Myth: The Fallen Lords garnered many accolades from gaming publications last year for its innovative use of true 3D terrain in a real-time fantasy/strategy game. And judging from what Elliott Chin and I saw of Myth II: Soulblighter, the game looks to do nothing short of improve on excellence.

　　The story continues 60 years after the first game. In this tale, one of the original Fallen Lords, Soulblighter, escaped destruction and went into hiding. Now he's amassing an army to take back the kingdom of King Alric. Players once again assume the role of commander of Alric's forces and continue their mission to eliminate the evil presence.

　　The apparent rehash of an old story tells nothing of the vast improvements Myth II will have over the first game. The game engine supports four times as much terrain detail as the first, which helps in clearing up a lot of problems involving unit pathing, control, and formation setting. Colored lighting, 3D fire that interacts with the terrain, and animated 3D models are just a few of the impressive improvements. Even indoor environments are being modeled this time, so that simulating a defense of a fortress becomes a new challenge for players. And if you just aren't excited enough, consider that Myth II will support CD-quality context-sensitive music as well as true 3D surround sound.

　　In addition to all of this, Bungie is also giving players two of the most prized possessions of real-time strategy games: a worldwide ranking multiplayer system and a map editor. Players can design their own maps and challenge people internationally through the Bungie.net servers. All in all, Myth II looks like it's shaping up to be the next standard in real-time fantasy/strategy.