Darwinia Review (PC)

Age Rating: 7+ (PEGI)

What is it?

A stylized conflict-oriented real-time strategy game – no need to worry about gathering resources or defending your base

Is it fun?

Yes!

Is it worth the money? US$19.95 through Steam or £17.99 on CD-ROM

Yes, but the Steam version tends to crash if I play it for more than a couple of hours at a time. Haven’t tried the CD version but it’s quite pricey in comparison.

Why?

Well, at current exchange rates the downloaded version is only £11.40. Bargain! There are ony 10 levels but it feels just about right when you’re playing – no huge jumps in plot or learning curve and there’s a new tactic that you’re either up against or able to use in every level. Also, there are stick-men and it has fantastic ambient music! :)

You really need to plan what you’re doing so whenever you pull something off successfully first time you feel all clever :) Well, I do anyway. They’re quite good at sneaking in new enemy types, so a tactic that worked brilliantly in the last level can suddenly be completely shafted in the next – you need to stay quite sharp. There’s very little punishment in the game either – if you screw something up royally you can usually just regroup and start with a new tactic without worrying about running out of resources or letting the other guys build up their army. It’s very rare that you might have to reset the level due to poor planning.

I’ll admit, enemy AI is a bit simplistic – they have little concept of avoiding bombs and cannon-fire but in this case, the landscape appears to be specifically designed so that it’s difficult to place your cannons anywhere that would give you an overwhelming advantage. Likewise, wading in blindly with squads is possible but the worst of the enemy units are strategically positioned so that it can quite tricky to take them out with explosives and not blow yourself up.

Finally, pathfinding sucks! You really have to keep an eye on your squads if you’re walking them across a lot of terrain. It’s not so bad that it ruins the game though – you just need to be a little more careful than with other games. Compared to a traditional RTS like Earth 2150 it lacks some controls that you would expect, like keyboard shortcuts to zoom to a unit or control of multiple units at once, but small number of units you can actually have keeps it quite manageable – you’re simply not powerful enough to wage battle in more than one location at a time.

Summary: Fun and engrossing little strategy game. Keep an eye on your squads though, as they’re liable to get stuck if they need to walk anywhere near water or steep cliffs.

Also available on Linux and Mac. Check the official website for details.

Links:

• Official Darwinia website
• Free Darwinia demo
• Introversions’s store – Darwinia posters and soundtrack
• Purchase through Steam
• Trash80 – He did the music

Screenshots:

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