The Mims Beginning

The Mims Beginning Review
The Mims Beginning is a breath of fresh air in an increasingly stagnate gaming pool. At first glance, the game may look light and simple but very quickly you begin to see that this is a deep, well-designed strategy/god-mode game. The graphics are very detailed, the artwork is beautiful, the mechanics are flawless. If you think that because its a god-mode strategy game that it will be boring, then guess again. There is plenty of action/activities to keep you busy without having to micro-manage your units and economy. Research will increase the options and powers available during gameplay while continuing to upgrade and expand your alien colony. For any strategy gaming fan, I strongly recommend picking this game up. Most games are only moderately worth their sale prices, especially indie games. But this game is well worth the full price.
The big name gaming developers should take a few lessons from the Squatting Penguins Studio. This is how a game is supposed to be released. Out-of-the-box, ready to play. 100+ hours of gameplay and I have yet to experience a single bug. No glitches in gameplay, no graphics hiccups or units falling through maps, no game crashes. The game runs smooth and seamlessly like any released game should. Even more amazing is that this is still an early-access game so bugs and glitches are normally accepted and typically expected. A lot of care and effort went into this release and true gamers will notice and appreciate it right away.
Without going into a lengthy game description, The Mims Beginning will have the typical RTS simulation components, but with its own distinct approach. Expect a well-balanced economic system, a rich story to tie the campaign missions together nicely, an assortment of interesting buildings and units to build as you establish your camps, and a variety of research.
The one area that is lacking when compared to most games of this genre is the variety of units. In this game, you have only a couple of types to choose from. The basic, or generic Mim performs assorted tasks as you assign them rather than being specialized. Perhaps in the future more unit types will be added, but the game functions just fine with the current unit structure. The developer has stated that more features and game modes will be added as development progresses. As for the game's mechanics and features, here are some things that you should know:
The Good:
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+ Graphics are top-notch and run flawlessly even on the highest settings. Great detail and color
+ Absence of bugs/crashes (Makes a game much more enjoyable)
+ Gameplay is rich and deep with a clever resource economy and challenging goals
+ Learning curve is acceptable for beginners and an in-depth tutorial campaign is included
+ Camera controls are included and easy to use while navigating the maps
+ Although this is a God-mode game, autonomy option is able to be turned off when desired
+ Simple game controls / Window mode available if desired
+ Well-developed story for the campaign mode
The Bad:
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- No save feature included in current release
- Limited options for adjusting graphics in the event your system has trouble running the game
- Window mode is restricted to specifically selected screen resolutions only.
- Currently not a lot of replay value (likely to change in the final version with Survival Mode)
- The AI for units is sometimes frustrating as they seem to wander aimlessly about rather than perform their assigned tasks (possibly by design?)
Final thoughts:
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Keep in mind that at the time of this review, the game is still in Early Access beta and will likely improve and include more features. Considering that, this game is very impressive. At first glance it looks like its going to be some simple cartoon-ish indie that will fill an hour or two of free time. But nothing could be further from the truth. Hours of challenging and entertaining gameplay awaits and a good bit of light humor is mixed into the storyline as well. Rarely do I enjoy an early access game this much. I anxiously await the final release.
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A funny and cute god/strategy game with missions and a survival mode, clearly made with a lot of love. The tutorial was good, and as a left-handed player I didn't run into any problems (left-handed mouse works fine and the right-side keys I prefer do as well).
Two big cons:
- Can't save in the middle of a mission, and you don't know in advance how long a mission takes. (I'm too old for long playing sessions, and my kid who likes to play this with me, is too young.)
- The swaying main menu which gives me instant motion sickness. What were they thinking?!
Overall: 3/5.

This is a really tough game to review. On one hand, the art and animated characters are both just amazing. The cutscenes are well crafted. Even the little characters walking through the level are a joy to watch. The levels have a ton of tiny details that make them visually interesting.
But the gameplay is really rough. The A.I. for combat is not good, and the manual interface for moving combat units is difficult to use. Further, the game does not explain important parts of the mechanics, like how energy buildings work. It is hard to understand why things are not working when they don't. And then, there's the lack of mid-level saves... The levels can go for hours, but they are either finished in one sitting or started again from the beginning later.
So, with the splendid art, it takes a long time to see how the gameplay is such a mess. I suppose they had a vision for the game, and they stuck to it, regardless of the complaints in the support forums. The interface is quirky, just like the characters in the game. But it is consistent and it is not especially buggy. It's just not good.
But, at the end of the day, I like quirky games. I also like quirky people. And I know enough quirky people who like quirky games, too. I would recommend this game, despite the limitations. It has enough interesting things happening here that it would be worth purchasing.

TLDR at the bottom - The Mims Beginning is a game that mixes city building elements with some aspects of god games and plays in real time. You play as the first deity that the Mims, a strange and cute looking alien race, encounters after they crash land on a series of floating islands while fleeing their doomed homeworld.
Overall gameplay impressions
The game starts you off with a pretty decent tutorial that teaches you the basics while leaving room for discovery as you play, either through survival or story mode. At its core, the game might seem some somewhat complicated at first but, once you get the hang of the major mechanics you’ll see that it isn’t that complicated at all, but it does offer some degree of challenge and requires you to plan on how you expand and what you choose to build and research. You have to keep a steady supply of biomass, which you can get from certain plants, energy to power your buildings and gems, which you can get either by selling adult animals to offworld marketplaces or by finding them in each level.
That said, there is one complaint I have about this and that is the fact that to construct buildings and create certain units you’ll need gems. The thing is that these gems are limited in quantity and you can get yourself in a position where you’ll have to restart the entire mission. Yes, the entire mission, because unfortunately the game doesn’t have a save function. One time I lost about an hour of gameplay because of miscalculation of resources. Still, that was a one case scenario and usually missions are shorter than that.
While most of the game relies on autonomous actions from your Mims to gather resources and ensure that your settlement keeps on going, you also get to play an active role on this process. You can use various powers to boost your Mims or to protect them from dangers such as, creating fire or giving your Mims a boost in speed, health and energy, but you’re also able to directly control individual Mims such as warriors and some “hero” units. While you’re actively trying to protect your settlement from pests and predators, combat doesn’t really play a huge role like in other RTS. The game presents some pretty well thought mechanics such as pests, catastrophes and predators which some are triggered based on the smell of your settlement (for real) and things like the amount of livestock that you have at any given time. You can actually research some technologies that allow you to predict when these will happen, which is shown in a bar at the bottom of the screen.
Visuals and narrative
In terms of actual story, usually at the beginning of each mission and sometimes when a certain event is triggered, there are some the conversations between characters presented in the form of cutscenes, which unfortunately are not voice acted, but the dialogue still manages to pull out some nice humour. The story is well presented both visually and in terms of narrative, right at the start it kind of teases you what happened that led the Mims to have to flee their planet, which kept me interested in going on, and it also introduces you to some unique characters that help shape the story and add character to these little folks.
One thing I must say is that performance is somewhat of a hit or miss. The game is not really quite the looker (aesthetically I think it looks good, what I mean is in terms of graphical fidelity by todays standards) but the Mims themselves look rather nice and the buildings have this sort of steampunk look to them which I find to be rather appealing.
Final verdict
Overall, despite the major flaw which I consider to be the lack of a save function, The Mims Beginning managed to surprise me. It mixes elements from god games and city building/management and puts them in a world where you have to look out after this little tribe while helping them restore their former glory. If you’re a fan of god games I highly recommend you check this one out.

The mims has hours of enjoyment. I'd guess a new player would take ~30 hours to beat the game if they pick up on the strategy fast. Some of the missions have unique stories and objective, so each mission isn't a clone from the last. Overall good game.

The Mims is a god-game where you play the mysterious creator who has ultimate power over an alien species who have crash landed on a set of floating islands. It's currently in early access and only the story mode is available, nevertheless I have not yet encountered any bugs and the game is very polished (short of a few typos) for day one early access.
You must harvest resources, create buildings, keep your Mims happy so that they can work productively, create and grow animals that you can then sell for more resources, defend your base, fight off creatures, and search for the parts you need to rebuild your spaceship and go home.
It starts off fairly simplistic but does gather depth as you progress. Problem is it takes a while to get there playing the story mode. If you're finding it too easy - it does get more complicated once everything is unlocked. I hope that when sandbox is implemented you can build on a much larger scope and hopefully set conditions that provide more of a challenge. I'll return to edit this once that is added!
I'd also really like an option to save in the story mode, especially considering some maps have a fail condition, ie. if your special hero dies - you lose a solid hour of play.
The (currently not rebindable) camera controls are the biggest negative and take some getting used to. I hope the developers consider reworking with the standard right click hold to rotate and tilt rather than having to move to the edges of the screen as well as adding bindings. Otherwise I can see the current system really holding the game back and frustrating players from the start.
Despite some negatives that need to be smoothed out, the game is charming. Beautiful graphics, runs very well, cute, entertaining and fills a niche in a genre which is sadly devoid of recent titles. I don't think this is the deep strategy god game some people are still hoping to appear in the genre, but it still has an absolute ton of potential at this point. Time will tell.

The Mims Beginning is an awesome city-builder/God game where you must help the lost Mims rebuild themselves and find a way to restore their destroyed homeworld.
After a terrible event the Mims find their home planet destroyed and all the little Mims scattered through space apart from the lucky few who managed to reach escape pods in time. But fear not! The Mims possessed an item which has the capability of restoring planets and before the horrific destruction of their home world they were able to jettison it to safety. Unfortunately it's ship was hit by debris from a meteor and all systems were shut down leaving it floating helplessly through space and no way for the Mims to reach it. With the help of you, their new God, the Mims must locate this if they ever want to flourish happily again and have any hopes of seeing their home rebuilt.
The Mims Beginning starts with an awesome little story and I found myself captivated right away. Your job as a God is to guide the Mims to safety and help them slowly rebuild and become prosperous like they once were. There are two modes to the game, the first and main being the Story mode. This is the mode that you'll want to start playing as not only does it contain the tutorial but also progressing through this this mode allows you to unlock the buildings and god powers in a specific order and will help you learn what they each do one by one. The Story mode follows the story of the Mims and you'll make your way through it by completing the objectives you have on each level/map which will in turn unlock the next. Survival mode on the other hand has all buildings, research and God powers unlocked and may be a little overwhelming or confusing to those new to the game. Survival mode has four difficulties that you must try to survive through starting at Easy up to Very Hard. You can also customize your own difficulty so you can choose if you want a relaxing sandbox style play, or something much more challenging to push yourself.
To help the Mims survive in either mode you'll need to guide them by telling them which buildings they need to create much like other God games. Your Mims will build what you tell them too and can also be told to go to specific places but other than that your Mims will carry out the task they most feel important. There are different types of Mims which you will encounter as the game goes on and these vary from Mims like Workers who do the day to day jobs, Guardians who patrol and protect the other Mims and even Shamans who can sense other Mim colonies that are in danger and allow you to help them. You also have various unlockable God powers to help you influence the Mim world further such as a group heal to revitalize and heal your Mims, fruit rain for when you run low on Biomass and things like a Psi cage used for trapping enemies and a Psi bolt for when you need to get offensive. All of these can be cast using Psi energy which is generated over time.
You'll need both Biomass and Gems to build/create in your world, the main being Biomass. Biomass is harvested from Fruit which can randomly be found growing in most worlds, but can also be created from your own fruit plants. Biomass is used for almost everything from building things to creating animals or powering buildings. Gems, however, are harder to come by as you can only receive them from a few sources. Buying and raising animals will be your main source of Gems but you can also find limited deposits on your island and some God powers will help you also but those these aren't unlocked right away. Once you've grasped correctly managing those two sources its up to you to build, survive and complete your objectives as you see fit.
The dialogue throughout the game is both charming and humorous and the cutscenes give the Mims substance rather than just being 'things' you control like it is in most God games. I started to feel rather attached to my Mims and in one particular mission (I won't give any spoilers) I found myself heartbroken at my helplessness during a certain event.
As with most games The Mims beginning does have some little flaws. My two noticeable cons with the game are minor ones to me but some might find them much larger as they do impact the gameplay. The first is there is NO save mode. I'm going to repeat this as there are many negative comments I've found about this simple fact. THERE IS NOT A SAVE FEATURE. This applies to both story and survival mode so if you're looking for a game that you can come back and play the same save later this is not it. If you are like me, however, and enjoy smaller sessions you won't find any issues with this. This is something that'll not be added either as you can read here (the devs tried for a month and a half to implement it and it reaped no results and detracted from developing content). My second issue is more of a personal one but things can become rather overwhelming if you're not careful as there is a lot going on. Guardians are rather weak on their own so you'll heavily rely on using your god powers at first to destroy enemies so you'll constantly have to be checking your map for any new mob spawns. Speeding up the game increases the speed that enemies spawn so you have a choice between speeding through production and risk being overrun by enemies quickly or playing most of your game on a slower mode which can become a little tiresome especially since there is no save feature. You also have to produce animals manually one by one so you can't have the game running fast for any long period of time or you'll end up wasting time as you often forget to keep producing them. I did ask the devs if they plan to change this and they've replied saying they will look into it which is awesome! :D
The Mims Beginning overall is a fantastic game with a charming story and the kind of gameplay that keeps you coming back. Despite it's lack of a save feature The Mims Beginnings trumps most of the other God Games out there and really is a wonderful project and a great example of just what Greenlight can bring to Steam.