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Age of Mythology at E3 2001

The Specs

Age of Mythology is the third in the series of "Age of…" games from Ensemble and Microsoft. Among the changes since Age of Kings is a move from 2D to a robust 3D engine. The emphasis on historical detail is now supplemented with mythic elements: heroes, mythical creatures, and magic have been added to familiar historical civilizations. The three civilizations are the Egyptians, Greek, and Norse, each with three gods to choose from. Your choice of god will determine which spells and creatures you'll get to use. The Norse will have access to several varieties of giants, the Greeks will have minotaurs, cyclops, and medusae, and the Eyptians will have guys like the anubites who can hop over impassable terrain. Heroes will be powerful units with the ability to spend accumulated "divine favor" to cast meteor storms, lightning strikes, volcanoes, and other spells. The Norse earn favor by fighting battles, the Egyptians earn favor by building monuments, and the Greeks earn favor by devoting units to prayer. Most of the trappings of Age of Kings - extensive multiplayer support, random scenarios, varied victory conditions - will be present in Age of Mythology.

The Speculation

Tom's Comments: Of all the real time strategy games I saw at E3, I can definitely say this was one of them. Age of Mythology looks merely like Age of Kings with spells and uber-units.

Mark's Comments: Age of Mythology was one of the better looking games at the show. It's interesting to contrast this game with Blizzard's Warcraft III. Both have a greater emphasis on spells and heroes than did their previous incarnations. But Mythology looks to be very much a traditional RTS while Blizzard is veering away from building to focus on combat. Mythology's 3D engine is very pretty and models some nice effects, like waves breaking on the shore. It also ran smoothly with a number of units fighting on screen at once, though we saw 20-30 and not hundreds. I'm a bit of sucker for magic and mythical creatures, so this game has me more excited than a third Age of Empires game would have. This one seems like a slam-dunk for Ensemble and Microsoft.

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May 22, 2001