Once bitten, twice shy for the “HD” remake of Age of
Mythology with Microsoft opting to bring you the “Extended” edition of Age of
Mythology for PC. Ensemble Studios, a name so
common-place in RTS folklore you’d be forgiven for thinking they done more than
the Age of Empires and Mythology series before being outcast to that illustrious
list of Studios that didn’t deserve to be closed. However, Microsoft is and
Microsoft does and has cashed in on the brand.
Last Year we were gifted with Age of Empires II HD edition.
I for one was pretty excited for this. I spent most of my childhood fondly cutting
down trees, mining gold and dancing in the rivers of blood of thine enemies.
The year was 1999, the internet was making funny noises, everyone was scared of
the Millennium Bug and Mr Oizo’s Flat Beat was number 1 in the UK charts. A
fond time! I let my excitement build and was let down. The “HD” remake allowed
you to play Age of Empires II in 1920 x 1080, no upgrades textures, mechanics,
music, sound, gameplay, campaign or units. So after that disappointment trudged
on and when Age of Mythology: Extended Edition came knocking, well, I got excited
and I got let down again.
For all intents and purposes it’s the same game. It follows
the usual practice of base building and in turn army building. The mechanics don’t
hold up as well as they used to. Real Time Strategy games in general have
evolved a lot more than other genres. You can’t really force an early rush.
There’s no real expansion processes and games generally take quite a while to
get going. If it’s compared to games like Starcraft II, I’m fully aware that
Starcraft II is a direct sequel but when you lay it side-by-side against Age of
Mythology you really notice how far the genre has moved on. I also feel that it
is fair to hold Age of Mythology against Starcraft II as far as comparisons go.
At the time of writing Age of Mythology is £22.00 on Steam and Starcraft II
able to be purchased from Amazon for £21.49. As far as value of money goes I’d
stick with Starcraft, unless your nostalgia is simply aching for Age of
Mythology. It’s the little things that also grate on me whilst playing in the
modern age. There’s no sense of altitude of terrain, Age of Mythology feels
incredibly flat, there’s no solid differentiation between your hero and
standard units and there’s no cover or protection system minus garrisoning your
units. Let’s take a run through the new features: Time of Day, Improved water,
Shadows, Bump/Specular maps, Global Lighting and Antialiasing. Achievements and
Steamworks Integration was also added, but unless you’re a huge fan of the game
it doesn’t go far enough in my opinion.
It might seem preachy but its just lazy development. Build
it from the ground up, throw some real money into the studio and let them make
a new game. There’s no harm in keeping a steady IP going. I’d be the first to
buy a new Age of Mythology game on release. The problem here is though that
you’re given a repackaged game from over 10 years ago. Half the problem is down
to the HD-remake phase we’ve been going through. In my honest opinion it works
well with some titles. God of War, Devil May Cry, FFX. All solid games and when
ported to have proper HD visuals is a fair enough cash in on a well established
IP. What I can’t stand are the repackaged games, along with Age of Mythology
and Age of Empires II, the recent Final Fantasy VII and VIII releases
unfortunately fall in this category. There’s a few games I’d love to see ported
to HD from back then. Give me a fully graphically updated HD remake of No-one
Lives Forever and you probably won’t see me for a week. Decade old RTS upscaled
to 1920 x 1080 just don’t cut it I’m afraid.
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