age of mythology + expansion (pc)
i played age of mythology all the way through on moderate during the last few weeks. i also finished all of the golden gift bonus scenario on moderate. however, i cheated on the final mission of the golden gift – “loki’s temples”. i felt like that mission was a bit unbalanced. the computer opponent mass produces myth units in it and non-stop barrages you with them. i had fortresses, walls, like 10+ towers, plus a standing army, to defend my home base and i still had troubles. i eventually had to give in when i ran out of gold. i was unable to protect my gold mining groups outside of the base adequately. to put in perspective how difficult this level is…even when i cheated and maxed out my population with military units, all of them were slaughtered by the enemy.
i’ve just begun the expansion so i don’t have many comments on it yet. as for the main game i really enjoyed it. i actually first played this game 4-5 years ago and remembered liking it so i loaded it up again. i didn’t realize that i had finished the game back then as well. in the game you get to play as 3 different civilizations – greeks, egyptians, and norsemen. each civilization of course has their own pantheon of gods. each civilization also plays a bit differently with gaining favor from their gods. favor is essentially a 4th resource alongside gold, food, and wood. favor is used in the production of myth units and special upgrades.
the game feels a lot of like the age of empires games. as it should since it came from the same development company. the main difference is that the civilizations have access to mythological units such as minotaurs, trolls, giant scarabs, etc.
a good job was done with creating an overarching story that transitioned well across the various civilizations. i think the moderate difficulty was accurately named for the main set of missions. no missions in the main campaign utterly aggravated me. there were a a few (2-3) where it was imperative to gather resources and build up defensive structures quickly.
i wouldn’t consider this game a classic (i might consider AOE1 and AOE2 to be), but it’s definitely a solid play and worth your time. i’d also say that it’s worthy of the “age of…” lineage.