Easily one of the best Fantasy RTS games out there...
Super-Gorgeous graphics for its time, cinematics of insane quality, great production quality detailed unit design, interesting cut-scenes and missions, comfortable gameplay, great music and sounds and a captivating story easily put Armies of Exigo in my list of top 10 RTS games. But why did this game fail? Probably because of bad marketing. Probably because it was released a year after W3 and stayed in its shadow (although it eats Warcraft 3 for breakfast in every aspect). Just dont listen to the hype. This game is great.
To sum up.
Pros: Graphics, Sound, Story, Unit detail, Unit leveling, both ground and underground mode in the same map.
Cons: Low resolution for todays widescreens (max res is 1280x1024).
An honest 9/10 from me.
(Some say AOE is a Warcraft rip-off. Pardon me, guys, but Warcraft is also a Warhammer rip-off and I have never seen any "objective" reporter of the gaming industry mentioning this. At least AOE introduced 2 new races: Beasts and the Fallen, who are a completely unique race. What did Warcraft introduce us? Humans, Orcs, Elves and Undead? Give me a break.)