I played this because it had
won several awards, including a contest run
by The Mill. This is the first Myth II addon
I've played (other than the official addon,
Chimera), and it is definately a piece of work.
Under Myrkridian Standards is set during the
reign of the Myrkridia, those most horrible
monsters of Myth's world. The idea is extremely
cool, but the team behind UMS stops a bit short
of pulling it off. There are four missions,
the first being the start of the Myrkridian
Reign. The Cath Bruig capital is under siege
by these beasts, and it is your job to defend
it. I found that this mission did not require
a whole lot of strategy, other than get in a
defendable position and try and survive the
hordes. The Myrkridia were not nearly as intimidating
as they are in the original game (Gate Of Storms,
for example), they just wander about in medium
sized packs with the odd loner here and there.
It's not easy defeating them, but larger masses
would have been better. At the end of the mission,
Moagim himself comes and kills your King, because
he is the Leveler and must win. However, it
would have been better if the mission was impossible,
and you simply tried to hold out as long as
you could against huge packs of Myrkridia, and
then when you lost (not if), you went on to
the next mission. The next mission is set 1,000
years later when the hero Connaght arrives to
rid the world of the Bloody Night. Your job
is to guide Connaght through a forest and meet
Damas, a veteran warrior who may be able to
help you. This mission is quite disturbing as
these two will later return as the Fallen Lords
Balor and SoulBlighter. The next mission places
you and an Imperial Army at the front of the
new Mykridian invasion where you must stop all
the enemy from reaching one side of the map.
From the briefing I expected more units on both
sides, but once again, there were not that many.
The strategy again was stay in line and make
sure no one gets across, not a lot of tactical
variations were required. The end of this mission
was quite good though. Finally, the last mission
'Skulls On Ice' takes you through a snowswept
landscape to seek the help of the Berserks.
There are several new units
in this addon, but all of them are variations
on old units. Never the less, they do enhance
the gameplay. The briefings are very well done,
the levels look nice, and the gameplay is fun
if sometimes repetitive. All in all, this is
a single play experience well worth having.
