Black & White & Orange: The Mims Is The Cutest God Game

You know, I've always kinda wondered if the saying "cute as the dickens" is nature or nurture. I can't not say it when I see something adorable, yet I don't really remember my parents ever using it to great effect. Perhaps it's simply buried in my genes, a vestigial reminder of the iron-fisted grip tiny doe-eyed things have on my biology. Regardless, I uttered The Phrase the moment I laid eyes on The Mims: Beginning, which will presumably be followed by The Mims: Middle and The Mims: End. Don't let its Spore-like color palette fool you, though. This god game takes more from Populous and Black & White than it does EA's evolutionary misstep.

The Mims are improbably huggable-looking creatures whose spaceship went kerblam, forcing them to settle on a number of nearby planets and planetoids. Problem is, many of these Avatar-esque hovering land chunks were already inhabited, and multifarious forms of flora and fauna aren't exactly happy to have guests. I'm pretty sure I spotted a sabertooth tiger rhino, so probably prepare for some, er, interesting encounters.

Fortunately, you're god! Or at least, you're basically god. I doubt the Mims can tell the difference. This means that on top of being in charge of RTS-like defense and expansion, you've got various "PSI" powers at your disposal - for instance, rain clouds, crowd control explosions, and buffs that turn your citizens from baby Oompa Loompas to this version of Carrot Top.

Also, I kind of adore this "key features" list. No, the English isn't perfect, but that only adds to the charm.

• Expansion of a colony
• The autonomy of characters
• Researching new technologies
• Upgrading buildings
• Simulation of God
• Special powers at player's disposal
• Protecting colony from the wildlife creatures
• Planting your own fruit crops
• Many different types of plants with different ways of fruiting
• Creating and taking care of the various livestock
• Selling livestock at the intergalactic supermarket
• Timeline allowing to predict the future events
• Keep away pests and predators by controlling smell sensor
• Various flying islands with many adventures

I can't wait to discover all the different ways my plants can fruit.

Seriously though, while Mims doesn't seem particularly revolutionary, it looks like a fairly deep, personality rich god game revival. Given that good god games are in woefully short supply these days, we should probably count our blessings here. Well, hopefully. The Mims is currently in beta, and you can hop right in if you throw $29 or more at the game's Indiegogo campaign. Not really an "aw, why not?" price, so maybe just wait until the game's "early 2014" release date.

Mims is already funded, and it's well on its way to completion. Given that Godus is sort of abysmal and Reus didn't live up to the hype, I've got high hopes for this one. Maybe they're misplaced, but hoping is all I can really do at this point. That's faith for you, I guess.