[PC] Dwarfs!? Review

[Mot Wakorb]

Dwarfs!? Review

Title: Dwarfs!?
Platform: PC
Developer: Power of Two
Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
ESRB Rating: Unrated
MSRP: $9.99
Editor: Curt "Mot Wakorb" LeCaptain

What's Hot: A relatively challenging puzzle/real time strategy game that seems to throw as many curveballs as it can at you while keeping the gameplay simple.

What's Not: Somewhat lacking in the modes department, not enough campaign levels, repetitive graphics and simplistic sound and music.

While I admittedly hadn't heard of Dwarfs!? before a review copy became available, I'm glad I had a chance to dive into a rather intriguing, if not simple, indie game.

Dwarfs!? arcade mode has a simple premise - you control a colony of dwarfs that really only have one purpose in their lives - to dig. The game starts simple - it gives you one dwarf that will go out and start digging on his own. As you continue to dig, your dwarf begins to gain levels, making that dwarf dig faster as he moves throughout the cave. As time increases, more dwarfs begin to spawn, heading off in their own directions digging as they please, earning you gold in the process.

While the previous doesn't sound terribly fun, you can begin micromanaging your dwarfs as they move on their merry way. Each line you draw for the dwarfs to follow has a cost, giving you a finite amount of control at the beginning of the game with where you can send your dwarfs. As you come across areas in the game that can be filled with gold, minerals, or caves, the depth of the game begins to show: you can't actually see what is in a cave as your dwarfs approach, leading to quite a bit of uncertainty as the colony expands.

An early colony - that can grow quite quickly!

As soon as your dwarfs enter a cave, a few different things can happen: you can find nothing, there can be monsters within, treasures, water, or lava flows. Upon hitting any of these, you'll be notified when a dwarf enters a dangerous or happy situation, and be shown a direction that you need to look to handle whatever situation is thrown at you.

Upon hitting a lava flow or underground water, you're forced into action - the dwarf that breached that area is killed, and now you've got to get the situation under control. Water can be simply blocked by a wall (which, another dwarf could always come by and knock down), whereas lava eventually breaks through walls and must be stopped by blowing a hole in the cave with dynamite, sacrificing a dwarf along the way as a dwarf must explode the dynamite by touching it.

My dwarfs approach a cave.

So when these situations occur, how do you keep your dwarfs from ever causing the problem again at a cave that is known to have water or lava? The game incorporates a feature where you can seal caves off by holding down the control key and clicking in spaces that dwarfs haven't dug out. While this method guarantees dwarfs won't breach an area, you're limited by the fact it costs 50 gold per seal click - which early on in a game is a real challenge to be able to spend. On top of that, you need to sacrifice another dwarf to guarantee the entire cave is sealed, by creating a hole for the lava or water to flow down into via the use of dynamite.

Monsters in this game are another matter entirely. Occasionally you're going to breach a cave that will release various types of monsters into the cave system that is currently being dug. Your standard dwarfs can't fight back, so there are special warrior dwarfs that you can build, albeit with a limit. No more than eight dwarf warriors can exist at any time early in the game, but your limit can be expanded by building outposts within your cave system for a hefty price.

Battling a Shaman

The entire premise of the arcade mode is simple - last for as long as the timer you set for the game. The game only ends in one of two ways - you run the timer down to zero and win, or monsters overrun your cave system and destroy your town hall. In the end, it is an extremely simple premise that is challenging to complete successfully, especially as you increase difficulty levels.

Another of the featured modes of Dwarfs!? is the campaign mode, which is unfortunately rather lacking; the game only includes five challenges. This isn't to say they aren't fun or challenging, I just wish there were more of them to play through. Each challenge is divided up into achievement levels, an easy challenge, medium challenge, and hard challenge. An example of this is a level where you must kill all goblins on screen, but you're only given five warriors. If you complete it with one dwarf remaining, you'll earn the easy challenge. If you succeed at completing it with less than two dead warriors, you earn the medium challenge. If you're successful at killing all the goblins and get one of your warriors to level 12, you'll earn the hard challenge. This provides enough replay value for those that are obsessive at over completing all challenges, but may not interest those that just want to say they completed individual challenges.

Dwarfs!? includes a few side modes on top of the campaign and arcade modes, which include a tower-defense style game, a rush mode where the game is in hyperspeed, a dark mode where you can only see where your dwarfs have dug, and a sandbox mode where you can create your own caves to create new challenges for yourself (I have not found a save option that allows you to play these or share with friends, however, a feature that would be welcome in the future.)

The arcade mode does include Steamworks support as well as achievements and an online leaderboard, so if you're looking to try and get the high score out of everyone playing, Dwarfs!? provides a way to view and see where you stand.

Graphically, the game is quite simple. There are a set amount of dwarf sprites that appear in-game, the caves have textures that repeat and don't provide much in lines of differentiation, and graphical effects such as combat and water/lava flowing are just a few different sprites. This isn't to say this is disappointing, the game makes up for the simple graphics via scale. The levels you play on are huge and seem to go on forever, and graphics get more detailed as you zoom in and less so as you zoom out.

The music and sound from this game are disappointing. The music seems as if it were old-style MIDI music, and sounds are repetitive and boring. The voice acting when playing challenges is downright annoying and the accent, while not horrible, isn't something that would earn awards. This might be one of those games that you're better off turning on your own music while playing, as the sound isn't necessary to be able to succeed in the game with the visual cues you're given as you play.

If you're a fan of micromanaging and RTS-style games, this game is right up your alley, and for just under ten bucks, a game that is pretty addictive to play in the arcade mode. It's unfortunately lacking in multiple gameplay modes and there is a shortage of challenges to keep coming back to earn. Regardless, I found the game fun, charming, and something that I'm happy to recommend playing.

Score: (3.5 out of 5 Cogs)


Curt says, "While lacking multiple gameplay modes, Dwarfs!? is quite fun for the RTS-style it presents and can keep you addicted to the arcade mode for hours on end."

[jpublic]

Damnit, this is my JPWPI for this month!

[Pale Ale]

Two Men Enter, One Man Leave!!!

[MagGnome]

I'm still looking forward to your writeup, jpublic.

I was hesitant to try this game at first, as it appeared to be a blatant ripoff of Dwarf Fortress. I downloaded the demo and discovered that Dwarfs has very little in common with my favorite Dwarven life sim, and it's actually a fun little game in it's own right. I'll definitely grab it at some point.

[Hawkzombie]

Dwarf Fortress still scares the shit out of me. And I played it for a good 10 hours!!

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

Dwarf Fortress still scares the shit out of me. And I played it for a good 10 hours!!

I'd like to revive the thread at some point and get people playing again. I showed DF to a friend the other day, and I've been itching to play it ever since.

[Mot Wakorb]

Originally Posted by jpublic

Damnit, this is my JPWPI for this month!

Ack! Please don't kill me!

[jpublic]

Originally Posted by Mot Wakorb

Ack! Please don't kill me!

Naw, it's okay, I'll just reference your review in my entry.

[Ghostbear]

Well, I'm sold.

[SilentScreams]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

I'd like to revive the thread at some point and get people playing again. I showed DF to a friend the other day, and I've been itching to play it ever since.

Don't you dare!
I have my life back...I'm enjoying the free time! You can't take that away from me!

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by SilentScreams

Don't you dare!
I have my life back...I'm enjoying the free time! You can't take that away from me!

You've just encouraged me to do it sooner rather than later.