A perfect real-time strategy game, which is both educative and addictive; the perfect combination!
This game is actually the same as the previous age series, but now with some new added features, such as God powers, myth units, heroes and relics. Also the expansion (Age of Mythology: The Titans) improved the game in most ways. You are now to control a titan, which can be very useful in tough battles.
In Age of Mythology, you have three different civilizations; the Greeks, the Egyptians and the Norse. And the expansion adds another civilization, namely the Atlanteans. More reason to buy the Gold Edition (Age of Mythology + the expansion) too.
The gameplay stayed the same, but now with a mythological flavor. It turna out that it was a good decision. But like I stated before, it's still the same routine, if you want to build up your army to charge your opponents or to give a little boost to your defense. Gathering resources (food, wood, gold and a new thing called favor, which can be gained by pleasing the Gods) is the key to victory, since only with these sources, you can buy soldiers, improvements and create buildings.
There are four civilizations, each civilization has three Major Gods. Plenty of choices, but choose carefully, because every Major God has its own unique power and carries his own benefits. It ranges from strengthening the cavalry to aumatically healing the buildings when damaged.
But there is more: while playing, you can choose between two Minor Gods, when advancing to the next age, this can lead to a different strategy, which can lead you to the victory.
The graphics are reasonable, but quite good, since strategy games only focus on the gameplay, rather than on the graphics itself.
The sound is also reasonable, but the dialogues are good. Too bad, there aren't many kinds of music in this game, but it's still very relaxing, when listening to the music for the 100th time. Every civilization has its own kind of music. So more reason to try every civilization out.
Now on to the single player and the multiplayer:
The single player is very fun to play. it has an interesting storyline, which keeps you playing for hours and also introduces you to the interesting characters, like Arkantos and Kastor.
The multiplayer may be even better (it can be seen from many perspectives). The AI of the computer stays the same, making it easier for you to figure out the enemy's strategy. But the good thing is that you can choose the opponent's behaviour, ranging from defensive to attacking (only available when having the expansion installed). You can also choose your choice of victory; you can build a wonder and win in 10 minutes, if the wonder is still standing or just beat all the enemy units, and destroy all enemy buildings: the old-fashioned way.
Pick up this game, and play it non-stop, since this game holds one of the most addictive single and multiplayer modes ever created.