November 29, 2004 - Black Hole Entertainment's Armies of Exigo is a real-time strategy title that takes place in an original gameworld where a new menace, The Fallen, has emerged from below the ground to challenge the warring humans and beasts. Single-player includes a mini-campaign for each of the three sides plus a skirmish option, while multiplayer will comprise a total of four modes.

Commendations
A dual-layered map system allows for an intriguing and unusual combat system in which battles can occur both on and below the surface, at the same time. Apparently supporting different play styles, the three sides have diverse units. The Empire can call upon knights, dwarves, elves and gnomes, the beast faction has trolls, ogres and other fantasy creatures, and The Fallen puts you in control of evil dark elves, undead, insects and more. The environments will be interactive, allowing you to destroy bridges, use avalanches against your enemies, dig tunnels and change the landscape with spells like Earthquake and Volcano. The visuals seen so far have been colorful and stylish.

Reservations
While both single- and multiplayer demos are available, Armies of Exigo has flown rather low on the horizon, with the amount of information available being somewhat limited. As a result, even with release imminent, it's not easy to get a good read on the game how actually plays. From what we've seen, the interface normally occupies quite a large portion of the screen, significantly reducing the viewable area, and the high-angle camera position may not be to every player's liking.

Considerations
The concept underlying Black Hole's project appears atypical enough to give Armies of Exigo a potential point of differentiation relative to other real-time strategy offerings of the current generation. Although the jury remains out on how well the actual implementation works, Armies of Exigo might just be a year-end sleeper.

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[First Views are intended to provide initial impressions. Unlike our full previews, they do not require trying different characters, strategies et al. They may be based on limited playing time, presentations, demos, previously revealed information et al. - Ed.]