Darwinia

Sam is inspired by this original masterpiece...

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I've been wondering how I can introduce a game that is as unusual and magnificent as Darwinia without coming on too strong. This is the kind of game that everyone should at least experience for themselves and that any self-respecting gamer really should have as part of their collection. In a world where the franchise and licensed product reigns supreme and gigantic publishers stride around with an arrogantly regurgatative attitude towards games development that is steadily stripping gaming of any sense of wonder that it once had, (breathe) it is so utterly refreshing to play a title such as Darwinia. Like all wonderful things it is not without its faults but like all flawed beauties it is the contrast of the deficiencies against the strengths which create something that is even more beguiling than the sum of its parts would suggest. And like anything you can fall in love with, it will infuriate and annoy, as no matter how aware we humans are of the flawed nature of the universe it still exasperates us to see perfection spoiled by seemingly surmountable things.

Before I descend even deeper into a world of superlatives I really should get on with describing the game to you, so let's hove away from the hagiography and move onto the review proper. The actual gameplay in Darwinia is a hybrid of a handful of old 8 and 16 bit classics with plenty of inspiration taken from more modern titles. Every review has tried to link Darwinia to a selection of games, so here's my choice: Cannon Fodder, Sentinel, C&C, Virus and Centipede. When you first plunge into the game you have a very limited number of units and weapons at your disposal. The two basic units are the troops, which do all the killing and most of the dying, and the engineers, which interface with buildings and collect the souls of the dead and bear a striking resemblance to the Recognisers from TRON. The world of Darwinia is an artificial construct inside a mainframe, populated by the Darwinians. Due to an oversight by its creator the world has become infested with a massive viral outbreak which threatens to ruin his artificial life project and spell doom for the world of Darwinia. It is down to the player to clear out the infestation and restore the world to its rightful order. You must use your troops to clear out the virii, zapping them with the right mouse button while the left deals with movement. Every time you kill a foe they will leave behind a glowing red diamond, which you should try to pick up with the engineers so they can be returned to the incubator and reborn as Darwinians. Darwinia uses a very forgiving gesture recognition system for unit creation which although somewhat unnecessary is an attempt to do something different. The lack of squad hotkeys is, however, an innovation I could have done without.

The engineers are a fundamental unit in the game. Without them you cannot take over the radar stations which link the various islands, nor the control towers, portals or incubators. Later on in the game you must use your Darwinians to take over the range of buildings and structures which carry out the core tasks of the Darwinian world, so re-birthing the souls of the dead in incubators becomes a crucial task This is also where the story really begins to develop. The player learns that they must use the little green people to purge Darwinia of the virii by taking back the system factories and facilities that give birth to the Darwinians in the first place. In keeping with the minimal unit numbers you cannot control the Darwinians directly. Instead you must rely on Officers; Darwinians converted into commanders that can order the hordes around. Generally speaking, the Officers are used to set up a travel network, with one officer pointing to the next in the chain, a path which the Darwinians float along in their characteristically ghost-like manner. Officers also have other functions such as follow me and group, but I never used them, partly because I missed the instructions on how to use them and partly because the one function I did know was enough to see me through the entire game.

Darwinia does more than encourage different attitudes towards your troops, it positively requires it. The standard in RTS games is that you must shepherd your troops, doing your best to keep the units alive for as long as possible, maybe even being rewarded for your diligence with an increase in their rank and abilities. Not so in Darwinia where you have to dispose of your own troops on a regular basis. At the start of the game you can only control three units at a time. While this can be adjusted upwards with research, even at its upper limit the number of units under your control at one time in tiny. So if you have conjured up three troops units and need an engineer, one of that loyal gang of soldiers is going to have to bite the dust. As the game evolves, diligent management of your units becomes something you have to focus even more of your energies on. By playing against a gamer's learned behaviour Darwinia manages to alter the very core of that person's gaming persona, a process which invigorates the jaded gamer while making for a wealth of interesting tactical decisions.