 |
|
| .............CONTENT
... |
| ||
|
Bungie ruined me on strategy games. For a good three to four years, any time I played a strategy game, in either subgenre, I would instinctively compare it to Myth: The Fallen Lords. And, not surprisingly, there weren't many that could hold up. Now, to be sure, I always had a soft spot in my heart for the WarCraft II and Command & Conquer (Red Alert) clones that were coming out during and after Myth's release, but none, not even StarCraft, could tear me away from bashing in some Thrall skulls. Myth was the first strategy game that I can recall playing to limit the amount of units the player can have. There was none of the real-time unit-pumping barracks or the turn-based point-based prestige point allocation systems; the player was simply given a handful of men and told what to do. This made everything feel more urgent, as it should have been. When the fallen lords start destroying the world, it is up to a handful of survivors to make things right. And when I say a handful, I mean a handful. Most missions typically gave just enough units for the player to survive, and no more. Because of such, each unit became important and the loss of just one soldier was significant.
From mission to mission, the story unfolded with human treachery, dark creatures plaguing the land, and the eventual resurgence of order, all played out in animated cutscenes which were starkly different from the in-game graphics. What's more, it had an absolutely fantastic soundtrack and one of the best narratives I've ever heard in a game - Myth: The Total Soundtrack, which included tracks from Myth I & II as well as the Halo opening theme, is the only game soundtrack I have ever sought out and purchased. Even Bungie liked the music so much that, when TotalAudio's studio burned down during their work on Halo, Bungie bought them to bring them into the fold permanently. Rarely do I ever go on at length about a game's score or narration-okay, so I will about narration, I am a sucker for a good set-up-but I would gladly do so in the case of Myth. The way the stirring soundtrack complements the sense of dread felt by the sense of being outnumbered and desperate is perfect.
The level designers took full advantage of the elevated terrain. Some levels have castles that need to be stormed, while others have the player blocking holes in a wall while incoming enemies go down into the blast holes and wade through waist-high water. One of the more memorable levels is one of the later ones: the player is put on the top of a small hill and must hold it from waves and waves of enemies, with hundreds of slow Thrall and phantom archers being shot, bombed, and cut up. Thrall and Soullesses (phantom archers) being shot, bombed, and cut up. The enemies themselves were also fun to both use and destroy. Thrall were slow and strong, Soullesses could go over impassible terrain, Ghols and Cave Spiders that acted as recon units and Dwarf hunters, the dual-bladed Myrmidons, and Wights, corpses that could blow themselves up; these were in direct contrast to the human units, with Berserkers that were quick and reckless, Footsoldiers that were all-around good, Dwarves with their explosives, healing Journeymen and Archers who were slow and weak. These differences really came into light during multiplayer matches. Way back in the days when Kali and
Kahn were still used regularly, Bungie's online service was something
amazing. With Battle.Net streamlined these days, it may be hard
for some to recall a time when it and WestWood's Chat service were
both new and pretty experimental for a company to I am also man enough to admit that over years of play with Bryce (creator of MechaSanta, our mascot), I lost to him a good 500-600 times, and literally beat him three, maybe four times, but I'm more comfortable going with three. Despite this horrible record, I always had a blast - though please note that for those three times I did win, the beatings were hellacious and, I'm sure, moments that startle him awake at night in cold sweats. Everything about the game just clicked. From the art style to the music to the implementation of elevated terrain and physics, Bungie made a piece of gaming gold with Myth. It is still more than playable today, still offering countless hours of enjoyment. Myth II was a worthy follow up, adding flaming arrows, one of the smallest but most enjoyable tweaks put into a series, with a more refined system. But in terms of impact and design, the original wins out. And we'll ignore Myth III: Bungie Didn't Make Me.
There are also collections, like Myth:
Total Codex, which includes Myth I, II, and oodles
of mods and total conversations - total conversions being a term
the kids used to mean that everything was changed, which seems to
have fallen out of the gaming lexicon in favor of mods. Some total
conversations worth noting are one based on WWII and another on
feudal Japan, where mortars and samurai abound. There are also a
few fan-made expansions on retail shelves, including Total Worlds
(featuring Seventh God with art by Bryce). With the original
being difficult to find on its own, gamers will have to settle for
the bundles, which I'm sure is disappointing to everyone. However
you feel about strategy games, definitely check out Myth: The
Fallen Lords, a unique and engaging release that not only stands
the test of time, but has become a true benchmark for the genre.
There is a problem, though: Myth was made in the days of
3DFX, so newer graphic cards may not be recognized, meaning software
mode only, and Take Two, who now owns the rights to the series,
only has patches up for II and III. Possibly a fan-made patch exists,
or you may very well have a machine laying around for some classic
gaming, but it's still a blast in software mode, so definitely check
it out. [ top ] |
try,
much less one that had made its way onto the gaming scene by making
first-person shooters for Macintosh computers. This was important
because Myth was a hybrid game, working on both systems.
With Bungie.net, players got smooth service, clan tags, records,
and the ability to chat with other players and exchange saved films
of matches. The service was done so well that accurate displays
of pings meant few lag problems - this was the days when 56k v.90
was something that only Sandra Bullock would need to take down paramilitary
terrorists on her Apple, so lag was always a problem for us 28.8/33.6
folk, but surprisingly minimal for an online game. The game also
shipped with a great map selection and tons of options to play online.
There were king of the hill matches, deathmatches, rules to use
only certain weapons, only certain units, etc., and players would
get a certain amount of points to spend on any units (human and
monster units could be mixed), making selection a key strategy.
Team play was also smoothly implemented with teams fighting under
team names and troop allocation being as simple as highlighting
and clicking a button. Even though multiplayer was far from being
in its infancy, it was still going through severe growing pains,
which made such a strong component so significant.
|
