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For those who have never played Age of Mythology and are wondering what the title is about, the obvious and basic answer would be that it is an Age of Empires with more fantasy and very focused on heroes, a kind of Warcraft 3 amalgamated with the beloved Microsoft strategy game. And the truth is that even if this answer is not wrong, the statement is insufficient, very short considering the world of possibilities of Age of Mythology, which is revitalized and expanded in this new version, but let’s review a little history.
The Age of Mythology It was launched in 2002 (yes, 22 years ago) and 10 years later it was blessed by the gods with a premium edition. The truth is that this Ensemble Studios title sold a million units in the first month alone and managed to carve out an important place in the disputed hearts of real-time strategy game lovers.
The legacy of this already legendary game was the stick that Age of Mythology: Retold had to face, and more importantly, its developers, The end of the world And Forgotten Empires (who you may remember from the remastered versions of the first Age of Empires), had to figure out what appeals to modern audiences without looking askance at longtime fans and h as kept the flame of gaming’s Olympus burning brightly over the years.
Another important point of Age of Mythology: Retold is that The title makes its franchise debut on Xbox something that always presents a risk given the difficult transition from keyboard and mouse to the ever more complicated controller, a fairly high risk that has been managed here as we will see later.
Prepare to sit on the most comfortable throne of the gods with a game that seeks the miracle of making you forget a timeless classic and replace it with a new game that seeks to accompany you for the next 20 years with a lot of quality. Join me to see if it passes this analysis of the Xbox version.
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Technical section
As always, I would like to start with the aspect that attracts the most attention since it is the most exposed to view and it is the graphic evolution that is overwhelming when comparing this title with Age of Mythology from 2002, although I think it could even be improved a little more.
What do I mean by that? Scenarios, modeling of units, buildings and others they look brand newvery similar to the newer versions of Age of Empires, however the cutscenes seem somewhat dated, as if this was an HD update of the original version of the game.
The voices in perfect Spanish make the cutscenes much more immersive for the Spanish speaker, while the orchestral arrangements constantly accompany the player at different moments of the game, whether in peace with soft and harmonious notes or with a shrill bombardment of catchy melodies as the battle ensues.
Optimization on Xbox Series is, in my opinion, one of the fundamental aspects of delivery. This analysis was carried out entirely on an Xbox Series S that had no problem displaying the game in a completely fluid and smooth way, even with multiple armies on screen. Without a doubt, a fundamental good port of the console game is the control system that presents several wheel systems that allow you to see the different options of each unit, both in attacks and in formations and other details and that are complemented by fixed menus that allow you to search by type of units, buildings, etc.
Really, if the controller is your main drawback when getting the game on Xbox, don’t hesitate, you will get used to it very quickly and Button mapping is even better than Company of Heroes 3which I praised at the time in this analysis.
A more than important point here deserves to be great job done by the developers in terms of accessibilityan area that Microsoft’s studies have clearly focused on. From the constant narration of on-screen options (which can be turned off, of course) to the ability to play with a specific color palette for the colorblind, everything seems to be designed to include everyone.
In terms of location, The game is entirely in Spanish although I noticed that some menus, on-screen texts and dialogues are often in English, something that will eventually be fixed with a patch in the first updates. It should be noted that this does not affect the enjoyment of the game as such.
Gameplay
Age of Mythology: tells or moves away from the classic formula of most RTS in which the collection of a certain set of resources is essential to advance in the ages, obtain new technologies and be able to create better units to strengthen the troops and achieve the objectives. In this case, the resources to be collected are almost identical to those of Age of Empires, except that the stone has been replaced by divine favor and this is where the game shows real originality.
The gods (which the player can choose himself) require faith, which is obtained by placing villagers to pray in temples, by building new houses of faith or, for example in the case of the Nords, by fighting. The temples produce mythical creatures that generate pleasures such as being able to invade Troy with an army of hydras and a troop of centaurs armed with bows and arrows or being able to explore the map with a pegasus.
Each of the gods the player chooses to pay homage to will grant different powers of varying strength, such as turning part of the enemy army into pigs, calling a temporary ceasefire, or, one of my favorites, causing an earthquake that annihilates many hostile buildings. In the original time of the mythology, these powers already existed but were limited to a single use, something that doesn’t happen in Retoldalthough with each use the cost increases exponentially to balance the battles and not just use these attacks.
Another of the most marked changes was the replacement of the Age of Titans with that of Marvels thanks to the construction of an emblematic building.
The title suggests three main campaigns: The Fall of the Trident, The Golden Gift and The New Atlantis, all with numerous missions each. Skirmishes offer an ideal opportunity to manipulate different scenario conditions. On the other hand, Mythological Battles allow to recreate totally special circumstances that produce a very interesting challenge even for the oldest players of the game.
For fans of online battles, The game positions itself as the ideal setting to spend thousands of hours fighting piecework against opponents from all over the planet. This section includes casual games where it is possible to join or create new instances in classic modes such as King of the Hill, Regicide, Sudden Death, Conquest and, of course, Standard.
Those who want more competition can start ranked matches in multiplayer. It’s luxury.
Duration
Multiplayer Offers infinite replayabilityespecially considering that the 2002 game still has players today, more than two decades after its release. If we focus only on the single-player aspect, between the three campaigns and the mythological battles, we are talking about a total of around 30 hours at least.
Conclusion
It’s clear that Age of Mythology Retold won’t reinvent the real-time strategy genre, but the truth is that will be positioned among the top positions on this topicI can almost risk saying that, at least on Xbox, it can easily compete for the top spot on that podium.
It should also be taken into account that in addition to debuting at launch on Game Pass, the title has good planning for the future. Beyond the regular updates already traditional at this time, The developers have planned two major expansionsThe first of these will concern Chinese legends with a new attempt with Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon, a DLC released in 2016 with little success and which will be completely redesigned on this occasion. Nothing is known about the second expansion, but it is most likely linked to American mythology.
Gabriel Ignacio Fuentes
The good
- The control system on Xbox
- Integrated innovations
- Accessibility details
Bad
- Some not so neat graphic details
- Small portions of text missing
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