In Nexagon: Deathmatch, it is the 44th Century and violence and crime are a thing of the past. Civilization has evolved into a higher state of consciousness, and although safety has been restored, human existence has been rendered dull and lifeless, with no exposure to aggression, fighting or violence. In an attempt to re-ignite humanity s excitement level and entertain billions of viewers, a new TV program is introduced where convicts control squads of gladiators fighting for their freedom in a completely destructible 3D environment. That program is "Nexagon: Deathmatch." Do you remember the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man? It's pretty much the same.

You create a character by selecting an army type and name. Once the style of team is selected you go and create your Sanctum, the area in which you control. The Sanctum is actually set up before the game begins by the player itself by positioning different types of objects and barriers. Each arena is different and offers unique challenges, traps and goodies. Once that is done you can then position your various units in different portions of the sanctum. You start off with a sum of money (later you earn from successful matches) that you can use to buy new units, called thralls (little robots or genetically engineered creatures), and to shore up your base with various walls, ramps, traps, and potted plants. The game actually begins with your horde going after their opponents. The goal is to get through the arena, invade your enemy's base and smash his Nexus, the big shinny thing in the middle of his camp. Each battle is fought out in this arena setting, which is completely destructible (every structure, weapon, building or otherwise, can be entirely obliterated). As I mentioned above, each match has a prize value associated with it, so if you win, you can take home big bucks and buy new units or repair your base.

Nexagon Deathmatch contains campaign mode, single matches versus the computer or online opponents, over 20 different arenas, 4 different horde types (the fantasy-themed Tekhan, the industrial Strunar, the futuristic Ghandros, and the organic-alien-like Olfrum). There are four types of units - moles (basic soldiers), drones, golems (slow-moving power units), and brains (support units with special spells and abilities), the units only have a few basic commands, like move, attack, and defend plus three basic combat stances, like full-out aggression or total passivity. In time, thralls gain experience and get bigger, better, stronger, faster worth keeping alive and healthy for future conflicts.

Is this game good? Well, there's an interesting concept, there is no building, no research, and the destructible environments in the arenas promising a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the gameplay rather sucks, especially the frustrating controls and clumsy camera angle. The major appeal that this game has is for the absolute hard-core strategy maniacs with lots of patience with interface. I'm not one of them :)  If you think you could like it anyway, try this playable demo (210MB).

System requirements:
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Pentium III 800 Mhz, 128MB RAM, 3D accelerated video card with 16MB and OpenGL support, 1.2 GB Free Hard disk space DirectX 9.0, 16-bit Sound card, CD-ROM 4X or higher