More appealing are the less predictable modes of play Multiwinia offers, such as assault, whereby two teams are tasked with either the protection or the destruction of a base containing a nuke, and last but not least, Rocket Riot, a game-type which revolves around several solar farms that players fight to control in a frantic race to collect enough fuel for blast off, and indeed the win.
In every other respect, however, Introversion Software is obviously of the mind that less is more, and Multiwinia stands as an fine exemplar of that estimation. Game play is punchy and satisfying, and in case you start entertaining grand battle-plans, a ten-minute limit on each match takes your ambition down a notch. Multiwinia is certainly a prettier game than its predecessor was at release, but three extra years in the development oven will do that, and the occasional improvements only smooth a few of Darwinia's graphical slights; they do nothing to diminish the uniquely appealing aesthetic of the original, explicating instead on a several of its artistic motifs.
The landscapes you'll do battle across retain the ethereal, otherworldly quality that made them so attractive in the first instance. An unfortunate few look as if they've been roughed into a graphics package and left in as curiosities, but they're a respectfully tailored bunch overall, perfectly fit for purpose and authentic enough that their integration into the forthcoming Darwinia+ won't seem at all out of place. The audio, too, is fittingly minimalist, relying on occasional echoes and the distorted screams of pixels in peril to fill out a suitably nightmarish soundscape.
It's a tasteful package, in all, but not without problems. The AI is a long way from perfect: from simple pathfinding problems to the lack of any real middle ground in bot-matches against dull and slow Darwinians versus pixel-perfect opponents quick like lightning and merciless at the higher difficulties. But the real fun of an ostensibly online game is online, of course, and here, where the players are as fallible as you, Multiwinia can be a great deal of fun. It's not the timesink that Darwinia was, perhaps, and the servers are already sparsely populated despite the lack of crowd-thinning filtering by skill level, but when you find a match against players of roughly your own abilities, Introversion Software's latest is an ample demonstration of the benefits of fat-free game design.
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