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 Your Source for Performance News and Reviews! Reader Review: Myth II Soulblighter |  |
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Summary:
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Reviewed On: Version Reviewed: Myth II: Soulblighter Version 1.0 (This is a pre-ordered copy - before they recalled the CDs due a bug in the Windows installer.)
Overview: Also, before I forget, I must apologize because it's going to be impossible not to compare Myth II: Soulblighter, to Myth I: The Fallen Lords. Myth I has become such a staple in many a Mac-gamer's diet, that, alas, the comparison is inevitable... On that note, Bungie will undoubtedly take some heat from players who wanted "big changes" from Myth I to Myth II - but the truth of the matter is that when Bungie designed and developed such an inspired, excellent game as Myth I, they didn't need to venture far to make it better. Myth II is not a radical departure from Myth I, rather, it's an extension: more of the same, just (mostly) better. Having said that, after playing the game for a week, I got the overall impression that the actual release was a bit premature. Ignoring the recalled CDs (should not be a problem for Macintosh ;-), the game still seems somewhat unstable and buggy. Perhaps Bungie rushed it a bit for the holidays. There are no major problems; it is still very playable -- you'll just notice the odd graphical glitch on bungie.net, sporadic crashes when loading levels or saved games, your units not attacking an enemy (EVEN THOUGH YOU *#@$%ING CLICKED ON IT,) the random "freeze", and occasionally having to use the dreaded "three-finger salute." Myth II just doesn't seem as solid a product as Myth I was upon it's release. As bungie's bug-list grows, I'm sure that they will have a 1.1 (or 1.2, after the recall) version available for download soon.
Interface:
Gameplay: As noted above, the game is more "newbie-friendly" with difficulty settings that range from Timid to Legendary. (Easy is actually more easy this time around...) Beginners shouldn't have any trouble as long as they read the manual (recommended for everybody). Bungie has definitely improved the gameplay over that of Myth I: the units move faster (it is a battle after all - nobody's gonna be strolling about), altitude plays an even bigger part in the game, they've added fire (a great strategic weapon), some excellent new units, and there's even more magic than before. All is not well in Cath Bruig, though: Although the unit pathfinding has been improved, it's still not great. What's "pathfinding" you say? Well imagine that you've got a line of archers in front of a row of berserks. The archers are firing upon a horde oncoming undead warriors, and as the enemy grow closer you want the archers to fall back to a defensive position and the berserks to come forward to engage the enemy. Sounds easy, but the units still get all tangled up in each other. This happens ALOT. You'd think those archers would step aside and let those berserks through, but they don't. Often your units will not do the "smart" thing and that can be pretty frustrating. I must say though, that Myth II units are a great deal more mobile than the units in Myth I, but they still have a lot of room for improvement. Well, you say, why don't you just start with the archers behind your berserks, and then you won't have that silly pathfinding problem right? True enough, but then you have another problem: Friendly Fire. You can't put those archers in the rear unless you want alot of arrows in your back. You'd think that those archers would be extra careful when they're firing into a crowd of your berserks engaging the enemy, but they're not... They're still just as likely to hit your men if they happen to get in the way. You almost have to put the archers on "hold" until your berserks finish mopping-up. Too bad those archers don't have a bit more discipline and only fire when they have a clear shot -- perhaps they will in Myth III: Stop Shooting At My Back - I'm Trying To Save The World!!! As with the archers, so with the dwarves -- except that the dwarves possess mighty powerful explosives... I can't tell you how many times I've yelled bloody murder at those *%¢#@$$*!!! dwarves. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!?!?!?!? Talk about frustration! Bungie must have done this on purpose to make the game harder, and make you think more about troop management, because otherwise, there is just no excuse for your dwarf to absolutely devastate a group of your own berserks. (It's just not right!) The bottom-line here is that your men aren't the wandering drunks of Myth I, but they can still frustrate you with their stupidity. One last gameplay comment: Something I've found sorely missing from both Myth I and Myth II is the lack of a "skirmish mode". This is for when, after you've completed the single-player game, you just want to play against the computer on net-maps to practice various strategies, etc. One of the cool things in recent games, like Unreal (or even Warcraft II), is the inclusion of "bots" where you can battle computer players to hone your skills. I find this feature to extend the value of the game exponentially, and it is missed here.
Single-Player Game: (A note about the animated cut scenes in between levels: Bungie has used a new animation style this time around, and although it is certainly a bonus for the game, I found that I didn't like it near as much as the animation in Myth I. I guess you'll have to see it for yourself, but it seemed unfinished in spots, and the style doesn't convey near the same emotion, nor carry the same impact as the animation in Myth I.)
Multi-Player: When I have been able to get on-line, I've greatly appreciated the new setup. The "find" feature is priceless. I can't tell you much time I've wasted jumping from room to room looking for someone: "find" is an awesome feature. You also get to set some game preferences for yourself, as well as set up a player-bio (your location, a personal quote, etc.) The new net-maps look very cool and play well; and some of the new games ("Hunting" or "Stampede" come to mind) are interesting. Also the new ranking system seems more fair and comprehensive. I'm sure that Bungie is just working out the kinks to their new system and all will be well soon enough...
Graphics:
First of all, despite the additional frames of animation, the units don't look as nice. They seem to lack some of the detail that the units had in Myth I. They also have more of a jagged, cookie-cutter look to them. With the additional frames of animation perhaps they had to cut down on the detail? I hope this will change in a future update as Bungie further enhances and optimizes the game... Although the animation of the units has been improved, I must criticize Bungie for using sprite-based characters instead of three-dimensional polygons. I know that this is asking for alot, but I can't help but think how much better the game would be, if, for example, when you are rotating the camera around your dwarf, you had a smooth three dimensional orbit, instead of viewing the 8 or 12 directional sprites that make up your unit. Don't get me wrong, the game still looks amazing, and I don't know if, what with all of the complex physics, etc., the game engine would allow for that many polygons on screen, especially when things start blowing up. (Although Total Annihilation uses polygons for it's units... perhaps Cave Dog's physics aren't as complex - anybody have any idea?) One more gripe: Even on a more powerful Mac system, the game can still be slow, clunky and jerky. One example is the map: scrolling around the map should be alot smoother, and you should be allowed to adjust the scroll-rate a al Warcraft II. I hope that Bungie can do some good optimization in future updates. As for 3D acceleration, a 3DFX card will let you run the game in 640x480, or 800x600 if you've got the horsepower. Alternatively, you can use RAVE if you've got compatible hardware. As an experiment, I tried the RAVE rendering with a 4MEG Xclaim VR. Surprisingly, Myth II looked great under RAVE; alot better than I would have thought. The RAVE version isn't quite as good as 3DFX, but it's closer than I've seen in the past. With this in mind, ATI's RAGE 128 card should be awesome with Myth II (can you say 32-bit rendering? I thought you could!). Myth II will let you set the resolution as high as 1024x768 under RAVE rendering, but with my venerable Xclaim VR it was extremely choppy and crashed almost immediately. It was playable @ 640x480 with the VR board, but nowhere near as smooth as Voodoo2. Lest we forget our friends without 3D-hardware, the software rendering was top-notch and looked great, and Bungie has thoughtfully allowed players to turn-down detail for those with slower machines.
Sound / Music:
The battles, both single and multi-player, are accompanied by stereo ambient sound effects that add much to the overall experience. Birds, water, crickets, distant echoes; you name it. The sound effects are also directional, so if you are east of the water, it comes from the left speaker, and you'll definitely hear that big battle that's raging to the northwest... Some switchable ambient music (tribal drums + pads) would have been nice during battle, but I guess that's what your stereo is for!
Screenshots: Conclusion: What - you still haven't got Myth II yet?!? What is wrong with you!!!
Final Score:
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