When defending on one of the assault maps, I watched as the enemy established a beachhead beneath my fortifications. I wanted to use "infiltration" on their spawn point, but the game wouldn't allow the action, and the upgrade (which I received three times from various crates) was useless. In contrast, when I got the air strike ability, I just repeatedly bombed their landing area and watched as the helpless enemy Multiwinians were blown to pieces. The mission went from being frustrating and impossible to super easy in seconds.

Due to the unique art style and context of the game, the graphics are intentionally 80's retro. But when four armies are colliding, bombs are exploding, and flames are sprouting around an epicenter of combat, the game provides some unique and stunning visions of war. It looks terrific on the 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro I tested on, with no slow down even when four large armies were on the move.

Macworld's buying advice

I've seen better real time strategy games, but few with such an original look and so easy to just pop in and play. Multiwinia is light, humorous, and not particularly deep strategically, but its price and status as an independently developed game helps me justify its recommendation. The story could be better incorporated in the overall arc of the game and hopefuly future update addresses the crates. Overall, this is one of the most memorable strategy games I've played in a while.

[Chris Holt is an assistant editor for Macworld.]