Surprised to see so many reviews praising this game's innovative concept without mentioning the horrifically bad pathfinding, braindead AI, or even inability to save game mid-level. I remember enjoying some version of this game many years ago on Xbox360, but apparently my nostalgia for this game was based largely on its interesting aesthetic choices and not the gameplay itself. For starters, once you beat the tutorial stage, the pace is PAINFULLY slow. Most of the time is spent micromanaging your units across the map as they run straight into any obstacle they encounter, be it the edge of an island or your protective walls, often fatally. Since the first couple levels only let you use 3 units at a time, I often found myself wondering what happened to one of my squads, only to realize they ran headfirst into my own defenses and killed themselves, losing the several minutes of progress it takes to move them from the spawn area to the nearest enemy units. If any RTS game released this year had such bad pathfinding AI it would be absolutely eviscerated by user reviews. Darwinia apparently gets a pass for being a novel idea, and not something that fits nearly into any strategy subgenre. This level of micro might be tolerable if there was an option to save, in which case I'd have maybe a slight chance of finishing the game by chipping away at each level in brief 20-30 minute increments. As it stands, even the early levels require an hour-plus time commitment that is not particularly rewarding on the other side. Oh, did I also mention you can't even pause the game? Inconvenience and frustration as gameplay mechanics may be appealing to some, but not this reviewer.
