There are many other differences between the races. Egyptians build slowly, but don't use wood. Greeks gain favour easily, but have the fewest available heroes. The Norse have unlimited helsirs, but must continually be on the offensive to generate favour with their gods. Their workers are also unable to build, being used only for resource gathering. Instead, the Norse basic infantry unit is used to construct buildings. There are also fairly significant differences between the different races tech trees. Other changes have been made to the franchise. Settlements can no longer be built just anywhere, but only at predefined points on the map. Since settlements are important for raising the population limit, it becomes very important to expand. Relics also make a return, only this time they confer a variety of different bonuses. The result is that games are almost always begun with a frantic rush to build a hero followed by a hectic relic hunt.

Battles in AoM are very similar in feel to previous Age of Empires games. Units arrange themselves in an appropriate formation automatically, and move around the map at the speed of the slowest unit in the group. Clashes between armies are memorable. Viable tactics are roughly of the same mould as previous games - essentially being that the well-balanced army will prevail over a larger single-unit force. As has become the custom in games these days, each unit has a specific counter - spearmen beats cavalry beats archers. What is different here is that this paper/scissors/stone model is a bit more three-dimensional, more multi-layered. Mythological units will pretty much beat any normal unit, but they can be swarmed effectively, and hero units are devastating against them. The abilities of heroes and myth units add another layer of complexity, and finally there are the abilities granted directly to the player from the gods themselves. These range from overtly offensive spells such as meteorite and lightning storm, to spells which increase the rate of food production or heal all your troops. Best of all, all this can be managed to a level that suits the player - most abilities (other than those granted directly to the player) may be automated, and unit AI is entirely adequate for most tasks. AoM definitely requires less in the way of stressful micromanagement than other recent RTS games like Warcraft III.

The single player campaign begins with the Greeks, and involves many well known locations and incidents, including Atlantis and the siege of Troy, before moving to Egypt and finally north to the Norse lands. Mission styles are fairly generic, involving the usual attack/defend and small-party missions, although there are some nice surprises. One excellent mission involves a tug-of-war between two cities over a cart-bound relic, with each city sending out waves of troops to capture and keep control of the cart as it trundles slowly back and forth in no mans land. The story is continuous throughout all three campaigns, and represents one area of marked improvement over previous ‘Age’ titles. For the most part, however, the missions are predictable, if still very enjoyable.

Age of Mythology is definitely evolution over revolution, but does innovate a lot more than you might expect. The basic play dynamic retained from previous games is solid, and the game makes the ever-necessary transition to three-dimensions seamlessly. The inclusion of mythology and heroes, however, represents the bulk of new content, and offers a well-thought out and immensely enjoyable addition that changes the core game play enough to keep the game fresh. The graphics are excellent, the sound is memorable, and the story is enough to keep you playing until you find some real opponents to play against. Worth both your money and your time.

A Herculean effort.

90%

By Nick McCrea