Known previously as a PC title, Darwinia+ is going to cause some trepidation from the start. PC titles, particularly strategy games have often struggled to make the leap due to their control systems. As many PC gamers would tell you, nothing can replace a mouse and keyboard, but Introversion has created a control scheme that while at first feels a little alien, it soon becomes intuitive and natural. Using the sticks to control the camera movement and the face buttons for actions.
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| The cute and simple graphics add to the charm of it all. | Moments such as this, enhance the feeling of being a God to the Darwinians |
Selecting any unit is as simple as clicking it with the A button and using X to tell them to do something, you can always use the bumpers to scroll through your units quickly. The simplicity of this control method means that controlling the action is frequently easy to manage and rarely trips you up.
The mechanics of the game are equally as simple as the controls. You are tasked with helping Dr. Sepulveda, a computer scientist, banish the many viruses from his computer world and help protect his beloved creations, the Darwinians, along the way. The Darwinians are a peaceful and frankly stupid race of stick figures that can only really move from place to place with the aid of an occasional signpost. This means that most of your work will be done around them, by using different squads to essentially clear a path and the world for the Darwinians to survive.
After taking the swift but thorough tutorial, it’s time to get to work. Using foot soldiers and engineers to destroy enemies and take over buildings that open up more routes through the map, sounds a lot simpler than it is. Killing enemies is actually quite a task, whereas on the PC you would just point and click, the console version uses a twin stick system to dispatch your foes. This wouldn’t be a problem if the aiming cursor wasn’t so, well, floaty. It almost slides around on a 2D plain that makes aiming very tricky. Killing even the simplest virii is a tiresome task and can lead to frustration on the larger bad guys.
It’s unfortunate that the combat makes up for so much of the game then, using engineers to take hold of buildings is only really a side note to the slow and meandering pace of the game. Luckily you can leave the engineers to their own devices and watch as they move from the newly captured buildings to collecting souls from the enemies to create new Darwinians for you to save.
Darwinia+ is a bizarre hybrid game, based on so many genres. You could call it an RTS due to the management of your resources, but it has a strong action presence due to the combat. This mish mash of flavours doesn’t lend itself overly well to the console market. The action isn’t nearly as fast and frantic as it needs to be and the RTS component is merely a small add on. The best way to describe Darwinia+ would be as a God sim, controlling each element and achieving an end goal.
The campaign itself is interesting and adorably sweet, with our scientist narrating the way and the Darwinians looking almost childlike in their presentation, but there are times when you find yourself wanting to lavish the game in oohs and ahhs. The game oozes charm and pulls you in to its little universe wonderfully. It’s a shame the same can’t be said for the multiplayer aspects of the game.
Originally released as Multiwinia for the PC, the multiplayer aspect concentrates its focus on the combat side of things and even gives you control over the enemy classes in order to disrupt your opponent. There is an obvious link between the issues with the combat and the multiplayer aspects, as with the main game the combat lets this game mode down. With rarely any time to think, it becomes a game of anger and annoyance leaving you little choice but to venture back to the single player mode.
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| The scenery is as charming as the Darwinians. | Hundreds of little Darwinians waiting for the path to clear. |
But why not? The campaign is lovely, the maps are unique and interesting to look at, the story pushes you forward and the game itself provides you with a challenge. Whilst the mechanics of the game can seem linear, upgrades littered throughout the levels provide a little more depth and keep the game fresh.
There isn’t a vast amount here to keep you interested if you’ve already experienced the game on PC and at 1200 points it’s likely that you can buy it for a cheaper price too. But to the amateur Darwinian this game is a welcome addition to Xbox Live Arcade, bringing more strategy to a limited catalogue of games. Enjoy it for the looks, the controls and cuteness of it all and enjoy it for the simplicity, most of all.
Top game moment:
DARWINIA+ VERDICT
There isn’t a vast amount here to keep you interested if you’ve already experienced the game on PC and at 1200 points it’s likely that you can buy it for a cheaper price too. But to the amateur Darwinian this game is a welcome addition to Xbox Live Arcade, bringing more strategy to a limited catalogue of games. Enjoy it for the looks, the controls and cuteness of it all and enjoy it for the simplicity, most of all.
TOP GAME MOMENT
One of the better moments of the game is just looking around the world, enjoying the art style and watching as the Darwinians wander around aimlessly. Looking out over the islands and up at the Tetris block clouds is utterly charming.
