Age of Mythology: The Titans

"An amazing improvement over one of the best RTS ever"

Age of Mythology was one of the best real-time strategy games I've ever played. With its assortment of new features, excellent graphics, absorbing campaign, and 3 varying factions, it re-defined the genre. The Titans manages to improve on the original, with a new civilization and campaign.

Gameplay: 10/10

Since you obviously own the original Age of Mythology if you own (or are considering owning) The Titans, I won't go into the basic gameplay. If you really want to know, check out my review for AoM. The main feature of TT is the new campaign, although short, it stills provides an excellent tutorial for the new civilization: the Atlanteans. Their deities are the older Greek gods; Kronos, Oranos, Gaia, and their offspring, also known as the Titans. With all new Myth Units, Techs, and God Powers, you'll undoubtedly have fun exploring all the new possibilities for crushing your enemies The Titans offers. The other main addition to the game are the Titans themselves. By researching an expensive improvement in the final age, Secrets of the Titans, you gain a special God Power that places a Titan gate exclusive to your civilization. If your villagers manage to fully dig the gate out, you'll summon a nigh-unstoppable Titan, a towering engine of destruction that can single-handedly crush all your enemies on its own. The only real way to stop a Titan is to have one of your own; they provide a cool alternative to Wonders. One final addition to hinder defensive players like myself is that in TT you can only have 20 Towers at a time instead of 30, but this likely won't come up often.

Graphics: 10/10

Age of Mythology incorporates ultramodern 3-D graphics, and The Titans is just as good. The units are extremely detailed, and the game evens shows off its capacity for graphics by letting you rotate the map as you like. In cutscenes, units are incredibly expressive, using hundreds of animations to express the game's storyline. The amazing graphics of The Titans help make the new God Powers and Myth Units all the more amazing.

Sound: 8/10

The music in TT isn't exactly top-notch, but every side still gets its own theme music. There is also music that starts during heated battles. The music isn't especially repetitive, and relatively unobtrusive. The units all have different speech, in made-up Atlantean. In conclusion, TT has pretty good sound.

Story: 10/10

I might be giving this a high rating because I'm interested in Greek Mythology, but TT really does have an interesting story. Like Age of Mythology's story, it's an offshoot of real Mythology. The story starts as the Titans trick Kastor, the son of the previous game's Hero-turned-demigod. Without knowing what he is doing, he sets out to release the Titans. Can the now-older Heroes of Age of Mythology stop him from plunging the world into evil?

Replay: 9/10

Like all strategy games, TT has superb replay value. You can spend weeks delving into the various minor gods and strategies. You shouldn't have to worry about getting bored with the game for quite some time, especially if you go online.

Buy or Rent: Buy

Because Age of Mythology is a long-lasting and great game, and because you can't even rent computer games, I'd highly recommend buying The Titans, especially if you're a strategy fan.

Final Score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/06/04