result often being works that are without appeal to any group or demographic.
ButMythdid not have this problem; its developers created a game that no casual
gamer would ever be able to pick up. One reason for this is the incredibly sophisticated
and challenging set of controls. For instance, consider the control of the 3D rotating
camera. As opposed to other RTS games at the time, where the camera could only
move horizontally along with the terrain,Myth’s camera can move horizontally, zoom in
or zoom out, rotate around a point, or orbit around a point. Even experienced game
players find it somewhat challenging to get used to this system. However, once the
camera’s movements are mastered, one finds that they are expertly designed and pro-
vide all of the freedom one could reasonably expect given the technology the game
uses. The game is also littered with special keys for different commands, such as forma-
tions, special actions, and alternate attacks. Again, these commands, once mastered,
provide players with a large degree of control over how their units move and attack, but
do take some time to learn. Indeed, these keys make the game impossible to play with
only the mouse, something almost all other RTS games focus on. The “gesture-click-
ing” is another interesting feature, used for pointing units in a certain direction when
they reach a given location. The system for gesture-clicking is quite powerful yet
nearly impossible to learn without being taught in person or by practicing a great deal.
Nonetheless, for the hard-core players who are willing to put in the time to learn the
controls, the end result is an extremely enjoyable game-playing experience.
Mythis also an inherently hard game. Even for players experienced at RTS titles,
the game will prove to be extraordinarily difficult from the get-go. Customarily, games
include a few simple levels toward the beginning of the game, in order to give players a
fighting chance while they are still learning the controls.Mythdoes not. Immediately,
players are presented with barely accomplishable goals, where one mistake may make
the level virtually unwinnable. By streamlining the game to focus on the tactical experi-
ence, players have much less of a chance to come back from behind since there is
literally no way to rebuild their troops. The loss of a particular unit will often cause sea-
soned players to conclude that the level is now too hard to beat, so why bother? They
will just restart the level instead. The sad thing is that, despite their great difficulty, the
levels toward the beginning of the game are the easy levels, with the levels becoming
exponentially harder from there. However, this is the sort of challenge that truly
hard-core game players thrive on. It is not that the challenges are unfair, arbitrary, or
unpredictable, at least not always. In most cases, players can beat the levels on their
first time through; it is just extraordinarily difficult to do so.
Mythis the kind of game that many publishers would demand be simplified so that
non-hard-core gamers would not be frightened off by its complex controls or sadistic
level of difficulty. But if the game were simplified significantly, would it still be as com-
pelling as it is now? Probably not. For whatever small number of casual gamers might
be gained, large numbers of hard-core gamers would be lost.
Multi-Player.................................
As with theMarathongames before it and theHalogames after it, Bungie createdMyth
to excel both as a single-player game and as a multi-player experience. What is most
notable about this is that Bungie manages to do both so well. Many games are criticized
Chapter 16: Game Analysis:Myth: The Fallen Lords 303