BENGALURU : Success of a game seems to be amplified 10x if one of the following features are added — co-op, multiplayer, PvP, online… all these mean the same thing. Nobody wants to play alone. I yearn for the day when gaming is primarily marketed as a singular meditative experience, but with occasional group benefits. No real complaints though — co-op gaming brings us miracles like the Prince of Persia Escape room experience — actual physical ones in prescribed locations (Ubisoft announced one this week), following 2 games based on the Assassin's Creed series! Even PUBG wants gaming to be a larger group experience, with a short 8v8 team deathmatch option dropping soon.
This week, I played Mindustry — which is not the first in its league to have it’s name based on an obvious pun (there's Factorio and Satisfactory in the construction simulation genre). The game completes the realm of options in the success algorithm by not only having both PvP and co-op options, but also enabling cross-platform play. While not as complex as ‘Oxygen not Included’ which involves the additional aspect of keeping humans happy, Mindustry manages to add a sedimentary layer of confusion through its resource accumulation techniques.
The confusion mostly involves placing conveyor belts in the right order to supply the ore to your core. I have no patience for planned out strategy and very soon got overwhelmed by the Nokia Snake level-10 type pattern of conveyor belts on my screen. Once the resource accumulation part of the way is figured out, the game then proceeds to create waves of attacks on your base by the enemies. This process caused me to Google the function of turrets.
Although the graphics make the game appear simple on the outset, it's loaded with a sandbox mode enabling a lot of customisation in play. While the PC version functions with stability online, there are also the free mobile versions of the game for Android and iOS. The game is much appreciated for its more casual approach towards tower- defense — which is of course, if you are patient enough to push through its steep learning curve. I rate the game a Mine out of ten for exploding the possibility of me playing it more.