Age of Mythology: The Titans

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Developer(s) Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s) Microsoft Game Studios
Release date(s) September 30, 2003
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (T)
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Media CD-ROM
System requirements Windows: 98/2000/XP
Processor: 450 MHz
RAM: 128MB
Video card: 16MB
Hard drive space: 450MB
Input Keyboard, mouse

[Devlin]

Age of Mythology: The Titans is a real-time strategy computer game expansion pack of Age of Mythology. It was developed by Ensemble Studios and released on September 30, 2003.

Titans adds a fourth civilization to the game, the Atlanteans, and 3 new major gods, plus new units, buildings and god-powers. It also includes many new features, such as auto-queueing (allows training of units indefinitely as long as there are sufficient resources), and the ability to summon a Titan, a powerful, gargantuan, godlike being that forms the game's focal point. Critics praised Titans with an average score of 84% according to GameRankings

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Gameplay


One of the largest new additions to Titans was a new civilization, the Atlanteans. The Atlanteans have no specific hero units, but can convert any human unit into a hero. Citzens have no drop off point for resources, and town centers can be built at any time during the game.

A new unit, the Oracle, is introduced on the side of the Atlanteans, and their gods have special powers, such as the ability to move buildings, or instant unit transportation between two special buildings. These powers are known as time shift and sky passages, respectfully. The god Gaia has the ability to grow lush from buildings, preventing enemy players constructing buildings nearby as well as providing a small healing effect to buildings. Other lesser god powers are available to the Atlanteans at any time during the game.

Atlantean citizens are much more effective in work than their Greek, Norse or Egyptian counterparts and do not require drop-off points for resources; they instead use pack donkeys. They are also much slower to train, and much more expensive. Atlanteans gain favor through town centers. The more town centers they control, the faster the rate of favor gain.

Most Atlantean human units can be transformed into heroes (including citizens). Myth Units, Naval Units, Siege Units, Titans, and Cheroballista are the exceptions. As well as being strong against Myth Units, Atlantean heroes retain their own strengths and weaknesses, so, for example, Murmillo heroes are still weak against archers and strong against cavalry.

Titans introduces six new maps types, and seven new AI personalities. For the original civilizations, several upgrades and changes were added. The upgrade Beast Slayer, which causes the Greek gods' unique units to do bonus damage against Myth units. Hands Of the Pharaoh lets Egyptian priests pick up Relics; a power formally reserved for the Pharaoh unit only. Range of attack is also increased by two for Egyptian priests. The Norse gain the Axe of Muspell upgrade, which gives Throwing Axemen bonus damage against flying units.

In terms of bonuses for every civilization, the upgrade Heroic Fleet gives ships bonus damage against myth units. Building Town Centers is possible in the Classical Age in Titans, as opposed to Heroic in the original. Finally, the Titan unit is introduced to the Game. Titans are huge units possessing large amounts of hitpoints and armor while having high attack. They are almost considered a new victory condition since they are so destructive.

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Plot

Characters

Kastor: Son of Arkantos and a soldier of Atlantis who helps defend the remaining, godless Atlanteans
Krios: Theocrat of Atlantis, he is possessed by a Servant of Kronos at the start of the campaign
Ajax: Greek hero and former companion of Arkantos who helps Kastor deal with the consequences of the Titans' release
Amanra: Queen of Nubia who assists Kastor in the aftermath of the Titans' release
King Folstag : Norse Frost Giant who summons the dragon, Nidhogg, to defeat Norse titan Ymir

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An Atlantean titan marches towards an Atlantean fortified city, during one of campaign's cinematics.

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Campaign: The New Atlantis

The campaign is only a third of the length of the one in the original Age of Mythology, and this time focuses mostly on the Atlantean civilization and its leader, Arkantos' son, Kastor. Arkantos, who is now a god, also makes a few minor appearances here. The story is set ten years after the events of the Age of Mythology storyline.

The story begins with Kronos, who was still trapped in Tartarus, watching the Atlanteans. He sends his unnamed servant (nicknamed "Kronny" by fans of the game and as seen as his name in the game's editor) to possess the body of the Theocrat Krios, the Atlantean leader.

It then cuts to the Norselands, where the suffering Atlanteans, led by Kastor and Krios, are trying to rebuild their civilization after it was destroyed ten years ago. Then Theocrat says he saw a temple in his dream. The Atlanteans leave the Norselands by using Sky Passages, and they come to a place called New Atlantis. Krios says it was the imprisoned Titans who helped them, and convinces his people, including Kastor, to worship them.

[Devlin]

The Greeks are angered with the Atlanteans' new choice of gods, and attack them. The Atlanteans retaliate by destroying the entire Greek colony from which some of the attacks came. However, some of the Greek ships escape and go to General Melagius, ruler of that colony and other lands. He is angered by the destruction of his colony and prepares for an attack. The Atlanteans, however, still manage to invade Melagius's city and slay him. Just as the Atlanteans finish off the city, Egyptian and Norse allies of Melagius come to aid him. Kastor decides they are too powerful and flees. However, he does not go back to New Atlantis but instead heads up to the Norselands. His plan is that the Norse will not be expecting an attack. He destroys Norse temples and replaces them with Atlantean temples, to show his superiority. He also destroys the Tower of Odin, Odin's only stronghold on Earth, by using a god power from Kronos. He and his army then sail to Egypt. The scene cuts to Egypt where Amanra, a comrade of Arkantos when he was still a human, is conversing with her troops. Arkantos suddenly appears before Amanra and tells her that the Atlanteans are coming to steal relics from the Egyptans. Amanra fortifies the protections around the relics, but the Atlanteans still manage to steal them. Just as the Atlantean army closes around Amanra and her few troops, lightning bolts kill all the Atlantean soldiers. Arkantos appears and tells Amanra that the Atlanteans are being led by Kastor. Amanra questions this, and Arkantos tells Amanra that Kastor is being tricked. He tells her to find Kastor and to help him. It then cuts to a new scene, where Krios congratulates Kastor on his work and shows him a Sky Passage that he has found. Krios tells Kastor that the Sky Passage will take him to the Greek lands. Kastor enters it with his troop and finds himself not in the Greek territories, but on Mount Olympus. Kastor believes that Krios made a mistake about where the Sky Passage went. He and his troops discover they cannot go back the same way they came, so they decide their only choice is to attack Mount Olympus. Using special temples that change his men into different myth units, Kastor sets foot on the peak of Mount Olympus. However, once he does this, the daylight turns a strange color. Kastor senses there is something wrong, and he leaves with his army. He heads to the Greek territories. When he gets there he sees Prometheus wreaking havoc on a Greek city. He wonders at this, and Krios tells him that he is a Titan. Krios tells Kastor that he allowed him and some lesser Titans to be free. Kastor realizes he has been tricked by Krios, who takes the form of Kronny and escapes. Kastor is then attacked by other Atlanteans who are under Krios's control. Meanwhile, Amanra meets Ajax, another companion of Arkantos. Apparently, Ajax was also looking for Kastor. Amanra tells Ajax that Kastor has been tricked, and that they must find him. All this time Kastor is being repeatedly attacked by Atlanteans. Amanra and Ajax rescue him with Rocs. Arkantos appears, and Kastor tells his father that he did not realize he was being tricked. Arkantos forgives him, and tells the heroes that two lesser Titans have been freed in the Norselands and in Egypt. Amanra decides that they will go to Egypt first, as that is her homeland.

The Titan in Egypt is Cerberus, and the heroes decide to awaken the Guardian statue, an immensely powerful living statue that also helped the heroes in Age of Mythology. The Guardian manages to destroy Cerberus. They then travel to the Norse lands, and they meet King Folstag, a powerful Frost Giant whose lands are being destroyed by the Titan, Ymir. WIth the help of Folstag, the heroes defeat the Titan and restore peace in the Norse lands.

The heroes then travel to Greece to find the peaceful green countryside destroyed and in flames--evidence of Prometheus's work. They spread the green lush of the benevolent earth Titan Gaia across the burnt land, both healing it and weakening Prometheus. They manage to overcome him in his weakened state. The heroes then venture back to New Atlantis, where they rescue citizens from Automatons. Kastor, Ajax, and Amanra enter a Sky Passage which takes them to Old Atlantis, where Kronos, king of the Titans, breaks out of Tartarus. To stop him, Kastor and his allies summon Gaia using special trees. She defeats Kronos and imprisons him once more. Kastor notices Kronny trying to escape in all the excitement. He jumps on top of Kronny and plunges a sword into his chest, thus killing him. Arkantos appears and tells Kastor that the Atlanteans need a leader, and that he will always be by his son's side. The Staff of Atlantis appears before Kastor, and he becomes the new leader of the Atlantean empire.

[Devlin]

Reception

Titans was well received by critics, with an average score of 84 on MetaCritic and GameRankings.[1] Gamespot gave Titans an 8.3 out of 10, and commented "There's plenty more depth to be found here since having a brand-new civilization with three new primary gods creates many more...new strategies. On the other hand, it would have been nice to see the original civilizations get fleshed out some more...because experienced Age of Mythology players will want more than just one big reason to keep playing as their favorite factions."[2] IGN gave the game an 8.9 out of 10 and mentioned "But as we suspected, it's an expansion well worth the wait."[3]

Game Revolution gave the game a B+ and said "While not innovative in any way, AOM: The Titans is everything you should expect from a quality expansion."[4] Gamespy gave Titans a 4.5 out of 5 and best summed it up with "Great new units and tons of gameplay enhancements make Age of Mythology: The Titans a model for how expansion packs should be done

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