Multiwinia is not like other real time strategy games. Multiwinian’s have no time for resource management, no time to build structures, no time to evolve. No, all of that is in the past. War has broken out in Darwinia and it’s time for full-throttle retro-arcade combat. If you think you have what it takes to help end this war, join us here at Casualty Gamer in our campaign against the other-colored flat people.

Multiwinia was developed by Introversion Software, the last of the bedroom programmers. Perhaps that is why this game is so amazing. Indy developers generally have quality as their top priority and in Multiwinia this does not go unnoted.

Since Multiwinia shares gameplay mechanics with many, but plays like few, all players, novice and experienced should start with the two tutorial levels provided. The tutorials are based around the King of the Hill mode. The first tutorial provides information about how to control Multiwinians and the basic objective of King of the Hill. The second covers more advanced concepts. After spending about 30 minutes with the tutorials, players should be ready for their first real game.

For self esteem, gameplay familiarity, and to prevent yourself from hating this amazing game it may be best to play the first round on easy. Depending on your experience with games of similar style and the game mode, jumping right into Normal difficulty may be an indirect way of asking for a butt whooping.

What Introversion did Right

There are six game modes to choose from: Domination, King of the Hill, Capture the Statue, Assault, Rocket Riot, and Blitzkrieg. Each mode is distinct from the rest so that from the six, each gamer should be satisfied with at least one of the modes. Personally, I thought they were all very enjoyable.

Each mode has its own set of game options. For example, in Domination players can adjust the scoring method, time limit, handicap, crate drop rate, initial powerups, and crate drop mode. These options allow players to tailor their experience with Multiwinian to their taste.

Since each mode has its own set of instructions, Introversion has been kind enough to include a simple and efficient set of animated instructions that are displayed at the bottom of the screen before each match is prompted by the player to commence. The instructions contain concise text and a simplified animation of the objective.

In addition to there being six modes to keep things interesting, there are also 40 detailed maps. The maps vary in size according to game mode and each have a rather unique visual theme. Battles can be fought on The Holy Tree, Fort Zulu, or Heart of Chaos, just to name a few….Continued on Page 2