Age of Empires, except with monsters and nifty lightening strikes
Anyway, Age of Mythology, while an excellent game, is extremely remiscinet of Age of Empires, except the animantions aren't as good. Alright, no one start spitting venom at me, that's just the way I feel.
Granted, this has a few key elements that Age of Empires is missing. To start with, there's much less emphasis on building and mining resources, which I enjoy. Also, you get to control gigantic monsters, which I love. The cyclopses alone make up for the somewhat jerky gameplay.
The god powers are a joy, too. I think my personal favorite is either meteors or tornados, especially on the mission when parties of enemies are charging down a long path. When a meteor hits right in the middle of them they go flying everywhere, and when a person dies of a tornado he gets sucked up into it and his body gets whirled around and around. It's the little things you treasure.
So anyway, while this game is a lot like Age of Empires and has a few annoying flaws, it's definitely worth checking out.