Armies of Exigo

Written by Phillip Ellis on 1/3/2005 for PC  

Armies of Exigo is a game that has entered the realms of fantasy RTS. The game now has war waged both above and below the ground. The setup of Armies of Exigo is this; In the world of Exigo, where peace and prosperity have reigned for years, the empires of man and beast face their greatest threat yet. A sinister force known as The Fallen have awaken to strike where the inhabitants of this world least expect - from underground. Sure Armies of Exigo, published by Electronic Arts, sounds like an interesting game, but does it live up to more than just the nice words?

In Armies of Exigo you’ll control an Army, like any other RTS. You can control “massive” armies according to EA, but this is limited to just 200 units. Not sure if I would call that exactly massive. The controls of the game are just like any other RTS out there on the market. Point click, point click, a simple feature. The game really has nothing innovative in terms of RTS goes. The game plays just like any other RTS on the market. The interface is like anything you’d expect, and the biggest thing Armies of Exigo claims to innovate is the ability to fight underground. The ability to fight underground had me mesmerized for about two minutes, until I realized it’s nothing different than fighting above ground, only somehow it supposedly changes my strategy. I’ll agree to a certain extent this new idea in the world of real-time strategy games does add a little bit of strategy to the game. Now attacks can come from out of nowhere, unlike other games where you can see when they are coming, and from what direction.

The gameplay is not lacking, however. You simply have the guts of an RTS game. It does not have all of the pizzazz as some of the other RTS out there, but it is in a class of its own in terms of what it is trying to do. Armies of Exigo attempts to combine many elements from other games on the market, but it just seemingly comes up short in so many areas. The sound is lacking in many areas. Tell your peasants to mine for gold, and you cannot hear them knocking away at the rocks. So you see the action, with absolutely no sound to it, and I was a bit disappointed in that, after all every real-time strategy game I’ve played like this one before, I have been able to hear that small detail. Yes, that does sound like nit-picking, but it is just something you feel like you have to have. Armies of Exigo plays like any other strategy game. Move here, attack. Protect this city, move here, attack, and produce more units. The missions are linear, and quite simple in terms of how they are played out. They also seem to be a little bit scripted, so you are likely to see the same thing each time you play through, basically eliminating the replay ability, unless you up the difficulty level. So this is where Armies of Exigo decides to throw the multiplayer portion of the game at you. There are four multiplayer types: Melee, King of the Hill, Capture the Flag, and Skirmish.

The graphics in Armies of Exigo are pretty basic. The year is almost 2005, and computers are running at unbelievable speeds and rates, and you’d expect the graphics of these real-time strategy games to increase, but they simply have not. Only a few games, such as Rise of Nations, has improved the graphics in the strategy games. Games like this leave a lot to be desired. The other units sometimes seem to have a force field around them. What this means is that when I tell a unit to attack, while he “hitting” the opponent, it does not appear as though he is actually striking at his enemy, merely coming close to hitting. This is just another small thing, but all of the small things begin to detract from a polished product, and a truly good game. The controls and interface to Armies of Exigo are very user friendly. If you’ve ever played any real-time strategy game in the world, you’ll quickly recognize the interface, as it looks just like any other game. The controls were just as simply. Just click on your units, and click on the screen to move them around. The cool thing about the interface is the ability to create super groups with your units in case of a major attack and you need to move a lot of units at once. Simply click on your super group instead of having to select all of them, and take them into the battle. The ability to switch the map from above ground to below ground with the simple push of a button is also a nice touch. So for those of you that have played other real-time strategy games, you’ll find yourself right at home with the controls of this one. For those of you who for some reason are lost in the world and have not played a strategy game, well you’ll pick on to this one fast.

Armies of Exigo is the first in what could be a series for the developers. So you’re looking at a game in its first generation, a game that has probably built a pretty decent, solid foundation for all others to base on. However it is evident in a few spots in the game, with some issues in game play, and balance. Armies of Exigo seems to take too much from too many other real-time strategy games, and fails to capitalize and to create its own niche. However computer players tired of the WWII strategy games may enjoy the change of pace Armies of Exigo can offer, and hence a perfectly good reason to pick up a pretty decent game. I enjoy the game, and the online offers some decent replay ability, but the lack of innovation seems to do it in for me. I feel like I’ve played Armies of Exigo before, just like every other real-time strategy game. The biggest thing it has going for it is the ability to fight underground, and thus, attack from all angles at anytime, but this new feature just does not do it for me, and does not make me feel that Armies of Exigois innovative enough. I welcome it to a crowded genre, and look forward to a hopeful sequel to continue to improve the game, as this is a solid foundation to continue on.