There’s nothing like a good free game to help whittle away the hours. Transformice is a great example of a simple and addictive browser game that’ll keep you occupied for hours, and probably laughing at the Darwinian folly of your rodent brethren.
Transformice is an online multiplayer game with elements of co-operative gameplay mixed with an “every-mouse-for-themselves” attitude. The basic premise is for the mice to reach to holy grail of a wedge of cheese and then safely return the cheese to the mouse hole. Each game session can have anywhere up to 20 little critters running about on the randomly generated platform style levels.
To help the mice along, one or two players are randomly assigned as the Shaman character each round. The Shaman is capable of conjuring various platforms and anchor points to help the mice get across the often treacherous levels. So, some teamwork is required – mice can even jump off one another’s heads to reach greater heights.
The team receives an overall score based on the amount of cheese returned to the mouse hole, but then each player also gets an individual score, which is calculated according to whom gathered and returned the cheese the fastest.
In situations where individuals are trying to rack up a decent score, the animalistic drive to be dominant can often be the downfall of the entire team
For example, the team arrives on a level with a rickety rope bridge between the starting platform and a delicious chunk of cheese. The mice all make an insane dash for the cheese before the Shaman has a chance to reinforce the bridge, and their combined weight causes the bridge to snap and all the mice plummet to their death.
Of course the teamwork thing is only a guideline. A particularly malicious Shaman could sabotage his team’s efforts, and then claim the cheesy prize all to himself. A player can also attempt to push some fellow mice from platforms, or capitalise on the mousy throng by leaping off heads to reach a hitherto unreachable platform. It’s survival of the fittest (or smartest).
Graphically, the levels comprise of simple flat platforms and objects. The mice themselves all look the same, apart from the Shaman who pitches up with some spiffing body paint and a headdress. To distinguish yourself from the throng, you have a yellow nameplate hovering above your mousy avatar.
Being a free online game, expect to see some colourful language being used in the chat box, especially if you wind up as the inexperienced Shaman who dooms the mice to an untimely demise. Don’t worry though, learning the Shaman controls is a breeze and after a couple of trial and error moments, you’ll be leading your team to cheesy victory.
The whole thing really is a beautifully condensed representation of the socio-political systems which drive our society – one in which we work together as a community up until the moment that a high score is at stake, at which point we will mercilessly stomp on the heads of our fellows in order to get some cheese (which is probably a metaphor for money). Or it could just be a really fun little distraction, certainly good for some laughs.
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