Ensemble Studios blew the world away with Age of Empires way back in 1997. It took a different approach to the RTS formulae than Westwood or Blizzard, and was rewarded heavily for it. Being able to advance your entire civilization's technology level was a heady drug, and balancing the varied needs of your economy with a well rounded army was strategically engaging. After releasing a sequel and pumping out a couple of expansions they decided to try to add something genuinely new to the formulae.
So just a few years later, in 2002, we got the spinoff Age of Mythology. It was extremely well received on release - while the teching to later ages was still there, Age of Mythology expanded the role of heroes, added more factional diversity, had a wide range of mythical units to complement your army, and even added god powers that could make or break the tide of battle. It seemed to just be Age of Empires++, a more fun and flavoured take on what made everything in the original great.
But does adding mythical units with no active abilities compare to the caster units in Starcraft? Does the extreme focus on macroing an economy up with its slower pace combat make the game tedious? Does Age of Mythology truly stand side by side with the other RTS giants, or is it fated to become a forgotten spinoff, just one game to litter the RTS graveyard?
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On this episode, we discuss:
Age of Mythology doubles down on the economic focus of Ensemble Studio games, adding faith as an additional resource alongside food, wood and gold. Is it fun trying to optimise your economy, or does this come at the cost of more high octane battles?
Many RTS campaigns suffer the issue of every mission boiling down to building a max population army, then attack moving into the enemy, destroying everything in your wake. Does Age of Mythology succumb to this problem, or does it have a solution?
How enjoyable is the combat of Age of Myhology? Do the autocasting abilities of myth units and heroes allow for your to micro them effectively? Does the relatively low lethality of units make fights exciting?
We answer these questions and many more on the 114th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!
And next episode we’re doing our annual mailbag, so if you have any questions we’d love if you’d drop by!
Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K
Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another
Age of Mythology OST: Stephen Rippy, Kevin Mcmullan
Is Age of Mythology better than Age of Empires 2, or just different? Are there modern RTS games that you have played that have eclipsed Starcraft 2 or Warcraft 3? Which RTS game should we play next? Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!
