Fractured Reality

True story: a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (ok, not really), I used to enjoy real time strategy games. Then something happened. Call it, oh I don't know, call it Tiberian Sun, for want of a better name. Crushed by disappointment, I gave up the genre almost entirely. I have returned occasionally through the years, but never with any great success. I have no patience for micro-management, resource gathering or the rock/paper/scissors tactics often required to stop annihilation by a specific unit type (Red Alert 2, I'm looking at you and your Terror Drones). I guess I'm just not cut out for RTS games any more.

But there are always exceptions, and in 2005, Darwinia proved to be just that. Lured in by glowing reviews and screenshots showing a beautiful low-fi aesthetic, I discovered humour, whimsy and a simpler style of play – direct control over units in a manner reminiscent of Syndicate, and a much more limited number of events happening at any one time than has become the norm in this genre. I came to care about the Darwinians – the inhabitants of the virtual world of Darwinia – dreading the piteous cries which indicated the death of these small, flat, green, and mostly defenceless stickmen.

So I approached Darwinia's sequel – Multiwinia, with both anticipation and trepidation. This time around, the Darwinians (or rather, Multiwinians now) are anything but defenceless. Armed with lasers and grenades, and split into coloured factions, they are constantly at war with one another. And with this change in the nature of the protagonists comes a shift in gameplay style too. Previously, squad units did the fighting under your control, while the Darwinians could only be set a direction to move in by promoting one to be an officer. Now it is the Multiwinians themselves who are involved in all the action, and can be controlled by promoting officers to give destinations, create powerful but slow-moving formations (ranks of Multiwinians sticking together), or by direct selection. Added to this are a faster pace and a more aggressive approach, making Multiwinia feel a lot more like a traditional RTS than its predecessor.

This classification is somewhat belied, however, by the six game modes. While Domination is a straightforward wipe-out-the-enemies game, the other modes would usually be more at home in a multiplayer FPS. King of the Hill and Capture the Statute certainly fit this description, as does Blitzkrieg, in which you must capture strategic points around the map, each point unlocking the next until the enemy's base is vulnerable – exactly like onslaught in Unreal Tournament. The final two modes are Assault, where one team defends a WMD which is counting down to detonation (and the other, obviously, tries to stop it), and Rocket Riot, in which teams race be the first to fuel, man, and launch a rocket, all the while attempting to interfere with the plans of their opponents. Equally, all game modes except Rocket Riot have set time limits, ranging from 5 to 20 minutes, creating a much more arcade-like experience than is normally seen in this genre.

The unusual approach is also reflected in the game's most contentious feature – crate drops. Just like in Worms crates fall from the sky, and sending your lovable stickmen to surround them will unlock their contents. This can either be time limited power-ups, such as shield or speed, extra units such as armoured transports or Darwinia's controllable squads, virus-based creatures – the enemies from the original game – to fight on your side, forests to use as barricades, or air strikes of varying potency. Occasionally a crate contain something detrimental – particularly annoying if you used lots of Darwinians to unlock it faster, just to see them die instantly. It is this random nature – both in contents and drop location – which makes the crates unusual for an RTS – any game in which luck plays such a big part probably requires less skill in order to win.

Whether that assertion is true or not is open to debate, but the crates do serve to level to playing field a bit, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. Multiwinia is, as the name suggests, a multiplayer game. All the maps and game modes are available offline as well, against AI opposition, but this is never as enjoyable and often downright unfair, as the computer has a tendency to overwhelm you even on the easier difficulties (at least, if you are somewhat rubbish at RTS, like me). Equally, with no story mode and little sense of reward, the only real reason to play in single player is for training purposes. So the crates become important, because without them many people would never stand a chance of winning, and would probably give up on the game altogether.

And this is a crucial point, because at the moment there just aren't enough people playing. During the review period, I never saw more than 10 hosted games at one time, and only a couple with open spaces. Regardless of whether most people are unwilling to host or there really are so few players, this is incredibly disappointing to see, just one month after launch.

This disappointment is compounded when you consider just how accessible Multiwinia is – it is controlled by the WASD or arrow keys to move the viewpoint, left mouse click to select a unit, right to move it or issue an officer command, tab to toggle through additional reinforcements and crate bonuses, and space it deselect. The simplicity of the controls and objectives, and the limited amount of unit and bonus types should make this game more appealing to the masses, and while Introversion are undoubtedly indie developers, they have a strong and devoted following on PC, and are rightly known for making games of high quality. The nagging doubt about Multiwinia is that it is possibly too simple and short term – fun to drop into in the odd quiet half-hour, but with no visible form of progression, nothing that you will stick with in the long term. Maybe people feel the same way about it as I do – that it is a good enough game to entertain in small doses, but while I completely adored Darwinia, I cannot quite say the same for its more aggressive evolution.