Dar•win•i•an  [där-'wi-nE-&n]
adjective
1) Of, relating to, or being a competitive environment or situation in which only the fittest persons or organizations prosper.
noun
2) The most endearing, albeit dumb as dirt, little green stick figure you never met. (see also Lemming)


Normally, when we think of Darwin, we think of natural evolution in an organic environment. Fish that sprout legs and begin walking on land when the water has become toxic and all that. In Darwinia, the recently released in retail stores PC game, the name takes on a unique irony. Introversion Software, originally a 3 man team that has now grown to *gasp* a staff of 10 has not only survived, it has quietly enjoyed quite a cult following.  Its first title, Uplink, was a smart, geeky game full of high tech computer crime and industrial espionage. According to the founders, the initial run of CDs were personally hand-made by the guys using their own CD-burners and bubble-jets printers in October of 2001. Talk about indie! Three months later, they decide to form Introversion Software Ltd. for legal protection, always smart when you are putting your own asses on the financial bottom line.  They didn't have much to worry about, though, because shortly afterwards Uplink got a glowing full page review (as well as a demo disk release) in PC Gamer UK and their sales went through the roof.

Three long years later, Introversion releases Darwinia and, while it gets glowing reviews, it never quite takes off like Uplink did in those first heady days. Looking at the time frame, I would probably blame it on being overshadowed by 360 pre-release hype. Whatever the reason, Darwinia sells slowly, gaining a small but rabid fan base, which eventually lead Introversion to make the smartest. move. ever. In December of 2005, Darwinia is published on Valve's Steam distribution service and sells more copies in 3 weeks than in the entire 9 months through their own website.

My full review after the jump ...

Now I'm not normally a PC gamer so this wasn't even on my radar until we were contemplating whether I should upgrade so I could play Oblivion. I didn't want to upgrade for only one game so I started looking around for a reason to believe in PC gaming. I first read about Darwinia on IGN, where it got glowing reviews. I did a little research and found out that it cleaned up at this year's Independent Games Festival Innovation, winning three separate awards for Technical Excellence, Innovation in Visual Art, and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. By this time, I had not only decided I wanted an upgrade, I knew I needed Darwinia. As luck would have it, its retail release coincided with a purchase of additional RAM and I practically pounced on it when I saw it in Best Buy.  

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

While I like a good FPS or RPG as much as the next girl, sometimes it gets to feel like just more of the same. Whenever I find a game that gives a truly unique experience, one that grabs me emotionally, I am hooked. That is exactly what happened when I started playing Darwinia. As I began poking about, I was accosted by Dr. Sepulveda, an odd little man who reminded me of my 7th grade Chemistry teacher. He unceremoniously asked me what the hell I was doing there. Not the greeting I expected but he soon apologized and explained that he had created what he thought was a perfect virtual world but it was now overrun with a virus. What was once a haven for adorable little green Darwinians, creatures of free will that lived in peace and harmony, was now a hellish landscape covered with creeping red virii. Dr. S pleaded with me to help out and I, being the good hearted Samaritan that I am, was immediately hooked. Though I had no idea what I was doing at first (I despise reading the books that come with games and you are thrust into the game with no tutorial), I followed the sparse instructions that scrolled across the bottom of my screen and worked my way around the island.

While several times I felt a little lost, I enjoyed those first few moments of just being immersed in a totally alien environment. After all, the virus wasn't after me. I was just there to run programs. At first it was simple - one click and I had a squad, another click and they are moving, then shooting and WHOA who told them to walk right into the middle of an infestation?? I couldn't shoot fast enough and they moaned and flickered and "Squad: TERMINATED" came up on my screen. Though I felt bad, I had to remind myself that this was just a program and I tried again, this time with an Engineer. Surely they were smarter? Apparently not, for as soon as I created it, it headed right for the nearest tower to reprogram it and it was almost immediately destroyed by another swarm. It began to dawn on me that I was going to have to play smarter and I pulled back, trying to get a bigger picture of what the game was about.

I realized that I am used to being told what to do when I am gaming. Being allowed to just wander across the landscape is a new experience for me, one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I actually think I learned more being left to my own devices. Part real time strategy, part god game, part action arcade, Darwinia really engaged me. When I got frustrated and had to quit for a while, I could not stop thinking about those little Darwinians and how they were counting on me to save them. As the story unfolded, I got more and more involved. I was not just following a storyline or performing increasingly difficult moves, I was participating in a world that was constantly evolving, one that was challenging me to outsmart it. 

GRAPHICS

Now, let me warn you, if you are looking to be able to see the beads of sweat dripping off the brow of each little Darwinian, forget about it. Darwinia is a futuristic, gorgeous, dare I say lush landscape that is as real as any virtual environment I could ever envision, but we are talking retro here, people. It is a credit to the designers that they made such a creative homage to their video gaming and computer roots without the disconnect I usually feel. Darwinia is a totally engaging environment and, during the peaceful moments, I took great joy in cruising almost at ground level, as my Darwinians paraded and wandered and danced and worked and defended each other. When I wanted to congratulate myself for clearing an area, I would head for the skies with their funky, grid-aligned pixelated clouds and watch as the lands of Darwinia shrank far below. What a truly joyful experience. 

It's not all smooth and lush and happy, though. One thing I began to notice as I played is that all of my interaction with Darwinia was primitive. Each program I ran was glitchy and pixelated while the surrounding environment, from the Darwinians to the virus, all moves very smoothly  - and much quicker than you can in many cases. While many might say that this is a design flaw, I think it only serves to remind us that we do not belong here. This virtual world has taken on a life of its own, it is growing and adapting quickly and you have very few weapons in this battle. Your weapons must evolve and so must you. 

In the end, I loved the graphics. If you have any complaints, I just have one thing to say ... who was the 2006 Independent Games Festival Innovation in Visual Art Award winner? Oh yeah, that's right ... Darwinia was.  :)

SUPER SPECIAL TOUCH:  Check out the rotating boot loaders. Seriously fun!
 
SOUND

Your squad complains in garbled squeaks and squawks, the Darwinians mew like kittens, air squads sound like choppers coming to the rescue and grenades give off an awesome, satisfying KABLAM.  While some reviewers have mentioned the lack of emotion in the soundtrack, I have to disagree. During a particularly tough battle, I was crushed when I realized my previously safe Darwinians were being attacked. Their mewling screams (they really did use cats for them, honest) were gut wrenching. Alternately, when you zoom in close, you can hear the little determined marching footsteps of the officers as they call wayward Darwinians to safety. Higher up, the sounds soften, mingling together into a kind of digital pulse. The soundtrack, provided by Trash80  is perfect. Only heard in the intros, the music fits the mood and helps immerse you in the experience. 

CONTROLS

Before I tell you how intuitive I thought the controls were with this game, let me explain something. I played through the entire game using normal keyboard controls ... WASD, L and R click, Tab, Alt and Esc. Oh, and I can't forget H for help, since a reminder was up on the screen for most of the game. Honestly, I was thrilled they were so simple but I had a nagging thought in my head that this should be harder. Many other reviewers had mentioned the quirky and clumsy "gesture" controls, complaining that they were gimmicky. As I played, though, I wasn't asked to draw any shapes on the screen. Now, most gamers might have backed out and reset their controls but not me. I'm a wuss. I was enjoying the game so much I didn't want to ruin a good thing by suddenly feeling inept so I continued through using the keyboard controls.

That said, I did go back after finishing the game and began a new game with the controls set to gestures this time. It didn't take me long to realize that I would never be able to review the gesture scheme fairly, since I already knew how the game worked and all I had to learn was how to draw a few rudimentary shapes inside a circle with my mouse. I have a sneaking suspicion that the game may not have been as enjoyable for me at first.

GAMEPLAY

For the most part, gameplay is simple. You start a program and tell it what to do. Some programs move about with their own agenda. The engineers, for example, are designed to reprogram towers and collect the souls of the dead. Yes, you heard me ... they collect souls, an integral part of the plan to repopulate Darwinia. Unfortunately, controlling them is difficult. They will travel right through a crowd of virii and get eaten before you can even stop them. The good thing is they can travel over the roughest terrain, even across water, so navigating the outskirts of a dangerous island is one of their specialties.

Your squad will do your bidding without question, shooting lasers, tossing grenades and, eventually, tossing marker bombs for air strike bots to carry out. The action obeys the laws of physics ... fair warning that when you toss a grenade uphill, it will roll back down and blow your squad to smithereens.  My very first mission taught me something else ... squads have no brains whatsoever. I drew them up and pointed to a spot on the u-shaped island where I wanted them to end up. I naively turned my attention to creating an engineer to go do something else, thinking the squad would naturally follow the lay of the land. Silly me. The next thing I know, I look back and I realize my squad is falling all over itself trying to cross the oddly glowing water to get to their target, something that they, apparently, can not do. They also can not navigate rough terrain so you better make sure you can find a passable path around a mountain.

As the virus mutates into creepier incarnations (from little worms to centipedes to spiders that lay eggs *GRR* to flying ravenous soul destroyers), your programs become more sophisticated, thanks to the continued hard work and research of Dr. Sepulveda. You can pick which programs you want him to work on, which gives you a bit of control, something that you will appreciate during some of the longer battles. Eventually, your Darwinians will begin protecting themselves, manning tanks, cannons, and even shooting their own lasers.

This is real time strategy with a slight twist ... once you leave the world you are in, your progress stops, sometimes it even backs up a few steps. I was totally horrified when I revisited a world I had already cleared only to see evidence of infection was still there. I moved in close, wondering what I could have missed, only to notice the lights that had scared me slowly turning over from red to green ... all was right in my world again.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is not just a 'play as God' game. Dr. Sepulveda already did that and, I would even go so far as to say he may have learned his lesson by the end. He seems humbled by the whole experience. It's not like what he wanted was something bad, his creation just took off in a direction that he didn't expect. Evolution has a way of doing that.

This game was such an enjoyable experience. Come on, a virtual theme park inside a computer, creatures of free will that have evolved being attacked by a virus that continues to evolve and adapt ... and I have to save it all?? It was a mission I was glad to take on.  Each Darwinian became important to me. My heart ached for each one I lost and swelled with pride when they celebrated my victories.  It's a rare game that can actually make you feel both responsible and protective of something so simple, something other than your character or his loot. Darwinia is a game with heart and thousands of little souls. I give it a joyful 9.5/10.

As added incentive, in the month since its release, the retail price has dropped from $29.99 to $19.99! Show your support of indie game houses by supporting the guys at Introversion. You won't regret it.