Game Review: Age Of Mythology Demo

[CodeOptimist]

Age of Mythology Demo

Age of Mythology is the latest game from Ensemble Studios, but (AFAIK) not officially part of the Age of Empires series, since it is not a real history game.

I was sort of disappointed with Age of Mythology, since mythology isn't really "my thing". But other than that, the game was very well done, and is very popular.

I don't have the game itself, but I did play the demo version for a while. I am basing my review off the demo.

Breakdown

Animation [Good]

I was impressed by the unit animation here. It looked very smooth and "clean" to me. The great graphics engine doesn't hurt either!

Civilizations [Good]

Even though I don't like mythology (at least this type of mythology), I have to admit that the civilizations in Age of Myth were great. In my previous reviews, I have talked about civilizations being too general and not "unique" enough. Age of Myth is a great example of keeping civs super-unique. Granted, there are only three civs, but each one has a unique art set, sounds, units, powers, and so on.

Editor [N/A]

I haven't been able to take a look at the Age of Myth editor, but other people seem pleased with it.

Gameplay [Good]

The Age of Myth gameplay is very fast-paced and quite fun. With each civilization being so unique, it's hard NOT to have fun playing!

Graphics [Good]

Ensemble's transition from a 2D sprite engine to a full-blown 3D engine appears to have gone well. Everything is very colorful and lively, especially the particle effects!

Interface [Good]

The in-game GUI is very clean, and user-friendly. Even small additions like the control group flags at the top can really help novices and experts alike.

Multiplayer [N/A]

I didn't play multiplayer in the demo, but it appears to be quite fun, with many new strategies always evolving.

Music [Good]

Age of Mythology's in-game music was superb. Before I uninstalled the demo, I copied all the tracks so I could listen to them once in a while!

I do have one gripe here though, and that is the opening music. It didn't seem as theme-based as the great Age of Kings theme. It seemed more "chaotic" to me. I'm sure other people liked it, though.

Pathfinding [Good]

Nothing bad to say here! Even with all the crazy flying, jumping and exploding myth units, the pathfinding AI was quite stellar.

Single-player [Good]

The skirmish AI was good and could give you a "run for your money". The few campaign scenarios included in the demo were nicely done as well.

Sound Effects [Good]

You have to give the guys at Ensemble Credit; it's not easy making up sounds for creatures that don't exist! The sound quality was sharp and clear, and the various sounds they found for the myth units seemed to fit the unit perfectly.

Timeframe [N/A]

Being a mythology game, Age of Myth didn't really have a "timeframe".

Lessons Learned

What it means for 0 A.D.

Good music, pretty graphics and fun gameplay are a few of the parts that make a best-seller. Music-wise, 0 A.D. is covered: hats off to our talented musicians who are putting a tremendous amount of effort into creating music for this game!

The great graphics in Age of Mythology prove that you don't need high-poly, memory-hogging models and textures to make a game look amazing. The models in Age of Myth were relatively low poly, yet still looked great even when zoomed in a bit.

Age of Myth's fun gameplay comes from the unique civilizations, in my opinion. With each civilization being so specialized, various strategies pop up very quickly. Besides, the game is easier to balance when there aren't as many civs!

Overall, Age of Mythology was a successful game, and Ensemble Studios did a great job to make it as good as it was. Now, if only they'd make an Age of Empires III...

Next Up: Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds

[Ulysses S Griffin]

yes, everything you said about the game was true, the game imo, also shows you how a 3d "empire building" rts should look like

[SUD]

Actually I liked AoM more in its early stages before turning into another typical RTS. Before that it had huge ships (never seen in any game) and huge walls (only one I've seen is Stronghold).

That's where 0ad should kick in: big ships, big walls, big towers, big buildings, big battles, and the rest of stuff like every typical RTS

[Ulysses S Griffin]

i was really excited about AoM aswell, but microsoft blabbed out too much info about the game, by the time i played the game, it was like i had bought it 5 months before it came out.

...but still the game is great imo (particulary the campaign...very addictive storyline, not one bit believable )

[iNtRePiD]

Age of Mythology is a very interesting situation. The production values for the game were extremely high in almost every area (expect for sounds, the multiplayer interface and the editor). But the core game play left something to be desired.

[DarkAngelBGE]

Good review, Nathan ! Really reflected my opinion about AoM as well.

[Mythos_Ruler]

To which "core" aspect are you refering, Intrepid?

[iNtRePiD]

All of it.

Age of Mythology had really high production values; everything for the most part looked and sounded great. The campaign had an enjoyable story line that was fun to play through. You had several unique civilizations that gave you a different playing experience every time you played as another civilization. The music was fantastic and there were tonnes of downright cool graphic effects.

However, the game itself wasn’t all that fun. All these great components came together but they some how created a mediocre result. It took quite a while to realize this. I kept playing and playing Age of Mythology while not really enjoying it. At first I thought it would just take some time to get use to the mechanics and the style of the game, but in the end I found that the game just wasn’t that enjoyable to play.

[Quacker]

Agreed with iNt.

Reminds me, i've got an itch to play some AoK...

[Aeros]

Well duh, if you don't play multiplayer

Yeah I agree, AOM is a very fine peice of work, but it lacks background, or a theme. AoK had a very distinct feal to playing it, and AoM seems to lack that.

Otherwise it's a great game and with the release of The Titans that fixes things that didn't work out and adds even better things to gameplay, it's probably the funnest game I've ever played, over all FPS and RPG games and all. Note I said The Titans, not normal AoM. So get it

[iNtRePiD]

It was the mutliplayer component that really fell apart and helped to erode my taste in AoM.

[ElfTheHunter]

I also loved AoM. I think there's no better RTS engine out there right now (and no, not even Empire). Reason is that the BANG! engine seems to fit, and makes sense. It's like the Halo engine, the physics and the way it works look good and effective.

But I do have a few complaints -

The single player was WAY top easy, I didn't finish it, but on the 9th scenario I should have faced some challenge. I finally just gave up.

Overall I think AoM had the Reloaded syndrome. It was high quality, but people were expecting something so much more that it dissapointed more than it failed itself.

[ElfTheHunter]

PS - Will you be reviewing WarCraft III.

(feels like no one here has played it, since it's always ignored when examples of good games are given, or bad games)

[Acumen]

If it's any consolation, WC3 is one of my favourite RTS games. The micromanagement of Hero units isn't everybody's idea of a good time, but it works for me; dealing with small, formidable parties, well-balanced and varied factions, exquisite cinematics, and what I consider to be a strong user interface.

[Fire Giant]

exquisite cinematics

Well, I like the AoM ones more... btw, did you ever get a look at the AoMH Pretty Town Cinematic Design Contest Maps ? They were a great example of what AoM's cinematics can do (though I shouldn't say that because my map is one of the top ranked ones - and self-praise smells bad ).

[Acumen]

Hmm, I might have used conflicting terminology. I meant 'cinematics' as in 'pre-rendered CGI movies'. You might have thought I meant in-game cutscenes generated through scripting.

[ElfTheHunter]

"'pre-rendered CGI movies'"

And in that area, only Squaresoft can outdo Blizzard (maybe Pixar too)

[Matei]

You didn't try multiplayer in the demo I guess, but if you're interested in making a game with good multiplayer, you should really look at the Quick Setup feature of AoM. In addition to hosting/joining game rooms from an in-game interface similar to the MS Gaming Zone ("Advanced Setup"), in AoM you can play "Quick Setup" where you select a game type and the ES server matches you with other people playing it. You can select Supremacy, Death Match, Lightning, etc as game types, and you can choose 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, ?v? and 2vAI for the players; the map is always a random map chosen from a set of "more balanced/faster paced" random maps. People are matched based on level, and all games except those vs the AI are rated. There are usually so many people on that the system finds a game for you in less than 1 minute, it's really great when you want to find a challenging/fun game quickly.

[phantom_rider2]

AoM is definately not holding people to it as well as AoK did. Of course it was fun, but now it isn't. AoM is just too simple and really does not involve alot of strategy (mid-rating level is/was bad when I was there). TT doesn't have anything that new to give, and the Titan units and Atlanteans just stack onto the simplified side of the game. Ratings are overemphasized and that causes more problems then the amount of fun given... AoM is still a good game, just not well planned on the MP side of things.