Hands on with Age of Empires: Mythologies

Like first-person shooters being shoved onto a handheld, there's a never-ending fascination with making big games work on a small machine. From real-time to turn-based, Age of Empires: Mythologies takes the core strategic gameplay of the main PC series and distils it for turn-based portable play. It's an attempt that was largely successful in Age of Empires: Age of Kings, although here a number of enhancements have been made to increase the tempo, polish the visuals, and generally smooth out the experience.

For each of three ancient civilizations - Greek, Norse, and Egyptian - you're given single player campaigns spanning eight missions. You're free to play any of the three campaigns from the start, although you can only access missions sequentially. One-off scenarios and skirmishes complement the trio of campaigns, as well as a head-to-head wireless skirmish mode using one card. You can link up to four players locally if you each have game cartridges.

Across each mode, the key to winning battles lies in learning how to best utilise the strengths of each civilisation. Heroes populate all three races, but provide unique powers that counter each other. Additionally, the range of units available to each race differs according to that civilisation's strategic affinity. Egyptians tend toward a defensive posture, which grants access to defence-oriented units. Norse are on the other side of the spectrum with offensive units, whereas the Greek sit squarely in the middle.

Knowing this, you can manage your resources to best support your selected civilisation's strength. There are three resources to track: food, gold, and favour. The first two can be harvested using farms and mines, among other means; however, favour must be collected via monuments, temples, and by other special means. Food and gold allow you to construct buildings like barracks for drafting units, while favour enables you to advance to the next age or trigger hero powers.

It's only natural that the player who best manages their resources will have a distinct advantage. That doesn't mean, though, that stockpiling is an automatic win. You need to effectively employ resources to draft units, construct key buildings, and advance your technology. Mythologies possesses a branching tech tree packed with real and faux structures and units that allow you to really power-up your race. Fleet of Foot, for example, increases the movement range for all human units. Ra's Blessing boosts defence of all units by 5 per cent, while augmenting attack power boosts it a full 10 per cent.

Of course, resource-management is only half the game. Expect to engage in warfare. Mythologies does well to support use of the touchscreen to direct units on the battlefield, but we found it easier to tap on the directional pad and face buttons. That's ok, what matters is the mechanics of battle and those have been carefully balanced. Heroes, in particular, play an important role with their inherent strength and special powers.

Take the Greek heroes Odysseus and Perseus, for instance. Odysseus's renown triggers an extra turn whenever you activate his power. Perseus, whom you may remember as Medusa's slayer, can be instructed to wield the Gorgon's head to freeze enemies. We're keen on finding out what other mythological cameos there are tucked inside the game. THQ has slated Mythologies for an early November release, so it shouldn't be long before we find out.