What could have made it better

Before I begin this section I would like to make a disclaimer. I won’t handicap my review because a developer is Indie instead of Commercial. However, many of the following suggestions are just my expectations as a hardcore gamer who loves casual games. It is not fair to expect that all of the following suggestions should be included in a single game, but certainly some of these should have made it into the final package. With that in mind…

There is no story mode, just the background story provided in the manual. This is perfectly fine with me because the game is intended to be gameplay action-oriented. I simply mention it here for those who might see this as a negative.

Maps are designated for specific game modes. There is no way to mix and match maps and game modes to players’ discretion. This takes some control away from the player. Once again, this is being mentioned to be informative. With over 40 maps, this isn’t that disappointing.

There is no replay mode to record and watch epic battles afterward to show them off to friends. Of course there is always free third-party software like Hypercam for this, but it would be a nice feature to have. Again, nothing major.

It felt at times like I had to babysit my formations due to the obstacles in the map. While there seemed to be an attempt at programming smart character routing, it often didn’t work. To illustrate, suppose you want to move your Multiwinians to the opposite side of a mountain directly in front of you. Instead of being able to click on the opposite side and having them walk around, it would be necessary to first command them to the left or right of the mountain, and then to your destination. Otherwise, the Multiwinians would get caught on the mountain. This is very annoying on some maps. On others, the issue never came up. Not a gamebreaker, but something that takes getting used to if you’ve played other RTS games.

No achievements. While the game is addicting, the lack of achievements and stats keeps the bar a notch lower than it could be. If there were achievements to beat all maps, to win 3 matches online, to win a match with no crates, etc. it would increase the replay value and overall appeal.

No stats. The whole point of multiplayer, aside from playing with friends, is to see how many people you can use to wipe the floor. In Multiwinia you can keep your own wins/losses on pen and paper, but there is no way to rank yourself against everyone else. Also, stats for singeplayer would be neat. Kills, Deaths, Total wins/losses, etc. There is none of that, so you better be proficient in excel and able to track a dozen variables in your head while focusing on a battle simultaneously.

There didn’t seem to ever be enough online matches. Whenever I signed on, usually between 6-10pm EST, there were only three matches, occasionally five. This is enough to play a game, but it doesn’t provide much variance in skill level. This can force you into playing against opponents at incompatible skill levels and your least desired game modes. This could just have to do with the time that I logged on. Perhaps at other times the servers are busier.

Final Thoughts

Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest is an amazing game by Introversion, a great indie developer. This is not their first game, and hopefully it will not be their last. Check out there site for other releases http://www.introversion.co.uk/