Myth II: Soulblighter (M2) is a sequel to the surprise hit, Myth: The Fallen Lords. The original was a refreshing departure in the real-time-strategy (RTS) gaming genre, insofar as it had no base-building or economic components. Instead, what made the original game great was its interesting terrain, its emphasis upon realistic combat elements, and the degree to which it made every unit count. Not surprisingly, M2 builds upon these successes in virtually every respect, creating a worthy sequel and an even better game.
M2 has its own, very distinctive look. Where the developers have clearly gone beyond the current state of the art is in making more realistic and tactically important terrain. M2 is also noteworthy for the manner in which it handles various elements of battle. This isn't yet another game in which the bad guys simply disappear when killed, no sir. The very ground itself may be deformed by battle, and the remains of vanquished foes litter the landscape.
This is a surprisingly powerful step forward in gaming graphics in my view. I guess I didn't realize how artificial other game worlds truly seemed until I played M2. In the world of M2, it seems that everything is destructible if you have the right tools (e.g., dwarven satchel charges and mortars). The result of this focus on the landscape makes the world seem like a living, breathing creation. It's not just a "mission" or a "map", it's a place with its own unique features. Wait until you see a wight detonate for the first time. The effect it has on the landscape must be seen to be believed, and it makes other games with wholly static geometry look pretty flat by comparison.
Clearly, the terrain falls squarely into the plus column. Where the visuals fail somewhat, I think, is in their use of sprites for units, trees, and so forth. I'm guessing that the developers had to use such two-dimensional imagery (i.e., sprites) for all those things because they had spent their entire polygon budget on the terrain. Given its release date, M2 was an ambitious game already, and going to full three-dimensional units, trees, etc. would likely have made it completely unplayable on even present-day hardware.
To be clear, though, this is not a huge complaint. The sprites are generally well drawn, though they do stick out a bit at high zoom levels. It's almost painful to see how jagged the images of one's archers look, for example, in contrast, to the beautifully smooth ground on which they stand. Perhaps the most noticeable use of sprites is the foliage, for every tree always faces the camera. Thus, rotating the camera rotates only the landscape, while all the trees stand still. Still, the focus in M2 is squarely on the action, and, as such, the visuals are more than good enough to get the job done. They just leave some room for future improvement—Myth III anyone? (grin)
The audio in M2 is pretty darned good. The sound effects are pretty well done, though I would have preferred a bit more variety—particularly with the explosions and the clash of swords. The ambient sounds are also well done. Further, the implementation of the audio seems thankfully bug-free and of pretty good fidelity. It could sound better, but it all sounds good enough. The most serious problem is definitely the lack of any background music during missions.
It is clear from the cut-scenes, which tell most of the story, that the developers retained a composer of no mean ability. The sound track for M2 is easily the best I've heard to date in a video game, and I think the missions would have been greatly enhanced by including the wonderful music as background tracks. As things stand, the hauntingly beautiful audio of the introductory narration makes the beginning of each mission fall kind of flat by comparison. I sure hope that a soundtrack CD is eventually released, for the music is honestly that good.
This is one area in which M2 could stand some improvement. All of the basics are just fine; i.e., moving the camera, directing units, assigning formations, and so forth. What doesn't work like it should, however, is the giving of orders. It's clear to me from the sheer difficulty of many of the missions that the developers intended the player to issue orders with the game paused. There is simply no way that any human being could get through some of the battles without it. This is a feature that is provided, and it's very useful for micromanaging one's units, which is absolutely necessary to survive many of the missions.
The problem is that the only way to pause the game to issue such orders is to bring up the menu, which blocks far too much screen real estate in the very center! In short, the developers built the game so that issuing orders while paused is both as necessarily as it is annoying, and that's downright frustrating. It would have been far better if some kind of simple pause key had been implemented, so that the player could freeze the action and give orders without constantly having to work around that rotten menu dialog.
Aside from that complaint, though, everything else works like one might expect. The camera controls are easily mastered, the hot keys generally make sense, the menus are simple enough to navigate, and so forth. The only serious problem is with issuing orders while paused.
The game mechanics of M2 truly shine. As I said previously, this game eschews the traditional base-building and economic components of most other RTS games. The result is a game that is very sharply focused on tactics and strategy. Whereas most RTS games eventually devolve into a primarily economic race, M2 throws its weight refreshingly behind the 'S' in 'RTS'.
Because of the interesting physics, archers have to be used carefully to avoid killing their own colleagues, so keeping them on the high ground is a must. Since they're complete weaklings in hand-to-hand combat as well, keeping them alive is a bit of a challenge. Formations truly matter in this game, as an inefficient layout of your units virtually guarantees that they'll meet the enemy at an overwhelming disadvantage. And finally, because dwarven explosives are a bit, uh, "unpredictable" (and that's being charitable), the player is forced into a constant and interesting balancing act.
In short, the mechanics guarantee that every unit counts. This isn't a game that allows you to throw dozens of faceless units at the enemy, seeking to win by simple attrition. Not at all. This is a game that forces the player to take advantage of the terrain, to shape the battlefield to fight on his own terms, and to make very careful use of as many special units as possible in order to guarantee victory. The degree to which individual units grow more proficient over time provides a powerful incentive to make sure they survive. Truly, the mechanics of M2 are a diamond in the rough, and they manage to sustain a nail-biting level of tension throughout many of the missions.
Not having played the original game, I must confess that I felt a bit sad when I first started playing M2, for there is clearly a great deal of background story development supporting this game. It's so well done that it reminds me of Blizzard's Starcraft, and that's high praise indeed. The story of M2 is an intriguing tale, a classic confrontation of good and evil. I don't wish to spoil it, so I'll say simply that the developers are to be commended for putting together a very interesting plot, which is artfully told through the use of cut-scenes and pre-rendered cinematics.
In terms of content, M2 doesn't disappoint. It includes no less than twenty-five missions, many of which are quite involved. Along the way, the player will experience an interesting variety of locales, a number of different sorts of objectives to achieve, and face a serious boatload of obstacles to completing them successfully. By the time one ends up at the last level, facing Soulblighter himself no less, the saga has already occupied dozens of hours of real time.
The game includes a number of interesting and uniquely different units to use, though it seems to me that far more effort was put into crafting the forces of the dark. For example, whereas the forces of the light have a total of ten units (counting The Deceiver and Alric), the forces of the dark can draw upon sixteen different units (counting The Summoner, Shiver, and Soulblighter). It all works out relatively well in the multi-player aspect—more on that in a bit—but one can't help but feel like maybe the light side was slightly shortchanged in the units department by comparison.
Interestingly enough, I don't find myself complaining much about the artificial intelligence (AI) of M2. I've had to complain about the AI in many other games, but it's really not that bad in M2. Of course, this could be a result of the micromanagement; i.e., maybe the flaws of the AI in so many other games stick out because so much of the player's attention has to be spent on production and economy. The player spends so much time micromanaging his units in combat in M2 that the AI simply doesn't have much opportunity to demonstrate many flaws.
Whatever the case, I didn't feel so much like I was shepherding a flock of morons in M2 as I have with other games. One complaint is that wights clearly aren't given the kind of priority they should be in terms of targeting. Given that one lone wight can take an entire army with it if it gets close enough to detonate, they should be targeted with extreme prejudice by archers and other long-range units. Aside from this minor complaint, though, the content of M2 is an impressive bunch of stuff.
The only other complaint I can make against the game is that I think some of the single-player missions are oppressively difficult. Maybe I'm just a wimp or something, but it took me hours to finish the final mission, and I spent almost all of that time micromanaging my troops in pause mode just to stay alive. It was a constant save/reload-fest, while I struggled to gain one tiny bit of ground after the next. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if the menu didn't get in the way when issuing orders. All I know is that a few of the battles seemed excessively hard to me.
I have a confession to make: I never got to play nearly as many multi-player games as I would have liked. Because there are so many jerks who play on-line games, I try to play multi-player stuff only with friends. And unfortunately, I have but one friend who owns M2, and he got kind of tired of getting beaten so soundly by me. I honestly can't blame him. I was utterly creaming the poor guy, and I don't take well to those kind of losses again and again. To be clear: he's a very mature and persistent gamer, but losing a dozen games in a row tends to dampen anyone's spirits.
This is hardly a complaint against the multi-player aspect of the game, however, and to be fair it provides one of the more compelling multi-player RTS experiences to be had today. I didn't realize how much I really hate getting whooped in RTS games simply because I didn't properly manage my economy, build just the right number of buildings, and so forth. There's something about M2's laser-precise focus on the mechanics of combat that is very refreshing. I've logged no more than forty to fifty hours of on-line play, but this is a game that could easily keep you occupied for months of real-time.
Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay the multi-player aspect of the game is that it seems very well balanced. So many RTS games either play it completely safe and give each side the very same units (e.g., Warcraft II), or they go the more adventurous route and never quite put to bed all the concerns about one race dominating the others (e.g., Starcraft). Despite each side having its own distinct feel, M2 seems not to suffer from the balance issues that plague other games. My style of play lends itself overall to playing the forces of the light, but I never felt like I was at a disadvantage one way or the other. That's a pretty impressive achievement.
My only substantive complaint against the multi-player aspect of the game is that getting connected to and using Bungie.net is an iffy proposition sometimes. I've had several problems getting an account working, getting connected, getting set up with a game, and so forth. Perhaps I've just had bad luck, but I've not found these kinds of problems with other games. Hopefully, the developers will clear up these kinds of issues over time. Suffice it to say, though, that the multi-player aspect of the game is a heck of a lot of fun.
I would have to say that M2 is one of the better RTS games ever made. It still has room for improvement, of course, but it really distinguishes itself in light of its focus on tactics and strategy. Being freed from the drudgery of building a base, mining resources, etc. is very liberating. Of course, it means that one mistake in combat can spell the end of the game, but I don't mind that kind of pressure. Overall, M2 is a very good introduction to the genre, and I think all but the most stuffy of gamers will likely enjoy it. If nothing else, buy it for the music; it's worth the money!
06/07/1999