Gameplay

Loki, the trickster

In a new twist for an Age game, there is a solid, continuous singleplayer campaign that lasts a mind- and ass- numbing 32 missions. This is a very, very long campaign. It takes a week or two to complete at a decent pace, at least at a reasonable difficulty level. Then again, maybe it just feels long.


The campaign follows the exploits of Arkantos, an Atlantean hero who finds himself forced to engage in the Trojan War to appease Poseidon. In a saga not unlike the Illiad or Oddyssey itself, this seemingly simple task becomes much more complicated as the inevitable “greater evil” shows itself. Arkantos finds himself wandering across the ancient Greek and Egyptian worlds, and the frozen lands of the Norse. This gives the player ample time to experience all three civilizations, and most of the major and minor deities.

Take him down

Like army ants owning an elephant

Except there are a lot of elephants

I say feels long because in the vast majority of missions, you will end up doing the same thing. Build up an overwhelming force while fighting off a few attackers, then steamroll your opponent. Then you go onto the next mission and end up doing the same thing for a different reason. To break up the tedium, there are a few no-production missions which are actually so good that they outclass the regular scenarios. There are two particularly memorable such tasks, the first being Circe’s Island. Here we find our hero Arkantos, fresh from the conquest of Troy, turned into a boar. He has to lead a bunch of pigs (actually Ulysses’ men) to a temple and then turn then back… and then he has to mass up an overwhelming force and overrun his enemy. A slightly less innovative, but more interesting scenario is up in the North where players have to pick fights with various Norse tribes, one at a time, by taunting them with a banner. The campaign didn’t stir any great emotions, except leaving us restless. Throughout the various missions we felt this huge sense of inevitability about what was going to happen, like there were no surprises. It’s all stale and old hat, aside from a few trick missions there is little to set Age of Mythology apart.

Favoritism!

There are still four resources, but stone has been replaced with favor. Gold, food and wood are gathered in the normal fashion, while favor is earned uniquely by each civilization. The Greeks get it by sending peasants to worship at temples. The more worshippers, the quicker favor is generated. The Egyptians earn their favor by building monuments, which generate it at a steady rate. The Norse have the most unique way of gaining the favor of their gods – war. Although their heroes generate favor at a very slow pace, it is in battle where the Norseman gets noticed by his gods. This makes them at alternate points both the slowest and the fastest earners. All favor is capped at 100 points maximum, with the exception of Zeus worshippers who get to hold 200 in the bank.

They seem to grow in temples too

The swarm attacks

A cornered giant