Myth II: Soulblighter
Ho hum ...
What's that then? A magazine with CD including a demo of Myth II? Wonder what that game's like ...
Tum de dum ...
Well, that was kind of fun, but it didn't feel all that special ...
Do be do ...
Wow, it's got some really awesome reviews on its side ...
Dum didi dum tada dam dam ...
Look, it's available for SEK 99 everywhere! Perhaps I should tell someone that's a nice candidate for birthday present ...
And here I am now, and this is all a very good example that lower general prices would make me buy more games. Had it cost SEK 300 more, I would never have been interested, and then I would have got Wing Commander: Prophecy instead. And what a shame that would have been, because this game is really good when you start looking carefully at it.
Myth II starts sixty years after the first Myth, the 3d RTS without any bases or resources but lots of blood and limbs flying around to make up for it. Soulblighter, one of the fallen lords from Myth, is getting ready to do some heavy rumbling again. Naturally, he must be stopped, and you're thrown in to help the Light achieve victory again. This means 25 varied and highly challenging missions with excellent introductions and extreme amounts of bloodspill.
The graphics are a combination of true 3d and 2d sprites. The terrain is 3d but all units and lots of other level decorations are 2d, and the combination looks as good as it possibly can. But what really made me happy was that everything remains where you strike it down. Every little bloodstain, burn mark and body part is left where it falls and adds tons to the mood of the game. You really feel like you've done some good defending when the valley ahead of you is black and red from explosions and blood, and littered with the remnants of hundreds of undead.
Sounds are good too. Units talk a bit with good voices, and other sounds are also fully satisfying. A personal favourite is the tutor in the tutorial when instructing you about the dwarf and warlock. The voice who reads the introductions to each mission is very good indeed, and sets a great mood for each mission. The only music in the game is on the title screen, during the cutscenes and during the mission introductions, but what great music it is! There's never any music during the actual missions, but then you have too much to think of to really notice that.
Gameplay is, of course, very good too. The missions are varied and well designed and the interface is easy to use and intuitive, once you've had some practise. Before you've had some practise, controlling the camera and getting your bearings can feel quite confusing, but you'll learn. You have to if you want to get anywhere ... Myth II is never easy, and sometimes it feels like it is in the area of pretty damn difficult and up (and I'm just playing at normal here ...). The good thing is that the problem normally is your strategy, not that the mission is unbeatable, just like in Broodwar. You need a good plan to win, but it never feels like you're led by the hand or have to do things in a certain way. The fact that you can't produce any new units might seem like a problem, but the fact is it adds a lot of realism to the game. You can't slap up a base on enemy territory, outprodce them and drown them in tanks. Here you have to make every unit count if you want to succeed, and sometimes there are a lot more enemy than you have a chance to take out. When you are escaping from the armies of the dead in Myth II, it really feels like there are hordes of undead right behind you.
If you're not put off by a bit of difficulty level you should really get this one. And that goes at full price too ... Extra bonuses for a well written, and humourous, manual and secret terrain-based messages (wonder if there are more of them ...).
Addition on 3/8, 1999.
There are more bonuses to find alright! If you haven't found them already, there are two missions of bonus kind in there waiting for you. Also, there are heaps of little details and stuff to enjoy. Just look at the graves along the edges of the cemetery on level 2. Or the signpost on the same level. And that's just for starters, keep looking!
