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]]>Story
Most simulators don’t have much of a story but here we are. You play as Johnny, the Junkman, who is probably an alcoholic since you blacked out at a party and are told “you’ve been boozing again” by the narrator when waking up with a hangover. You then start the tutorial with narrator man phoning every now and then to introduce you to a new mechanic.
Gameplay
The simulation is played through a First Person perspective, i.e. everything you do is “by hand” and in person. That means to fetch junk and recycle it, you must pick it up and throw it in the dumpster.
To operate the crusher, you must run to its location and get in, operate the hydraulic presses. That might seem like a lot, but there are clear instructions for everything shown via keyboard prompts and a tutorial.
Of course there are quality of life things too. Those include elements like fast travel and storage options. But all of this might be a deal breaker for some who just want to bust things without the tedium of running around.
Visuals
The visuals are fairly decent. The game provides a solid sense of realism and sometimes some surprising accuracy (except when I could put a whole V6 engine in my backpack – maybe that’s just a QoL feature).
It’s not all traipsing though the junkyard, ogling the pretty rust-buckets though. As you might expect with a game like this, there are a ton of menus, and information dense HUDs.
But while that might not be the most attractive stuff to look at, Junkyard Simulator does allow for a relatively easy learning experience. So that’s a nicety in any event.
Sound Design
Arguably the best thing about the game is the rocking tunes they have on the radio which just blasted me with testosterones.
They have decent sound effects for everything else.
Bugs
There seem to be a lot of bugs in Junkyard Simulator. And those run the gamut from ‘can’t click UI buttons’ to game-crashing stuff. Still, this is a free-to-play intro to a title that’s still in Early Access.
So as development continues, and the full version of Junkyard Simulator heads towards its retail release, some or all of this stuff might be fixed.
Overall
Junkyard Simulator – The Prologue is a decent idea but the extremely brief demo leaves a lot to be desired. The “American Junkman” theme can feel a bit cringe at times and it’s somewhat stereotypical the way this manly man is represented (drinking, tattooed, dirty, every device/interface flavored with masculinity and some more dirt).
At least the tunes are good, and the brief showcase of a junkyard seemed somewhat accurate.
A copy of Junkyard Simulator was provided by the developer for this review
Junkyard Simulator
Release Date: March 31st, 2021
Platform: PC
Publisher: PlayWay S.A.
Developer: Rebelia Games
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]]>The post 911 Responder (PC) Review appeared first on BrutalGamer.
]]>What started as a small Kickstarter campaign with a goal of nine thousand Canadian Dollars ended with nearly two thousand backers pledging nearly four times as much. What does such a successful Kickstarter give you? You play the role of an emergency dispatcher, making sure that people get the help they need. Blowing so far past the goal resulted in a game with fifty original emergencies in a campaign stretching ten cities.
Clickity Click
The core of the gameplay is answering 911 calls, clicking on the vehicle icons and sending them to the corresponding emergencies. The first couple of times, it’s interesting to extract information from each caller. I got a call about a man laying unconscious on the pavement. After a few questions it turned out to be a drunk sleeping off his hangover. The second time I got a similar call, I was about to brush it off, but then the caller said he couldn’t see the unconscious person breathing. That turned into a CPR 101 class for the caller as I was searching for the nearest ambulance.
There is some strategic planning required so you don’t end up with half your vehicles on one side of a city and having a house burn down on the other side. After each day, you gain money to buy more staff, vehicles or equipment. For example, your police can use first aid kits to fix up minor injuries, so you can send your EMT to more serious accidents instead. After a while, you’ve built a large enough fleet, which, combined with enough knowledge of the map, lets you juggle your responders from accident to accident. So, while the volume of the calls go up, so does the proficiency of you and your responders.
At times, I felt that this game would’ve been better on a touch device, as clicking on the icons moving over the map became a game of cat and mouse. You can scroll through them with the tab button, but it could’ve been easily fixed by adding a menu of the emergency vehicles or assigning individual hotkeys to them.
It’s a Map
There’s not an awful lot to say about the graphics. It’s a flat map of a location of your choosing. I must add that they have done a remarkable job with the amount of cities and villages you can choose from. I was even able to play on the map of my little Dutch town. That certainly had its charm.
An added bonus of the simplistic design is that it doesn’t take a lot of power to play this game. Even my four year old, low-end laptop is able to play it.
Overall
With its repetitive gameplay and lack of story, I couldn’t see myself playing this game more than I did (which was two hours). After hearing the same call over and over with only slight variations, I just wanted to have my calls handled automatically. It boils down to the first things you learn a 911 operator needs to ask: where, what, when and who.
On a side note, they released the game with a day one DLC for 3,99. You get eight new vehicles, one of which is a bicycle and six equipment items, one of which is a taser. It also adds a whopping 15 extra reports. I could understand this being sold a while after the game went on Steam, but this is cutting into content that could’ve been a great addition to the game from the start.
A month after the launch they did release a free DLC that adds two new vehicles, three equipment items and at least five new incidents.
You can buy 911 Operator for 14,99 on steam.
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]]>The post Police Simulator On It’s Way in 2017 appeared first on BrutalGamer.
]]>Police Simulator – Law Enforcement
In Police Simulator – players get to take a spin behind the life of a real life US police officer. Tag along as they tackle the grime of day-to-day police work. Find yourself in a city with a high crime rate, and fighting crime with a wide variety of authentic equipment including tasers, handcuffs, radios, guns and much more.
Just as in real life, police work is a full time job. Players can patrol the streets in a cooperative multiplayer mode and provide backup where needed. Or take your squad anywhere in the sprawling metropolis.
Police Simulator will arrive for PCs in 2017.
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November 1989 marked the beginning of the end for the Berlin Wall, which meant that Germans of each side could finally travel freely. It wasn’t until the summer of 1990 that the destruction of the Berlin Wall officially started, and that is where Jalopy starts its story.
Journey Awaits
The start of the game has your uncle explaining to you what makes Laika tick and what parts you should especially be spending attention on, which quickly ends with you behind the wheels and going off on a journey.
Your uncle and you will take a trip to a country he hasn’t been able to see for over eleven years.
Normally this would already be an adventure of its own, but your means of transportation is the Laika 601 Deluxe, a car that will take a lot of finesse and care to survive the trip.
As little as the press demo offers, it is very clear that this game is something special. Games have the opportunity to not only show a part of history that you are unfamiliar with, but also to experience it. Jalopy is a literal journey of how it was like for East Germans after the Berlin Wall.
The part that the press demo lets you play, has glimpses of what the entire game offers. You will have to manage your money well, so that you aren’t broke with a just as broken down car. At the end of the demo, you find yourself in a town with a supermarket, a car dealership and a motel.
The supermarket sells all kinds of products that could sell for a pretty penny in places that you will travel through to get to your destination. The radio in the motel played a broadcast about an increasing price of bullets in the next country you would go to, so you won’t have to guess that product will be valuable.
Your Laika needs a lot of upkeep, but it also has a lot of upgrades available. The car dealership has all the parts you need to turn your Laika Deluxe into a Laika Deluxe Turbo, luckily with the ease of the 21st century’s same-day delivery.
Where Minskworks could’ve made a walking simulator, they actually managed to think of a way to make it an interactive experience.
Final thoughts
I wouldn’t be surprised if Jalopy turns into a hit, especially on Twitch. The game has so many interactive features that you can make it into a Choose Your Own Adventure game with your viewers.
As much fun the many ways you can choose to get to your final destination, Jalopy offers an historic experience dressed up as a driving simulator, which will make the game doubly as rewarding if you are into that.
Jalopy is currently in Early Access on steam and will be available for purchase on April the 14th. It will cost $12.99, with a possible discount during the first week.
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Step into the shoes of a novice bus driver as you learn the ropes of running public transportation. From driving you own bus, to having the opportunity to run your own bus company, Bus Simulator 16 has you covered.
Deal with real world challenges like wheel chair access, stuck doors, emergency vehicles and more as you maintain your schedule, and keep the bus running on time.
Multiplayer options allow you to operate a bus company with friends, making sure your city is well equipped to arrive at their destination on time.
Bus Simulator 16 is available for PC and MAC for $22.49 US.
source: gamespress.com
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]]>The post 0rbitalis (PC) review appeared first on BrutalGamer.
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0rbitalis is a satellite-launching simulator, that plays like a puzzle. As the tag says, ‘defy gravity, with just one click.’ Sounds easy, right?
0rbitalis reminds me alot of a game that I’m sure every gamer has played over the years, regardless of what generation they came up in. In some version or another, almost everyone has played Tetris. Like Tetris, if you have five to ten minutes you can probably play through a level or two. Or if you want to put in the time, you can sit for an hour, and see how far into the constellations you are able to travel.
In the era where a digital download can take hours, this game was downloaded and playable in fifteen minutes. I ended up loading up this gravity-defier while I was downloading additional titles. The introduction was a bit sparse. I had no idea what I was doing for the first half-dozen lives or so. All you see to begin with is a white square, and red line that you learn is your predicted flight path. In just a few minutes, I was able to pick up what was going on here. With your trajectory displayed, you have to try and plan where your satellite will orbit, without going too far, leaving orbit and into the vast emptiness of space.
Now, in the beginning when you have one star and one sun, this isn’t too difficult. Launch your satellite far enough to avoid these two objects, and you are in the clear. Naturally, after a few levels, the difficulty begins to increase. When you are working with one sun, four stars and nine shooting-star type artifacts, it becomes quite challenging to complete your orbit.
Visually speaking, Zucconi kept the color palate simple, but rotated enough to keep you from getting bored easily while playing the game. Fading colors of blues, greens and yellows keep your eyes happy while you focus on what stars were going to affect your trajectory. Keeping the obstacles brighter tones of whites and light blues make them stand out, and easy to identify. This helps alot when there are a dozen little asteroids pock-marking your screen.
As for the soundtrack, Zucconi did a wonderful job picking out music that kept you tuned in. The subtle atmospheric-like tunes wafting around, as well as a mix of mild electronic instruments checking in, make it feel like being in space would be second nature to you. I have gone so far as to pull up the tracks on Youtube to listen to them again. Sometimes you need a soundtrack that is not going to overtake the project it supports. Bravo Zucconi.
There is not much of a story for this title. Launch a satellite, and see if you have what it takes to keep your satellite in orbit. Go to far, and your satellite is lost. Do not pay attention to what is in orbit around you, and you will not last long.
Given the lack of story, I can see a moderate replay value to 0rbitalis. There are plenty of gamers out there that just want a casual item to occupy their time before their next responsibility. 0rbitalis is a great item that you can load quickly, and play as little or as much as you like.
Final Thoughts
0rbitalis surprised me. I was figuring there would be a guiding story to the game, but I was mistaken. In the beginning this bothered me, though after I figured out what I was doing, it no longer mattered. Luckily the game was simple enough that they can get away with the fact that they had no explanation of movements. I enjoyed the soundtrack which was able to keep you distracted while you plot where you want to fire your satellite. Granted I have only worked through the first of several sectors, I have no doubt I will find myself working across more galaxies in the near future.
If you are looking for a title that you can play without dedicating 30+ minutes to a level, I recommend giving 0rbitalis a shot. Catch this title in orbit on Steam for $9.99.
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Dynasty Warriors takes place during the Three Kingdoms era in ancient China, where the different empires are in an all-out war as each kingdom is trying to unify the ancient country. Players can choose to rule over a kingdom or sit back and work as an officer. The amount of choices can actually seem overwhelming at first, but a good tutorial helps gamers learn quickly, and it all starts by learning how to manage the actual kingdom.
After picking a kingdom to protect, players will be introduced to the War Council. During War Council, players will pick their bi-yearly goals, such as invade one enemy and win, or recruit an officer.
Completing these tasks will provide merit points for characters, which can be used to upgrade an officer’s stats. Players can choose to rule with an iron fist or try and negotiate treaties with other kingdoms. These choices and more are all answered to during the Strategy Phase.
The Strategy Phase is extensive, and a lot of time will be spent navigating these menus. Players will choose one action to perform during a given month in this phase, and this is the only action that will take place during this time. So for example, in the month of June, I decided to go to battle with a neighboring kingdom. After battle, the next month starts and I got to choose a new option, such as building an item shop.
Players can build new structures in occupied countries as well, not just on their home turf. By building these structures, the player can buy upgrades for weapons, items, and even new mounts. Players can even throw a giant banquet for their officers, which helps increase friendship levels, it gets that deep. Becoming better friends with officers provides new Stratagems as well, so there is a reason to do stuff like this aside from being pals.
Every choice a player makes will have some kind repercussion actually. To rule a happy kingdom does reap its own rewards, but doing so will be costly. On the other side of things, to rule with an iron fist is cheap, but is lack of loyalty worth the lack of expense? Ruling a kingdom is all about making tough decisions and that’s not something that Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires skimps on. One of those decisions, maybe the biggest, is whether or not to go to war.
All of the exciting action takes place on the battlefields in DW8E. Players will wage full-on war at some point in play, and this is truly when the fun starts. During battle, the game turns into a third-person hack and slash adventure, where players are tasked with a winning the fight at hand. This is done by either by killing the general or capturing the main base.
Capturing bases is done by attacking the opposition troops and killing all of them. Each officer in the game has a different weapon too to make them a little less cookie-cutter; from a simple sword to a bunch of giant metal balls, the choices are numerous. Each character in the game has a set of “special power moves” as well, that will help turn the tide of war to their favor. These are called Stratagems and they cast certain effects to either provide a boost to the officer or hurt the opposing army.
The battles are fierce and exciting and easy to control since the combo system is simple, as there are only two attack buttons. The battlefields are gigantic though, and getting around on foot can take a long time. This is why each character has a mount, such as a horse or a bear (! -ed) that can be used to quickly travel across the battlefield.
Players will be able to purchase exotic mounts, such as that bear or even an elephant, from the item shops. These odd creatures added a bit of strange humor into the game, and running over an army of men with an elephant provides a lot of laughs.
The customization options in DW8E are enormous as well. Players can build a whole custom army, starting off by creating a custom banner to fly. After that, you’ll then move onto which types of horses to make use of. The last two parts consist of creating a uniform, and then finally the officers themselves.
Players will start off by selecting the features of the character, and there are a ton of choices here as well. Feel like creating an army of green-skinned soldiers? That is possible to do with DW8E. Players will then decide on starting the game as a free agent or being a part of an established army. As a free agent, a player is free to work with any kingdom they choose, so that’s a nice variation on the standard gameplay.
Players can work their way onto an army by performing quests, or they can play a more devious role and pit kingdom against kingdom, which is particularly cool. The choices are endless and the possibilities boundless. Replaying the game will result in a different experience each time.
Finbal Thoughts
Dynasty Warriors is a fun game, surprisingly so, and I’ve had a great experience playing this title.
It has been a while since I last played a Dynasty Warriors title though, so pretty much everything was fresh to me this time around. The last one I actually played was Dynasty Warriors 3, and that was on the original Playstation, where the battle experience was a lot different.
Because of the constraints of the PS1, the battlefield was nonexistent. Instead I believe battle was done in a rock, paper, and scissor mold (if I remember correctly). The differences between DW3 and DW8E are too many to list.
That being said, I would recommend this one to anyone interested in this style of game. There is a lot to accomplish and challenges can be difficult, but I really enjoyed managing my kingdom and then having the option to hack and slash my way through my enemies.
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The holiday season is upon us, and most of the highly anticipated games are out. We have all sorts of great first-person shooters and action-adventure games, but what about driving games? I sat down with the latest Forza offering on the Xbox One, Forza Horizon 2, and these are my thoughts.
Let me begin by saying that Forza Horizon 2 is fun. It really is! From the game’s youthful style to the actual gameplay, I found myself smiling and having a great time more than I have with any other driving game in the past. The reason I found it so enjoyable was because of the amount of freedom and choice given to me even from the beginning.
You can practically drive anywhere – you don’t have to follow the road. If you want to get from your location to another race, you can take any path you want to. It’s similar to the open-world enjoyment found in games like Grand Theft Auto. Not only are you encouraged to explore the world, but there are rewards to find in practically every location – hidden cars, additional racing events, signs that can be smashed to increased you experience. Increasing your level also gives you a chances to win additional cars or money, by spinning a wheel of chance.
Just like other Forza games, including the original Forza Horizon, there are a lot of cars to earn and a ton of way to customize. This includes both casual and in-depth upgrades and customization to the way your cars look and drive. If you simply want more horsepower, you can purchase upgrades and have them installed as-is, or if you preferred the level of configuration from games like Gran Turismo, you can get your hands dirty with granular adjustments to your cars’ performance and style.
Forza Horizon 2 is also a beautiful game. While the Xbox One might be slightly behind the PlayStation 4 in terms of graphic fidelity, it’s certainly not to the level that some of the hardcore Sony enthusiasts may want you to believe. The scenes are photo-realistic, and everything has impressively high-resolution textures. The draw distance is far, but the game does have some occasional pop-ins if the scenes are a little complex.
Weather is dynamic – often times I’ve gone from a sunny day to rainy in a short amount of time. Not only does it look really cool to drive in the rain, but it also changes the slickness of the road, and can make for some very interesting races, especially if you have a storm show up in the middle of it. Forza Horizon 2 also features night and day cycles, which also impact your driving and visibility. I highly recommend NOT taking the shortcut through the forest at night — it’s really hard to see.
While there were many things to love about Forza Horizon 2, one of the things I absolutely loathed about it was that these was no easy (or obvious) way to turn off or mute your opponents’ voice chat during online games. To be fair, this may have been more of an Xbox One architecture thing than a game development oversight. While I didn’t experience too many players who were mean-spirited or rude, there were several players who were a bit too chatty and I just wanted to shut them up. After playing games like Destiny, that require players to opt-in to voice chat with others, I really wish there was a way to easily mute players.
Forza Horizon 2 features over 200 automobiles to choose from – including non-car vehicles like pickup trucks and Hummers. While there are other car packs that can be purchased for an additional cost, I felt the standard game had plenty to choose from, and never experienced an instance where I was “forced” to spend additional money on downloadable content to enjoy parts of the game or participate in a race that I really wanted to.
Forza Horizon 2 is available from retailers or via the Xbox Store for $59.99. According to the game listing on Xbox.com, it will require at least 36.7 GB of space on the hard drive.
Final Thoughts
It’s a perfect time to get an Xbox One, now that Microsoft has reduced the price of the console during the holiday shopping season. While there are plenty of other great games to get lost in while playing, Forza Horizon 2 is especially awesome!
It looks beautiful and the game’s open-world environment not only encourages exploration, but rewards you for doing so. There are plenty of things to do, and plenty of races to participate in, and you’re not stuck to closed-in tracks. I really enjoyed being able to go anywhere and do practically anything.
While other games have offered open-world driving, like the original Forza Horizon and the Need for Speed series, Playground Games and Turn 10 has done a great job filling a vast European world with lots to do and lots to find. I hope more racing games find inspiration from games like Forza Horizon 2, because it’s a blast to play, and compliments the Xbox One nicely. I definitely recommend it!
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