Age of Mythology

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Description

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.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "神话时代" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "神話世紀" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "RTS 3" -- Working title
• "AOM" -- Abbreviated title

Part of the Following Groups

• 3D engine: BANG!
• Age of Empires series
• Age of Mythology series
• Fantasy Creatures: Dwarves
• Fantasy Creatures: Trolls
• Gameplay feature: Fog of war
• Games that include map/level editor
• Games with randomly generated environments
• Green Pepper releases
• Mythology: Greek
• Mythology: Norse / Germanic
• 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

User Reviews

A great game in its own right, but also where everything started to go wrong	Windows	Maw (884)
The undisputed Age of Empires III	Windows	Indra was here (20865)
It has the base of a great RTS, but it's too flawed to recommend.	Windows	kbmb (435)
The true successor to Age of Empires!	Windows	James Kirk (168)
A well polished RTS featuring a crossover of several ancient mythologies	Windows	Cadorna (222)
Been there, done that.	Windows	Dan Spencer (12)

Critic Reviews

UOL Jogos	Windows	Nov 22, 2002		100
Just RPG	Windows	2002	97 out of 100	97
PC Games (Germany)	Windows	Nov 22, 2002	92 out of 100	92
Looki	Windows	Nov 14, 2002	92 out of 100	92
Deaf Gamers	Windows	2002	9 out of 10	90
PC Zone	Windows	Nov 29, 2002	9 out of 10	90
PC Gamer	Windows	Nov, 2002	86 out of 100	86
Game Revolution	Windows	Dec 01, 2002	B+	83
Super Play (Sweden)	Windows	Nov, 2002	8 out of 10	80
Christ Centered Gamer / Christ Centered Game Reviews	Windows	Jun 01, 2005		80

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
disc 2	8	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.

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.

Related Web Sites

• Age of Mythology (Game page on the publisher's website (English))
• 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.)