Review: Darwinia+

Darwinia has made it’s presence known on the Xbox Live Arcade in the form of Darwinia+. This game has won multiple awards and received lots of attention in the past in it’s PC incarnations. Introversion Software has now brought it to the console where it is surprisingly easier and more natural to navigate. They even threw in the multiplayer incarnation ‘Multiwinia’ to boot.

The game exists in it’s own little digital tron-esque universe. It’s an ecosystem populated with industry, civilization, wild life, and various stimuli. It’s a virtual ecosystem where evolution and artificial intelligence is studied. There even religion as a component.

The aesthetic is similarly digital – picture any visualization of computer worlds from the 1980s and you get the idea. It’s a delightful and refreshing aesthetic, both abstract and selectively specific, giving you just the right information with a streamlined yet technical coat of paint. Even the synth’ music harkens back to those glory days.

The game mechanics are deceptively simple. There is not much you can do other than steer your Darwinians in different directions and perform a handful of basic actions but the complexity comes in the strategy and combination of these actions. It results in an odd mix of cerebral strategy and arcade=like action.

Overall it’s a refreshing, surprisingly deep, and really interesting game. It’s great to see and you can tell it’s been made with love by people with a history in the medium. There are even a lot of subtle references to video game classics here. It’s not flashy for a buck. There is some real substance here and it’s a game you can really sink some time in to. It’s probably best classified as an RTS but it’s really not your typical RTS game and is a breath of fresh air amongst all the derivative games being released lately.

Contest:

We’ve got a Darwinia+ prize pack available for one lucky reader. Simply leave a comment below telling us your favorite  8-bit video game and you’ll be entered in to a draw. We’ll randomly pick a winner at the end of the month to receive this prize pack containing:

• A limited edition Darwinia Tin
• Toy Darwinians
• Multiwinia Coffee Table book
• Reviewer Guid to Darwinia+
• Posters