Review: Armies of Exigo
Imitation truly is the sweetest form of flattery.
Article by Phil Burnell (Email)
January 23rd 2005, 02:57AM
Armies of Exigo is a solid real-time strategy game. Although there’s not much new here game-play wise, the dual-level system adds a new element that can be a refreshing change from the grind of the “same-old RTS.” However, this is a dual-edged sword. The dual-level system adds a whole new level of micromanagement that can make the game ridiculously hard to control, as you attempt to fight a battle on the overworld and underworld at the same time, or as you try to control an ambush from beneath while you’re busy micromanaging your army up top, using them as a distraction. I had my hands full in the old days as I tried to control my armies in StarCraft; I’m not so sure I wanted double the work. Unfortunately, this is the case more often than not in Armies of Exigo.
Overall, Armies of Exigo is not a bad game. My major gripe is that as I play it, I feel like I’m playing an updated version of StarCraft or Warcraft III that has elements I just don’t like. The dual-level system is an interesting idea, but it just doesn’t translate well into the game in this form due to the massive requirement for more and more micromanagement skills. The fact that this system is pretty much the only new addition to the RTS genre, just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps Black Hole Entertainment would have been more successful if they didn’t incorporate so many elements from Blizzard’s games in Armies of Exigo, because at least in my experience, it seemed to backfire. When I was playing AoE I found myself wanting to go back and play StarCraft and Warcraft III again rather than continue playing. Why not play the originals instead of a game that feels like the same game, with one or two new elements?
Apparently I’m not the only one that felt this way while playing Armies of Exigo, because when I attempted to play a multiplayer game, it took me almost 25 minutes to find someone with a working host, and even then the connection was horrible. The lack of players on the net for a relatively new game just goes to show that something here isn’t working. Armies of Exigo is not a bad game, but overall, it’s just a pale imitation of the games it attempts to borrow from. The dual-level system was a nice touch, but it just overcomplicates a game that already requires a lot of quick-thinking as well as good control skills. A good try, but the original Blizzard games are much better than what we get here.
Armies of Exigo gets a 3 out of 5 for being a solid RTS game that attempts to heavily borrow elements from past Blizzard games, but comes up a bit short. The new dual-level system is too complicated for an already complicated genre of game.
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