Immortals is menu-heavy. There is a lot to concern yourself with, and it can actually drag the gameplay down to a crawl. The races, which include the requisite humans and evil aliens, each have different attributes, strengths, and weaknesses. But all are involved in the same undertaking of building an empire from scratch. Research is the one constant that is required by all of the races in order to advance in any specific area.

It's important to know of the options available and what's required of you to perform certain actions such as invading a new planet, acquiring new weapons, constructing manufacturing facilities, and making diplomatic decisions. It makes for a lot of reading. Taking this into consideration along with the fact that the battles are played out automatically with no real time control on your part, and you have the making of a very tedious game. If you're looking for action, look elsewhere.

More than10 players can take part in the online multi-player mode, but it's really not much different than battling it out in the single-player mode. The games are long. Quickmatches should be renamed, since they are anything but quick, often lasting entire evenings. With randomly generated maps, the right player can get virtually unlimited replay value out of this game. But that "right" player is going to be few and far between as Immortals only caters to a very narrow demographic. Even at that, hardcore turn-based strategy fans will soon tire of the "in-space" novelty and recognize that Immortals is nothing more than an unoriginal, formulaic budget title.

By Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer