Age of Empires: Mythologies

Gameplay

Similarities to Age of Mythology

Though it is turn-based, Age of Empires: Mythologies maintains the spirit of the Age of Mythology source material upon which it's based by carrying over the same units, technologies, structures and gods that appeared in the original. The "Age up" mechanic is present here, encouraging players to maintain their resources and research the right technologies and powers in order to advance their unit types, resource gathering capabilities and overall economic and military strength. Heroes such as Herakles and Baldur are also carried over here, with their special Hero abilities intact.

Differences from Age of Mythology

As a turn-based title, the most obvious difference between Age of Empires: Mythologies and its PC-based forebear is in how the game progression works. Instead of a fluid real-time experience, Age of Empires: Mythologies enforces activity in turns -- or "days" -- much like how progression occurs in such franchises as Advance Wars, Fire Emblem and Civilization. Each unit can act once in a day (at most moving and attacking in one day, barring special Hero abilities). Only one unit per structure can be built in a day. Any given unit can build one and only one structure per day, and only one "technology" (including religious power) per structure -- i.e. a military technology from the barracks, a cavalry technology from the stables, et cetera -- may be researched. This differs from most real-time strategy games, which usually let you queue up simultaneous or consecutive technology researching and unit creation.

In addition...

Tactically and strategically, you may find that Age of Empires: Mythologies skews slightly towards more tactical trappings, with a heavier emphasis on combat and combat formations as opposed to robust economic considerations. This is not to say that Mythologies has completely transformed the Age of Mythology modus operandi from strategy to tactics, but rather to simply say that Mythologies on the DS may have you focusing on combat situations more than its real-time forefather (depending on how you tend to play your RTS matches). With its turn- and grid-based gameplay, one might say that Mythologies actually allows for more tactical combat considerations in the way of flanking and unit formation than Age of Mythology does simply due to its more-structured nature.

Features

Mythologies is packed with gameplay options, including...
-Hot Seat
-DS Download
-Multi-Card
-1v1 Online
-Skirmishes
-Three campaigns

Reception

Mythologies generally fared well with critics and fans alike, garnering praise for its technically proficient visuals, deep gameplay and longevity. Some bashed it for its poorly done narrative, unfair difficulty and generic visuals. It holds a modest 78 Metascore.