Reviews
Don’t be so quick to call it a masterpiece! Review of the mythological strategy Age of Mythology: Retold
The remaster is on par with the remake of the original Age of Mythology and is striking: polished graphics and beautiful effects please the eye, and new mechanics make the passage of beloved campaigns even more interesting. However, the project has shortcomings that spoil the overall impression of the new Microsoft release – including those that can stall the passage.
A Legend That Spun Off
Age of Mythology is a spin-off of Age of Empires — the game borrowed the foundation of the legendary strategy series. The gameplay begins with hiring peasants; collecting resources and constructing buildings. Only after that can you hire an army and go to war. The sound effects that migrated from Age of Empires 2 are also pleasing , as they sound when choosing buildings and producing units.
Age of Mythology: Retold added a mechanic for automating resource collection. The player only needs to set priorities, and the computer will send peasants to get food, cut down trees, and mine gold.
Troops have migrated from Age of Empires. Infantry, ranged units and cavalry play key roles in battles and complement each other organically. The key combination “Ctrl+1-9” allows you to create active troop detachments, which simplifies army management. However, the game does not introduce this mechanic. If it were not for the reflexes developed in Starcraft 2 , I would not have guessed the purpose of the cross in the upper-left corner of the screen.
The key feature of Age of Mythology is the ability to control legendary monsters. Creatures from the myths of various nations take direct part in military actions. Heroes are able to resist their power. They easily deal with monsters, but are much less effective against mortals. Thus, the game maintains balance and does not allow shamelessly stamping out all sorts of manticores or mummies.
Monsters stand out for their abilities. Hydras grow heads in battle and regenerate health, mummies resurrect slain enemies as servants, and ice giants freeze opponents with their breath. Alas, the disadvantages of the abilities have migrated from the original. For example, minotaurs throw back infantry, making them temporarily invulnerable. And a group of jellyfish can simultaneously turn one militiaman into stone when a much more valuable colossus is standing nearby.
Artificial intelligence has undergone changes. Now the enemy can maneuver in battle, actively uses siege machines and is annoying in every possible way during and outside of battle. When attacking settlements, the enemy tries to kill as many peasants as possible, which negatively affects the economy. However, its behavior remains quite predictable, which is simply a sin not to take advantage of.
But what’s strange is that friendly troops can’t get around their comrades. It’s funny, of course, to watch a swordsman who moves a hydra like a rag doll with his frail body. But in terms of gameplay, such a block will put a spanner in the works at the most unpleasant moment.
Troop aggression also requires improvement. If you don’t keep an eye on them, the fighters will fight in a direction known only to them. There were many cases when I explored the surroundings and found my fighters in the most unexpected places.
The game’s ultimate unit is the Titan. Titans cost a lot of resources and are capable of destroying entire settlements. The new era added in Retold both strengthens the Titans and allows you to play with divine powers more actively. It’s strange that the developers left the Cerberus-headed Titan model unchanged. Many players thought it was stupid and stood out from its peers.
The game also improved the relic system. In Age of Empires, collected relics added a passive influx of gold. In Age of Mythology, relics add various bonuses to the tactical and strategic parts, which makes their search more interesting: they give a speed bonus to peasants or a discount on the purchase of mythological creatures. Or, on the contrary, they buff heroes to more actively resist monsters.
Titanic Confrontations
The main parties to the conflict are the Greeks, Scandinavians and Egyptians:
- Greeks: are balanced and user-friendly. They have simple and straightforward troops and abilities. Greeks accumulate grace through prayer;
- Scandinavians: famous for their aggression, and gain grace in battle. They stand out with their mobile storage in the form of a cart with oxen, and two types of peasants. The Scandinavians have warriors responsible for construction, which allows them to build fortifications in the middle of the battlefield;
- Egyptians: Work slowly and receive blessings from monuments. The efficiency of settlements is greatly influenced by the Pharaoh, who urges workers, increases the speed of research and production.
The developers promise to add the Chinese civilization separately, which appeared in the 2016 add-on: Tale of the Dragon . And it was the right decision not to include them in the Retold version release – since the Chinese were remembered for their unbalanced troops and wretched campaign.
When moving into a new era, nations receive the patronage of the elder and younger gods. Each deity provides a unique technology for research and a monster for hiring in the temple. Each such choice is important and significantly affects the further passage.
Deities also lend their power. Divine intervention allows you to rain meteors and lightning down on your enemies, freeze them, and starve them. You can strengthen your troops’ armor, attack, or turn the enemy army into pigs. This is a fun mechanic that allows you to fool around and gain an advantage in the most unusual way. The collected grace is spent on using miracles and hiring monsters.
All nations can be tried out in the main campaign. The campaign tells the story of the adventures of the Atlantean hero Arkantos, who is trying to prevent the end of the world. Together with a group of loyal comrades, Arkantos fights an evil cyclops, whose name constantly slips my mind – I think it’s Gargarensis. Or Gargamel… In short, he is trying to free his master from captivity. And if… Gorgonzola… Okay, it’s useless. If the monster succeeds in realizing his plan, then the world order will come to an end.
The core of the campaigns has been lovingly carried over from the original, with a few additions. It’s so good that it doesn’t really need any changes. During the game, you’ll need to manage multiple bases, engage in tug-of-war with the enemy, and engage in epic battles – with both sides using divine abilities.
The passage is marred by jumps in difficulty. Many missions are easily completed at a high level of difficulty. Other missions knock you off your feet with unexpected and unfair blows. However, if you overcome these thresholds, it will be easier again.
There are also bugs of varying severity. At one point, one of the key characters got stuck in textures, which is why the mission had to be restarted. The Atlantean campaign is completely impossible to complete due to a recurring bug – I’m even a little happy about this turn of events, since they are the most boring people who borrowed mechanics from other peoples. But the fact remains – due to the technical state of the game, the completion of campaigns can stall, take this into account!
Mythical beauty
The game’s graphics, although noticeably updated, remain faithful to the original. Fans will easily recognize the familiar environment, buildings, and units. However, it would have been better to highlight the heroes and relics – I was scared three times by my own hero, who was approaching the base with a sporty gait. And relics are generally easier to find on the mini-map.
The campaign videos have also been remade, while preserving the essence – they perfectly convey the epic nature of the events. But there are some shortcomings here, too, because the attention is distracted by texture loading during the video, and long loading times between cut-scenes and missions.
The interface leaves much to be desired. It’s not nearly as ugly as the Age of Empires 4 counterpart, but I couldn’t figure out what the hotkeys were just by looking at them. Age of Empires 2 has a much simpler and more intuitive interface.
What is done at the highest level is the animation. All the buildings are destroyed in the most colorful way. Divine interventions are striking in their epicness, when a piece of the map is covered with meteors or lightning. The design of the legendary monsters looks like they came out of old movies – when they were filled with life by step-by-step animation, and their behavior is funny to watch outside of battle.
Diagnosis
Age of Mythology: Retold is a wonderful remaster on the verge of a remake. The game is worth giving a chance at least for its magnificent visual style and animations. The developers not only refreshed many mechanics, but also preserved the main elements that fans of the universe loved so much.
You can start playing the game now. But it’s better to wait a while until it’s polished – and then discounts will appear. Age of Mythology: Retold has enough problems now and they can poison the overall feeling of the game.
Publisher Xbox Game Studios has banned the game from being sold in Russia (which didn’t stop it from being translated into Russian). To enjoy the new release, you’ll have to either put up with the hefty price tag when buying from alternative sources, or buy Xbox Game Pass for a certain period. Or look into alternative sources.
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All images courtesy of World’s Edge, Forgotten Empires and Xbox Game Studios. Preview image courtesy of Age Of Empires