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A few years ago, Age of Empires was released on the DS.  Unlike its real-time cousin on the PC, this Age of Empires was a turn-based strategy game.  An odd choice to be sure, but in this particular case it worked, providing players with a solid tactical strategy game with much of the flavor of the original.  What didn’t sit so well were the atrocious graphics.  The mess of chunky pixels and colors made it far too difficult to tell what was going on.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Along comes Age of Empires: Mythologies, which uses the same design principles as the earlier DS game, but has the common decency to add a very pleasing visual sheen to mix.  The result - a fun and playable Age of Empires game for your humble handheld.

If you’ve played an AoE game before, you’ll quickly feel right at home building up towns, claiming resources, and directing your armies around the map.  Much like the first game on the DS, you have a choice to play through several campaigns featuring the different sides.  In this case, you’ll be face-to-sprite with the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Norse.  There are also numerous skirmish maps and multiplayer modes (including hotseat play).

Altered Beast

Obviously, the game takes its cue from the “Mythologies” off-shoot of the series and as such features all manner of mythical beasts and heroes.  This not only adds a certain fantastical flavor to the game, but shakes up the mechanics a bit.   There’s a rock-paper-scissors interplay not only between units but between classes (human, hero, beast) which makes for a greater variety of strategic choice.  There are also godly upgrades and powers in addition to the standard research tree of upgrades.  These are powerful, and potentially game altering events that can turn the tide of battle when used wisely.

It’s the graphics that really pull the whole thing together.  Not only are they very pretty, but they make great functional use of the DS’s two screens.  All the important information regarding unit strengths, terrain bonus, and the like are generally displayed right when you need to see them.  Or at the very least, the info is never more than one tap away.

Make No Mythtake

The first Age of Empires on the DS was a near miss.  A good game sunk by a flawed visual interface.  The developers of Mythologies clearly did their homework.  This is a solid strategy game with the visual chops to back up a deep, playable design.

Article Written By: Greg Bemis