I have never awarded a 5 to a commercial game. To me, a perfect grade indicates two things: (1) outstanding, profound quality and (2) obvious and expansive potential. The game need not be perfect, but it must make up for any minor shortcomings with some serious firepower. In over two years of reviews, no commercial game has earned a 5. Until now.
"Myth: The Fallen Lords" from Bungie exceeds even my most hype-fueled expectations. The solo play is the most engaging I have encountered, and its online play is simply beyond superlatives. With only a few minor flaws, Myth fulfills every one of its promises and points to an even more glorious future. Long live Myth.
Dear Diary...
The story behind Myth is good "reading"-by computer game standards, it is positively high art. This not only reflects on the generally tissue-paper thin stories propping up most action and strategy games, but also stands as a trademark of Bungie. Unlike most game developers, Bungie really loves a good story-if anything their only sin is packing in too much story. I confess that the continuing space opera behind the Marathon series was stiflingly dense; by the time a had gotten past a few levels, I just glossed over the tale.
This isn't a problem with Myth as it tantalizingly spins an epic yarn of the good versus evil and the living versus the undead. The plot is compelling, the characters vividly drawn, and the links to gameplay natural and easy. As the campaign wore on, I was actually driven by the desire to hear the next chapter in our narrator's journal.
 
Shout it From the Hilltops
Myth's gameplay is something special. At its heart is a real-time strategy game (a' la Warcraft and Command & Conquer), but just as Bungie expanded on the simple premise of Doom to create the far richer and more satisfying Marathon series, it has performed some delicate paradigm surgery here.
Gone from the rote formula of real-time games is the arduous process of resource harvesting and unit creation. In its place are a wealth of features: units carry over from mission to mission and become moreeffective as they gain experience, reinforcements arrive in certain missions, and combat becomes the central concern. Each of these small adjustments force a Myth general to value individual units (each comes with its own story and a name) and devise the soundest plan to best preserve troops. By dispensing with the disposable unit mentality, Myth forces you to think like a real tactician.
What makes Myth truly special, however, is its fully 3D environment. This means that things like elevation and weather matter. For example, archers have more range when shooting from a hilltop and rain (each individual raindrop is a 3D object) can affect the game (i.e. explosives won't work). Taken together, the complex terrain and realistic physics have a profound effect on gameplay.
They also create a magnificent presentation. The landscapes in Myth are wonders of modern game design, with every ravine and bluff rendered smoothly, and in the great detail. The characters are wonderfully drawn, and the visual effects are stunning. With a 3Dfx card in place, it gets even better with pixelless textures and amazing animation-the lightning effects alone will stop you in your tracks. If you ever needed a reason to buy a 3Dfx card, this is it; Bungie even makes it easy by including a discount coupon for Techwork's Power 3D accelerator card.
Another more subtly distinguishing element of Myth is its array of skill levels. For many games, increasing skill levels simply means higher hit and damage points for monsters. Here, however, more environmental factors come into play. By selecting a high skill level, you may receive fewer units or a more difficult combination of units, and your foes will be more numerous. Likewise, rain and snowfalls become heavier (nullifying explosive attacks) or forests may be denser, making archer attacks all but impossible and dwarves dangerously suicidal. This feature of Myth is one of Bungie's proudest achievements.
Bungie.net Jumping
As wonderful as solo play is on Myth, its online play is insidiously addictive. Connection to other players is via AppleTalk, direct TCP/IP connection, or Bungie.net, a free server dedicated to gathering Myth players and starting games. The chat and navigation functions on Bungie.net are clear and easy to handle, though its feature set is a bit limited (i.e. you can't search for other players by name). Conversation is lively and starting and joining games is a breeze, but the ranking system still has some kinks to work out.
Once in the game, however, there is not a darn thing amiss. The games (including King of the Hill, Steal the Bacon, Last Man on the Hill, Capture the Flag, and variations on these models) are adeptly designed, and netplay maps include a great collection of terrain features and weather problems. The length of games, long a complaint about many online games like Warcraft, becomes an issue of pure preference. Perfectly gripping games can be played under 10 minutes.
Online bouts of Myth are the most thrilling gaming experiences I have ever encountered. As in all of Myth, it takes time to master the controls and nuances (you WILL get your butt kicked for a while), but you cannot help coming back for more. If your heart fails to race as, with time running out, your Berzerks hijack the ball and run it into a corner while your Fetch electrifies all pursuers and your Ghols hack away from behind, then you are already among the undead. I have, on occasion, been literally unable to sleep after a particularly thrilling game.
Direct modem-to-modem play is curiously absent from the networking toolbox, but this omission can be easily remedied with the use of NetLink Remote (a freeware utility that simulates an AppleTalk network).
 
Finding Fault
The Myth engine is still a bit young. Its shortcomings, however, are minor, and Bungie has already shown an ability to tweak and fix problems with elegance and speed. The first update already allows zooming further away from the action and eases the (for some) tricky technique of "gesture clicking." Still, some problems remain.
The game's monster AI is a bit weak. Monsters, for example, tend to drift in and out of Archer range rather than simply dropping back and forcing you to advance. In another level, the giant warrior-kicking Trow is rendered impotent in one part of the map; he simply paces back and forth while being pecked by archer fire. These quirks could stand some improvement in future generations of the Myth engine. Still, the opposition is pretty darn difficult to beat and, of course, a superior AI is available in the form of your fellow man on Bungie.net.
Perhaps the largest drawback in Myth is its level of difficulty-the learning curve is quite steep, though climbing it is brilliantly rewarding. This condition does not seriously affect solo play, where you can drop down to lower skill levels, but it makes getting into the swim of multiplayer action a bit stressful. Stick with it.
The Bottom Line
Myth is a great game and will undoubtedly serve as the foundation for one hell of a franchise. Like a book you just can't put down or a movie you go back to see again and again, Myth will take hold of your imagination, flirt with your mind, and call you back to the computer like some pixellated Siren. Don't bother lashing yourself to the mast, give into Myth's seductive and satisfying song.
