Age of Mithology.

[happy_doughnut]

Yeah I know, I'm like 4 months ahead but still. I was reading a preview about this game and it left me puzzled.
*spoilers* well...not really but oh well...
They say that is itsn't a sequel to Age of Empires and that is isn't about magic or monsters. Supposedly it is a atory that takes you into the world of mythology. I, personally, love greek mythology but this game doesn't look so good. Have any of you heard of it?

[Uchiha Sasuke]

Yeah i heard of it.Its spose to play like age of kings but with a different setting and races and junk like that.I'll probably end up buying it none the less

[Rohamgh]

Originally posted by Mena
Yeah I know, I'm like 4 months ahead but still. I was reading a preview about this game and it left me puzzled.
*spoilers* well...not really but oh well...
They say that is itsn't a sequel to Age of Empires and that is isn't about magic or monsters. Supposedly it is a atory that takes you into the world of mythology. I, personally, love greek mythology but this game doesn't look so good. Have any of you heard of it?

It's AoE, its gonna be dope. and everyone's gonna buy it.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

A little news


While all of our tastes around the office tend to run a little differently, we're all looking forward to Ensemble's new RTS due out this September, Age of Mythology. Microsoft's International Games Festival gave us the perfect opportunity to sit down and look the game over another time and check out some of the god spells as well as take a look at several of the units and their abilities.

This is certainly climbing up the ladder of my most wanted list. One look at the game in motion would have any of you thinking the same thing. I was once again immediately taken in by everything visual about the game. The blending of the bright colors, functional and texture happy units, some absolutely beautiful special effects, and a water effect (sure you're all getting sick of hearing about how beautiful water is in games) that really gives you the feel that the waves are rolling up onto shores rounds out the most complete visual effort I've seen in an RTS.

It's not just what jumps out and grabs you straight away, it's also what lies in the details. One of the nicest of these effects is one that will undoubtedly have strategy gamers grinning. I'm talking about the addition of very noticeable upgrades to your units as they are improved. No more of the whole clicking on a unit to find out how strong they are. Instead, each time a unit is upgraded, each unit of that type is changed visually. So if you give better armor to your units, you'll see that armor appear on each of the models. If you give units new shields, you'll be able to see the units proudly carrying their bright and shiny new bits of protection. Each of the upgrades is pretty distinct so knowing your enemy is as a whole, a lot easier, not to mention more fun.

You'll also see fully populated worlds that are virtually teeming with life. Each of the different terrain types has different animals. The water has whales and sharks and fish swimming around, the desert has giraffes, the snow has reindeer... you get the picture. The world comes alive among the actual terrain that varies from flatlands to high peaks. Farms built over rolling hills flow with them instead of automatically flattening everything out giving the farms a more rural appeal.

On the other side of the visual coin are the spectacular effects used for the god powers. You've all seen the meteor showers before, one of the more spectacular things I've ever seen in a game, but some of the other powers are as equally enticing. They range from creating gateways to transport troops such as the underworld tunnel to the terribly destructive force of a tornado. The tornado itself sweeps through everything in its path, picking both structures, units and animals up and throwing them around. Auntie Em never had it this good. Seeing cows picked up and hurled across the landscape is particularly entertaining. Moo. Moo? Mooooooo!

Speaking of animals, one of the more comical of the God powers comes in the form of a curse. This particular curse turns units in the vicinity of where the power is cast into pigs. One minute a man, the next minute meat. Beautiful irony.These powers are certainly incredible both in form and in function. They are powerful works, that when used correctly, could possibly turn the tide of a game. The kicker is that you can only use the powers once during the course of a match. As you gain the powers through battle or praying or what have you, you'll need to choose carefully before you click that button that sends the wrath of a god down to smite your sad little enemies.

There are also other considerations to take into effect before using a power. Take rain for instance. Using this will cause a nice rainfall to help out your farms and increase food production. The problem is, it does this all around the map so your enemies are benefiting from your use of power as well. Planning this to coincide with the use of another spell that destroys some farms first may be the answer you're looking for, but it will take a little more thought before you just go ahead and make the land fertile.

Some of the powers are one time shots and some are timed. Both the tornado and rain powers are good examples. When anyone on a map casts a spell, it will be announced on the screen and a countdown will be given showing how long the effect will continue to last. This also puts an interesting twist on things as the caster's opponents will know one of his or her powers has been used up.

Since the fun of powers is set to only one shot for a game, most of the focus will be settled directly on the shoulders of the units. Ensemble is quick to point out that the use of combined arms is still a must in the game overall, but the special mythological units will definitely take their place. It's obvious that the guys at Ensemble have a love of mythology. Each of the units like the Norse War Boar and the Greek Cyclops and the Anubi jumping dog warriors of the Egyptians all are stacked with personality and a sense of power. The temptation to build an army entirely out of these creatures just for the hell of it is certainly there, but they are all expensive, take up more population points, and half the time are really only useful for their special abilities and take a helpful support role instead of standing on the front line dealing out punishment. Many are much more useful for supporting the brunt of your army, made up of units like spearmen and archers.

Switching speeds entirely, the game will also ship with an editor that will allow not only the creation of maps, but the easy creation of cinematic and complex scenarios. Setting up a story and creating your own feel will be part of the fun. Camera angles and scripting will allow users to create in-game cutscenes with relative ease. We got a good look at some of these scenes that were recently created using the editor. Judging by the result, it's a pretty nifty tool that many of you that dabble in map and mod making will enjoy quite a bit. One scene that apparently took only a half-hour or so to make was complete with a ruined town that was still on fire, some units marching around, and a quick confrontation between a hero and a minotaur. Just one more thing to add to the list of reasons why you should look forward to Age of Mythology later this year.

With everything looking so good and moving along smoothly, the team is very confident that they will make the September release

[Rohamgh]

Now that's what I'm talking about :D:D:D