Outpost Kaloki

Written by Ben on March 6th, 2007 and posted in Reviews
Tags : Indie, multi format, nintendo wii, pc, tycoon, XBLA, Xbox360

Outpost Kaloki is a wonderful little game that has been out for a good few years now. It was recently updated and ported to XBox Live Arcade (XBLA) and there it has flourished. In fact the developers, Ninja Bee, have since created another XBLA game with a third to be “released soon”.

However Outpost Kaloki is where it started and, since it’s the only game available on the pc, that’s the one I’m going to review

Outpost Kaloki is a Strategy/ Tycoon game made casual.

The game was clearly developed with consoles in mind (I seem to remember them saying something like this in an interview somewhere else), and it shows in the simplicity of the gameplay and control scheme. Unlike more traditional tycoon games the structure/ layout of your buildings plays no part in the game, instead focusing on building the correct pods at the correct times. The game progresses nicely with new features gradually introduced as you progress. You start off with the most basic buildings and have to earn a certain amount of money; as the levels continue new objectives are introduced through a simple, charming, story.

You take on the role of a space station planner, building and selling pods that sit on space stations with the objective of making enough money to move onto the next task. You start the game building small structures to please the whims of the Princess, before she gets kidnapped (yes… I know) and you head off on a quest to rescue her. The story evolves nicely and it’s interesting to see how the it’s progressed despite you doing nothing but building objects.

Each level has different objectives with things like time limits, objects to build, and money to earn hindering your progress - and giving you a target to achieve. Certain buildings/ pods are reliant on other buildings, and others become unlocked as you create elements.

Outpost Kaloki is quite a challenging game, especially on later levels, but as long as you experiment you will learn the techniques required to progress through the game.

The graphics are nice and fit the game well but are beginning to show their age - the overall presentation follows a cohesive style, and the gameplay is so good that you soon forget about the way it looks anyway. There are a number of cute little touches, being able to see the spaceships flying around your space station using your facilities is cool, and having the cue of customers asking for various services, and showing their frustration when you don’t perform, is quite fun - as well as being useful.

I’ve liked Outpost Kaloki for some time so really I should have reviewed it sooner - however I have always gone for the “better late than never” option - so here it is.

As mentioned before Outpost Kaloki is already available on the XBox Live Arcade, and now an updated version, named Space Station Tycoon, is coming to the Nintendo Wii as well (not Outpost Kaloki itself as mentioned on Wired).

If I were you I would download the demo and make up your own mind.

• Outpost Kaloki Information

• Ben's Rating :

  Rating: 4.5
  Readers Rating : no rating yet
• Outpost Kaloki website
• Price : $19.95
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• Buy Outpost Kaloki for the PC