''Ant Nation'' is a

real time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

from

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

for

WiiWare WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii S ...

and

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

. The WiiWare version was released on July 13, 2009 in North America and the Nintendo DS version was released on September 8, 2009.

Gameplay

In both versions of the game players train a colony of

ants Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,00 ...

to become tough enough to survive various challenges. In the Nintendo DS version, the ants are a

genetically engineered Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

species bred to defeat a colony of invading alien ants. The WiiWare version is a

sandbox game A sandbox game is a video game with a gameplay element that provides players a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or alternatively with a goal that the players set for themselves. Such games may ...

while the DS version features an expanding mission structure. Players subject their ants to various dangers such as lightning, fire and heat rays from a

magnifying glass A magnifying glass is a convex lens that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle. A magnifying glass can be used to focus light, such as to concentrate the sun's radiation to crea ...

to build up their resistance before sending them off on missions to collect food and defeat other insects.IGN Hand-On: Ant Nation
/ref> While in the WiiWare version the player controlled a swarm of up to hundreds of ants, the DS version is based around a

rock-paper-scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each p ...

unit mechanic that sees players creating groups of ants with specific resistance to certain dangers. The WiiWare version contains a bonus mode that involves trying to kill all ants in the level using items such as hammers, lasers and bug spray.Nintendo Life review
/ref>

Reception

Nintendo World Report called it "a slow-paced, disturbing affair with little variety", and

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

called the campaign mode shallow and mundane and that game could only briefly entertain "the desperately bored or the blind", while Nintendo Power gave this game one of the lowest rating ever; 2.0.IGN review
/ref>

References

{{reflist 2009 video games Konami games WiiWare games Nintendo DS games Real-time strategy video games Video games about insects Wii games Video games developed in Japan Single-player video games Video games about ants