Transformice offers a mouse and community driven multiplayer experience obtained from the Steam platform. Online since 2010 in its browser variant (Adobe Flash required which makes this impractical to play with its retirement) the game has sustained its audience and even earned a resurgence of interest post the Steam release. Don’t let the simple mouse graphics foul you though Transformice can be highly competitive and hilarious once you understand the basic game mechanics.
These mechanics revolve around the main objective of Transformice which is to grab the piece of cheese on each individual game map and bring it back to your little mouse hideout hole. While this sounds simple on the surface Transformice often proves anything but as you compete against other players chasing the same goal and the Shaman for that level who can help or hinder your progress.
For players that can successfully capture the cheese with their mouse you’ll earn points (with bonuses for being the first few mice to the cheese) which are recorded in your mouse statistics to prove you’re the most efficient cheese hunter in the community. In order to achieve this goal Transformice adopts a familiar control scheme based on the arrow keys which allows side to side movement alongside jumping and ducking to manoeuvre through the levels. Despite the simple control scheme more advanced players have developed a number of strategies and techniques to leverage the controls to gain an advantage and with practice can generally be learnt by intermediate players as well.
Reaching the cheese in Transformice is about more than just using these controls to your advantage though with the cheese often being out of reach with both basic and advanced strategies. In order to make the cheese a possibility players have to rely on the Shaman who is a powerful player controlled mouse capable of building various structures in the level. Success in the level rests solely on this Shaman but your chances can be improved through the in game chat by providing advice on the best way forward.
With the power in the hands of human controlled Shaman you’ll have some simple cheese collection games where they build a direct path to the cheese. The more likely situation though is cheesy strategies that require navigation through a maze of structures to reach the end goal which is where a lot of the fun, variety and laughs come from in Transformice. Given this design there is always the opportunity for the Shaman to turn toxic which does happen from time to time albeit mostly rare given how the Shaman is selected and the community the game has attracted.
In order for players to be promoted to the Shaman they must reach the highest score within the current game room which can be filled with a small number of players to dozens at any one time. Accordingly there is a time investment involved in reaching the Shaman rank but generally not enough so though you’ll never get to play as a Shaman in Transformice yourself.
Outside of the core gameplay Transformice heavily leverages customisation to provide players with a sense of progression. This comes in two forms with the ability to customise your mouse avatar or alter your Shaman abilities once significant hours have been put into the game and enough currency has been earned through cheese collection. With the multiple game modes available and even community created maps reaching these points never feels like a chore either.
Summary:
- A free mouse themed game based around cheese and chaos.
- Play for hours on end with multiple game modes and community maps that offer a wealth of variety.
- Raise to the rank of Shaman and help your mouse friends acquire cheese (or make it difficult).
- Detailed stat records let you compare against others and prove who the better cheese hunter is.
- Add to your Steam account to play.
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Review Platform: PC
