Developer: Robot Gentleman Studios
Publisher: Robot Gentleman Studios
Platform: PC, PS 4, Xbox One
Tested on: Xbox One
60 Seconds! (Xbox One) – Review
The Cold War had many people on edge, especially Americans were afraid that the Chinese or Russians would have an all-out nuclear war and destroy the world as we know it. For this reason, many households invested in nuclear bunkers. The family in 60 Seconds! did so and it’s up to you to grab the essential items and make it on time to your cellar. In 2015 we reviewed the original game for PC and last year we did the remastered version. Now the game has finally been released for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in a pretty nice way.
Story
The game takes place in 1950s America where a nuclear threat is very real. The government has invested in a state-of-the-art alarm system that can detect a nuclear impact and will give civilians a minute to gather their stuff and run to their shelter. In the elaborate campaign, you have different scenarios to pit Ted and his family in, from a fully prepped shelter to the nuclear holocaust that reminds you of the Fallout franchise. Each day will mean something else for life in the bunker, the ending could be the same, but the road is different each time. Therefore, there isn’t really a coherent story in 60 Seconds! but it will rather give you a unique path in each run.
Graphics
The special aspect about 60 Seconds! is the mix of both 3D and hand-drawn 2D graphics. During your exploration around the house and collecting items, the game is completely in 3D. When you are finally in your shelter and waiting out the apocalypse, this is in 2D. There isn’t much movement on the screen, as your interactions will be solely text-based decision making, yet each alteration to the shelter is nicely done and the graphics are truly lovely. The 1950s are perfectly represented as everything is colorful and lively, such as it was back in the day. Even alterations to characters will have you feel bad for them, as they seem dirty, wounded or mutated.
Sound
The music isn’t as diverse as the graphics as the same song keeps on playing and this can get quite boring after a while. Now it has a sense of realism, in the bunker, you wouldn’t have the best radio connection and carrying a heavy vinyl player seems to be out of the question. There are some funny sound effects when you crash into things during your scavenging hunt, but sadly no real hints when an event goes wrong in the bunker.
Gameplay
60 Seconds! is a mix of action and text-based adventure. You have many options to have your adventure, from having a complete scavenge run as it is intended, or to just start out safe with random items in your shelter. In classic mode, you begin with a short time to explore your house and plan out the best route to grab as many essentials as possible. Once the alarm goes off, you have 60 seconds to grab everything you need and you will need to make it in time to your bunker. Depending on the situation, you will have some extra resources down there, or have completely nothing. During the gameplay, you can choose to start with either Ted or Dolores. Each member of the family can pull some weight, but there must always be an adult in the shelter to keep the kids alive. As Mary-Jane and Timmy are still young and need guidance, it is up to the player if they want to keep them in the bunker or leave them behind. The random events that happen can throw you off guard, yet you will learn that some items can come in handy for when this happens. Each day means survival and rationing your supplies to make them last. People can go a few days without food, but will need water almost daily. When supplies run out, you could get lucky with a supply drop, or a random stranger that bears gifts, but don’t push your luck.
Each playthrough is unique as the inventory of your house is random every time and sometimes the layout is slightly altered. This means that on some occasions you are lucky to have everyone in place, with enough time to highly stock your items, while on other occasions you will have to decide to grab little Timmy or have some extra water and soup. Items are needed to aid in scavenging yet are not mandatory, but you will notice that the random events in the shelter will reward you for grabbing that radio or rifle when you could.
It might all seem like a lot in the beginning and new players are in luck that there is a very easy hand-holding tutorial that you can opt for. This will guide you through the essential needs of survival, yet it will leave you to explore the controls for yourself. During the preparation phase, you can walk around the house and grab items to deposit in the safe zone. However, when you are in the shelter and the text-based gameplay comes up, it can be very confusing as controls are pretty strange (you do not point and click, you have to push the corresponding buttons). Luckily, there is a hidden menu that shows you which buttons you can use.
The main game has two modes, classic and challenge. Both modes will have enough content to keep you playing for a long time. The classic mode has the tutorial mode to teach you the ropes of the game and in this mode, you also can choose between having the full experience or cater it to what you want. The challenge mode is very difficult and will have you looking for specific items in the house to give you special bonuses.
Conclusion
60 Seconds!, while it is a game that has been released for quite some time, it is good to see it coming to console. The quality has remained the same, yet it misses the new improvements from the Reatomized version. Having to decide on your actions as they have a lot of weight on your survival and the insight to pick up the right goods before the bombs fall is a fun way to train yourself for the apocalypse. Overall, the controls are decent once you get used to them and the high replay value that the game offers will make every run unique.
60 Seconds! (Xbox One) – Review,
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