Darwinia - 1.4.2

I enjoyed the first level tutorial once I got a faster mac and the update! I like the unuasual graphical style, and the sound effects, and I have yet to be irked by the UI. Giraffe-Man is right in as much as you have to draw the gestures in the correct direction, but as for not being able to draw a triangle in the OTHER direction to the one stipulated - well, surely that would be akin to spelling a word with all the right letters, but in a different order? They want you to draw it their way, and that's that! :P

As someone who's paid for Dawinia, I'd love to give this game a set of high marks. The whole thing plays in a a very similar way to that old classic 'Syndicate'. As you progress, your research into weapons and Darwinians allows you to alter your strategy to overcome each obstacle. The visual style is great, especially the simulated ZX spectrum loading screen which appears on startup every few plays! The interface, with the commands drawn rather than clicked, is not as annoying as previously stated by other reviewers. In fact, it can be quite good fun. This isn't a serious game for serious players. It's an experience, a game you can come back to for an odd 5 minute play every now and again. There are some serious flaws though. The frame rate drops severely when there are hoards of evil Darwinians firing at you. And as a consequence, this makes it almost impossible to move satelite dishes (one of the key methods of moving Darwinians around), as the camera decides to go completely nuts, and turn in 45 degree angles, throwing itself around the world until you deslect it. Until they fix this problem, the game isn't really complete, and I can't really recommend it as a solid piece of software.