Were there actually robotic soldiers roaming the lands of Egypt along with Osiris? Electronic Arts apparently thinks so. Either that, or the creative forces in the land of EA have seen the movie Stargate one too many times. And what could possibly have spawned from this twisted Egyptian vision? The answer can be none other than Scarab.

Scarab is a first-person strategy game in which you control one of three customizable robots. A total of 140 missions take place within seven fully textured 3D arenas that include pyramids, marketplaces, and tombs as their backdrops. You must gain control of a city by either killing all of the enemy robots, or by overpowering the enemy by placing power-generating towers around the arena.

Although this game is being marketed as a strategy game, because of the first-person, destroy-the-enemy aspect, the gameplay is a bit slow. I found myself wanting my character to move across the map faster. The addition of a run button would have made me do cartwheels down the halls of the PC Games offices. On top of the lack of heart-pumping action, the graphics didn't do all that much to feed my eyeballs, either. However, the multiplayer aspect did add some spice to the game, and the sheer number of offensive and defensive missions keeps the one-player replay value high. Scarab also didn't slack off when it came to weaponry: Users can acquire up to eight different weapons, each with five levels of power.

Overall, Scarab is a good buy if you enjoy games like G-Nome and Mechwarrior, because of the time it will take to complete all the missions. On the other hand, if you're expecting an action-packed first-person title like Quake, this may not be the game you want.