Age of Mythology (PC)

By PETER ELEY*

Age of Empires 2 has been a faithful companion, beating off advances from better looking rivals for a couple of years now.

The Conquerors expansion pack gave it a facelift — not that it needed one, of course. The fact that it ran so smoothly on my aged Pentium 266 was enough to keep the affair warm, if not exactly red hot.

Things have cooled recently as my Pentium got a new lease on life with some hardware upgrades, but Microsoft must have foreseen this — Age of Empires is to get a new name and a new graphics engine for version 3, to be known as Age of Mythology.

The move away from the Empire name is brave — the games have sold 8.5 million copies. But Age of Mythology is being produced by Bruce Shelley, the man behind Age of Empires, and the basic elements of both games are remarkably similar.

The Conquerors expansion just about used up all available ancient civilisations, so Shelley has turned to the fertile ground of Norse, Greek and Egyptian mythology.

The real difference between Empires and Mythology looks to be the greatly improved graphics, thanks to a new graphics engine which takes advantage of improved hardware.

Microsoft says that unit animations will seem more realistic and will be able to use a wide range of attack and defence manouevres.

Water will actually move, unlike that static stuff in Empires, landscapes will be more detailed and effects such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will add unpredictabilty to the game.

The game is slated for release in spring next year, but that's in the lap of the gods, of course.

$119.95

*peter_eley@herald.co.nz