Available on

Steam

Platform

Genre

Strategy

Publisher

Introversion Software

Developer

Introversion Software

ESRB

N/A

Released

September 19, 2008

- Art style will hold up forever
- Manage to adapt FPS modes to the strategy genre
- Fun without having to play online

- Doesn't seem to have anyone playing online
- No mini-map
- Use of WASD keys make for a learning curve

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Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest

Score: 7.5 / 10

Multiwinia's single biggest problem -- and really it's the only one -- is a distinct lack of competition. More specifically, people playing online. For a game so centered on multiplayer this is practically a death knell; the only thing that saves Multiwinia is that the AI controlled opponents can put up enough of a competition to offset the lack of online players.

Even hosting games doesn't alleviate the problem. I spent almost all my time offline after many frustrating hours trying to join and host multiplayer matches. By even saying that I might be perpetuating the problem. After all, if no one else is playing online, why should you? You should though. Multiwinia is a very good, goal-oriented strategy game that is constantly in motion and demands your full attention while playing since the developers have incorporated modes of play that are almost

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exclusively associated with first-person shooters.

King of the Hill and Domination (control the map) modes of play should be familiar to strategy game players. Blitzkrieg (capture the flag) and Assault are modes that would be right at home in a first-person shooter.

Assault throws you into either a defender or attacker role. On

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defence, players are heavily entrenched with an assortment of heavy weapons but with a small force. The attackers are endlessly reinforced, left to attack in numbers and with a bit of strategy. The goal is to either destroy or protect a bomb in a set amount of time. When one side "wins" the roles are switched. At the end, the overall winner is determined by whomever managed to take out the bomb fastest.

My two favorite modes are Rocket Riot and Capture the Statue. Capture the Statue is straightforward: collect statues (under the power of many Multiwinians) and return them to the capture point. Running the edge of retrieving the statues and attacking opponents to slow their own statue collecting is a lot of fun.

Rocket Riot is all about capturing nodes to refuel your rocket. Once that's complete, the rocket needs to be filled with 100 Multiwinians so it can blast off. Of all the modes, I found that Rocket Riot demanded the most concentration. Because Multiwinia doesn't feature a mini-map to click on and the WASD keys and the mouse are used to navigate the map, players will constantly be manaually scanning the map for new threats or the next best target.

Multiwinia offers a high number of maps for each mode, which helps keep the game feeling fresh. Playing the same map again and again trying to learn its choke points and angles of attack takes some time and with so many maps players will have to keep learning or suffer the consequences.

While the selling point of Multiwinia -- that would be, multiplayer -- is somewhat lacking in regard to number of players all the other pieces are in place for a very satisfying experience. Hopefully Multiwinia has a slow burn and some community builds around the title because as good a challenge as the AI can muster, it's nothing like the variety that online opponents can put together.

- Aaron Simmer

(October 20, 2008)

Multiwinia is scheduled to arrive on Xbox 360 in December as a download title on Xbox Live Arcade.