I'd been watching out for Multiwinia ever since I played the demo of Darwinia many moons ago. I don't know why, as much as I liked the game then I never bought it. I did however pre-order the Limited Edition of Multiwinia; which included Darwinia. I played it as much as I could, and completed it within two weeks. If that didn't make it clear; I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Anyhow; as that should give away I too was looking forward to Multiwinia; like many Multi-player was the key missing feature to Darwinia, and the changes and ideas shown in Multiwinia not only filled that gap, but made it very much an exciting wait.
I, like many others where not disappointed.
Dispite pre-ordering it was only today that I managed to get time to play. I started slow with a Normal AI on Domination. I lost. I lost again, and again, and if my memory servers, I lost again.
Then I won. I won again. With that I decided it was time to go for what Multiwinia was really about.
Multi player in Multiwinia is everything the single player is. Of course, it is. Its the same maps, same rules, the difference of course is the challenge! However, as much as I know that those Blue Multiwinians attempting to flank my own... Or those Nuclear missiles flying in Slow Motion towards my front line has been commanded by a real person, a real person evilly laughing, I simply can't hear it! I can't feel it.
I know I am not the only one that fells that a game, designed with Multi player in mind seems to take a steep back to how Multi player games where years before.
I hope that things will be improved, because for the reasons I will soon mention, I fear Multiwinia is missing something that may be more critical then first thought.
I'll try and bullet point the issues from here on.
- Multi player Lobby: Where is it? There is no talk at all, no chat features no communication. Yes, there is no spam either, but its just so quite!
Hosting a game: You create, set the rules and wait. Praying that someone will join.
Joining a game: You join, without a word. Unknowing of the rules the host has set, only able to know of the battle ground in which you will fight on.
- Not knowing the rules could be the difference between a fair game and a slaughter. Imagine an assault map (I have only played one so far), with unlimited time. Those that have played them will know as the defender it is only a matter of time. Too much and you don't stand a chance!
Again there is no way to talk to the host, or other teams.
Rankings: Yes, I have played 100-million games and won them all... Really, well no. But who will ever know. Rankings to me are not about ego (most of the time). There about self improvement, and about playing people that have a similar skill level. I don't want to have a walk in the park each game, nore do I want a 10 minute slaughter! Ranking help me improve and help me find the right challenge level.
Overall: Multiwinia; designed from the start as a multiplayer game is perfect for a quick game, but lacks the in-game community that so many other games make! There is simply very little way to make Friends. I say this because I would so very much like a team mate for 2v2s, but I don't know anyone in real life so I make them in games. Multiwinia almost makes that impossible!
Some of those things I feel applies to single player. To me in a game like this single player is the practice ground. Where I can try things out, or have a few games late at night. But again, there is no records at all that I have even played a single player game. Why?! Why could it not keep my best time, the amount of times I have tried a level so many statistics are wasted throughout this hole game!
There is but one last thing. That I recently read on these forums that upsets me further. It seems those players on Steam have some achievements, have something that tracks there progress and records. I like Steam. I may have even got Multiwinia on it had I not bought the Limited Edition. So I get a foam Multiwinia couple instead. To me, hardly a fair trade off.
In conclusion. Multiwinia is an awesome game. The games are short, but not so much so as you don't feel like you've played. The games are challenging the tactics are ripe and varied the game once your playing, playing single player or not, is perfect. However, it does not build a multi player community in the way that I would have expected a game like this to do. It does not have much to draw you back after a week out. No way for you to say, I'll play one more game to get that 1,000,000 Multiwinia kill score... Multiwinia to me, is missing something, something at the very core of what I believe makes a multi player game.
