. Then the game would crash, or the screen would go blank. Now, I will say that Microsoft, through the internet, has been very helpful, but who wants to go through all of this?

Look, this is not a bad game. I have enjoyed it. It's just that I have come to expect so much more from this series. I guess I've been spoiled.

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78 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Age of Kings..., November 11, 2002

By	Tomas MF - See all my reviews

I've just acquired AOM this weekend and I got glued to the seat until 3 AM.
It's difficult to indicate precisely which are the features I like most, but I'll try to mention almost all of them.

Graphics: the 3D design is awesome. The buildings & units are so well designed that you can see small details on them. Another feature is the 360 degree rotation, enabling to see units and terrain from every corner. The game is eye-candy completely.

Buildings & units: mythological units such as Krakens, Cyclops, Hippocampus, Pegasus, Colossus (and many more) can be summoned to your side if your villagers pray enough to grant you enough favor from your gods. You can choose which god to adorate and be on your side. Besides, you can count on heroes to lead your armies such as Jason, Ajax, Odyseeus or Hippolita.

Civilizations: 3 different civilization types. Egyptians, Norse and Greek with a full pantheon of gods, special units and buildings.

Campaigns: want to share the siege of Troy and take part of the horse? Want to live mythical adventures in the North? The campaigns are totally interactive and with 4 different play levels.

Wrapping up, this is a game RTS players and fans would not like to miss. It's a brand new game with hours of assured fun.

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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This series keeps getting better & better!, July 6, 2003

By	D. Roberts "Hadrian12" (Battle Creek, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

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!