We present an overview of formation control for multi-agent systems. Multi-agent formation cooperation is important to accomplish assigned tasks more efficiently and safely compared to a single agent. For the way information flows between agents, we divide the available results into communication-based topologies as well as vision-based formation controls. Then, we summarize the problem formulation, discuss the differences, and review the latest results on formation control schemes. Lastly, we give research recommendations for multi-intelligent agent controls in a certain period in the future.