Armies of Exigo

It's not as polished or as expansive as Warcraft III, but Armies of Exigo's multileveled gameplay advances the RTS formula nonetheless.

With the arrival of Armies of Exigo on the PC, strategy gurus may finally have a semi-viable alternative to the Warcraft III juggernaut.

Three's a Crowd

Exigo pits three races--the Beast Horde, the Empire and the Fallen--against each other in a hardcore RTS brawl. The single-player game features 36 total missions (12 for each faction), and multiplayer matches feature games like Capture the Flag and King of the Hill.

The game's main selling point is the fact that units are able to head underground to bypass obstacles, steal precious resources and spring sneak attacks (like poison gas clouds that seep up to choke surface enemies). While the dual-layered gameplay isn't quite as amazing as it first sounds--you're limited to pre-generated underground catacombs--it does open up new strategic avenues.

Otherwise, Exigo receives only mixed marks for its cumbersome control scheme. While the point-and-click interface is intuitive, the expansive keyboard commands should be more streamlined and accessible. It should also be noted that Exigo is definitely geared more towards experienced strategy veterans; though there are a few tutorial levels, they only demonstrate the most basic techniques.

Further Down the Rabbit Hole

In the graphics department, Exigo's detailed environments and sparkling special effects add a noticeable coat of luster. But more importantly, the performance is smooth and steady, meaning that players on modest PCs can expect decent frame rates. Exigo's audio is less impressive, offering a generic, epic-tinged soundtrack and a standard array of clangs and thuds. There's also the usual collection of awful faux-British accents--feel free to silence them via the options screen.

Exigo's multi-leveled gameplay is a good first step in an interesting direction, but unfortunately, that's not always enough to compete in the brutally competitive RTS genre. With more tweaking, Armies of Exigo could definitely give Blizzard a run for its money. Until then, it's a perfectly entertaining strategy exercise.

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