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Title: Apollo4x
Genre: Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie, RPG, Simulation, Strategy
Developer:
Digital Entertainment
Publisher:
Digital Entertainment
Release Date: 5 May, 2015
Minimum:
English
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Apollo4x is a very unique attempt at a 4x game, that focuses on building and optimizing an economic system. The problem is that it's not even a 4x, more like a 3x. It lacks exploration...
Without any fog of war, you can see everything about each planet at turn 1. Disappointing...
Lets talk about the combat system, its basically an uninteresting card game. It goes painfully slow and you can't really skip it.
Managing your trade routes and \u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665 can be fun for a while, but the whole experience is underwhelming once you understand how the game works. Possibilities are too limited, you either are doing it right or not. You can't just play your own way, and try something different in a next game. You are going to learn how to play and then realise that it's always going to be the same, more or less, each game. Add to that the fact that there's only one race for you to ''choose'' from..humanity.
I have 6hrs of playtime on Apollo4x and I would not say that I regret purchasing it, but I am not going to play anytime soon. Not when Gal Civ3 and StarDrive 2 are around... I say buy it if you are still curious about it but otherwise that's a Not Recommended.. The game suffers from a few design decisions which I found personally very frustrating. I have not logged a lot of play time, however I have watched a few tutorial videos and have learned that this is not a gap in my understanding of rules\/controls, but is in fact how the game was designed to be played.
Fundamentally what bothers me about the game is the fact that you are not building consistent trade that develops and grows over time. Instead every turn the resources demanded by planets and the prices are re-rolled, and all your convoys from last turn are removed, and you basically have to plan things from scratch. This is enjoyable for a few turns but quickly becomes tedious, especially with larger empires. It is frustrating to invest five minutes thinking through an excellent trade route, only to have it removed the next turn (and with no way to recreate it). Not only that, but it removes an element of long term strategy from the game as I do not expand based on optimizing my current trade network, but instead expansion is best done through a simple greedy algorithm (grab the best, nearest planet every time), since the world will compleltely change next turn.
I would accept the fact that you basically start each turn from scratch trade-wise if the controls of the game made it very easy to set up new trade (and the only difficulty being thinking through and optimizing things - aka the fun part!). Instead everything from the camera control (the game would honestly be better if they scrapped the whole planetary system thing and replaced it with a board game style system with no third axis of rotation to mess the view up), to the ui\/menus (no way to see what the second resource a corporation wants to trade is - you can only see the resource it wants that turn, you need to zoom in to see text after clicking on a planet, and the tooltips are awful), to setting up trade (watch a tutorial: even the devs have trouble clicking back, and trade, and travel, and figuring out what the hell is going on). The single most frustrating aspect is the system of fleets, which mean that if you are creating a very large trade route, and you have almost finished it, but the last planet you want to visit doesn't have enough fleets (or fuel or whatever) to visit, then you need to undo the ENTIRE trade route, then add fleet to the planet, then redo the entire trade route (being able to add fleet while making a trade route would help here). It feels as though the game was only tested on tiny three planet systems, and the devs didn't bother to see how controls work with larger systems.
My two main issues compound to make the game unplayable for me. While I would personally enjoy creating long term strategies over the turn-by-turn optimiziation the game instead asks for, I understand how this system can also be fun and challenging, and was willing to give it a shot. However with the aweful controls, having to re-think everything turn-by-turn makes the game too frustrating and slow to be playable.
. Sure, some aspects of the game don't change, like the way you trade and make money. But there are many options to make the game harder and when you do you have to be smart about how you use your resources and favors. I like the art work too... it's kind of old school and different. I used to be heavily biased toward "positive" reviewed games, but I've learned to take a good look at a "mixed" review games because those are the ones that often dare to be a little different. Unfortunately some people just want the same formula over and over again and freak out when a game isn't the same old thing they are used to.. 1) UI is a mess, camera is horribly broken
2) Trade routes have to be founded each turn from scratch - no long-term development. And it's a pain in the\u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665\u2665 because of (1).
Guess if you like to rethink your trading each turn it's an ok game, but if you prefer to build and develop - it's not a game you want.. This is very much a 1st Impressions review and will be edited if necessary as playtime increases.
So... You have an interest in Space 4X? You like the many Space Trading Games? You enjoy games like Magic: The Gathering? You actually crave games that make you think?
If you have answered yes to one, or even all of the above. You owe yourself to give Apollo4X a purchase. Yes, I am saying that right away. Why? Because all the aforementioned is in this game and then some! But now, you are probably thinking..
"Oh great, another game genre mashup that just will not work!... I'll Pass!"
Hold on... Not only are each of these elements solid in their own right. But in Apollo4X, they come together to make a super solid, unique and rather innovative title that shouldn't be overlooked. As a 4X game, you will not do something, then mash the turn button waiting for something to do. Each turn has strategical depth. You must meet colonial demands, purchase resources, build up colonies, prepare and plan for trading.
Trade is not an option in this game. It is one of Apollo4X's core mechanics. If you do not trade, you will go bankrupt, and you will lose the game. No population building leading to masses of taxes here. You have to be strategically aggressive in your interplanetary business, as the more you expand, the greater the upkeep. Colonists Empire-wide will also make demands. Ignore their demands, you suffer loss of approval rating and if that hits 0, you will also lose the game.
If that wasn't enough, there's the Alien Centaur threat to deal with. They are aiming to take over the whole galaxy, and most importantly, take you out by capturing your home planet of Apollo. Whilst their are no space battles in the game, land battles are played out as a card game. This game has a fantastic strategic complexity as battles are not one on one. Each card will affect several others in a deck. So what you select, and the tactics you choose in how to play them matters. So even when you are outnumbered and outgunned, it is still possible (But not easy) to win a battle.
So after some 1st impressions. What are the pros and cons?
PROS
- Starting the game, maps are not final. Feel at disadvantage? Just don't like the map? Throw it out until you find something you like.
- This game has depth from the start to the end. You will not be hammering the 'End Turn' Button. Gameplay is engaging and there's always plenty to do. Strategy is key, you will have to think! A strategy that works in one game, might not work in another.
- A genre mashup that actually works. There's no 4X like it. Apollo4X is truly a unique and innovative game that pulls you in!
- One more Turn Syndrome? You bet! The game is fun and totally engaging.
- A welcome 2D galaxy option for those who require it.
- Many options before starting a game can potentially serve up lots of replay value!
- Your purchase will be helping to save rescued dogs... Good bang for your buck in both game and charity.
CONS (Can also be positives for some, including myself)
- Although not a disavantage by my standards. This game takes the old school approach. There is no tutorial mode. You will have to read the manual. Understand, and pay attention to what every section of the UI does. The learning curve will be steep at first.
- Maps can get busy fast, and initial confusion might arise. There's a lot of information to react to every turn. Turns are not quick, and neither is mid-late game trading and combat. You will not finish a single game in just a few hours.
- No storyline or campaign. Just the old school way to play. If you're looking for 100's of random events, and a story to follow. You will not find it here.
- A few very small issues here and there which will be tightened up with a bit more community feedback.
TL;DR? - An innovative 4X game that dares to be different from the normal formula, and as first impressions go, it suceeds! If you are looking to buy something different, buy this game!. this is a great game kind of hard great if you want a challenge. I bought the game over Christmas. It is... not good. In my first 2 incomplete play throughs (both stopped due to game-breaking bugs), I found huge UI issues, multiple serious bugs\/performance issues, and a smattering of typos & basic english mistakes. On top of that, the basic gameplay loop is just kind of boring. In general I'm a huge fan of board games and indie games, but this not a good example of either. It needs a large amount of rework and polish before I'd consider it ready for a general release.. I was looking forward to this based on the reviews and write up, but I've given it a fair shot and this really isn't a good game.
Camera controls are all over the place
Tutorial is useless
No real point.. Quite the surprise!
Although the game lacks some polish (texts, balance, pace...) the game is deep enough for a few hours of mind struggling.
For myself, kind of a fan of 4x and merchant strategy, the game has some good mechanics. No need for spreadsheets. There are very few different commodities whose prices changes every turn. That forces you to redo your trade routes again and again, at least until you get the mechanics of investments. Also you cannot spend an infinite amount of money each turn (diminishing returns, remember?) so after a while you don't need to trade anymore. That's a good thing.
The combat mechanics are a bit complex and very shallowly explained. But once you get the hold on it is interesting. I've been just reloading savegames to test combat strategies. And only tried one race.
I guess the game can easily provide beyond 20 hours of solo entertainment for a fan of the genre. Hopefully that helps you if you consider buying the game.. nothing new or special here, just your typical ♥♥♥♥♥♥ rehash. would pay 0.15$, and im glad i got it for free
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