One of the selling points to the Xbox 360 that hasn't gotten as much attention as it should is the Xbox Live Marketplace. When hooked up to the internet, a 360 can access a growing set of downloadable games for a very reasonable price. One such game is the outerspace simulation game Outpost Kaloki X (OKX). A sequel to the 2004 PC game Outpost Kaloki, this game puts the player in charge of a space station, building, repairing and demolishing various expansion units in order to make money and attract more customers. With its tongue planted firmly in its cheek, this humorous game can be a lot of fun, but has a couple of flaws that prevent it from being great.

Gameplay:

After being downloaded, Outpost Kaloki X comes with two scenarios, "Adventure Story" and "War Story."  (In addition to some free play modes where you can build to your heart's content.)  Both feature the same type of gameplay and similar objectives.  Only the framing story, which is pretty lame and only there to vaguely link the various missions together, is different.  In each mission you'll have an objective to accomplish, building a certain unit onto the station, accumulating so much money, etc., and a time limit.  The simple premise and the easy game play make this a game that even novice sim players will quickly become accustomed to.  This ease of play is one of the things that makes the game so fun.

In each mission you start out with an empty space station that has a certain number of nodes to build expansions on, some start up money, and a small amount of power.  Using the demand meter on the left part of the screen, players build extensions onto the station, be in it for entertainment, scientific research, intel gathering or nature preserves.  Visitors fly in with their spaceships and pay for the use of the facilities.  There's a catch however; these expansions need power, so you have to build expensive power plants to run them.  Also, many units have prerequisites, and you can't build bigger and better attractions (or power plants) until you've installed the more primitive ones.  With a finite amount of space for factories and expansions, you'll have to choose carefully when selecting what to build.  Make sure you keep one eye on the clock too, and another on your ultimate goal.

This is a fun game, and slightly addictive at first.  The missions, which have time limits from under 15 minute to about a half an hour, start off very easy but quickly become more challenging.  The time limits are carefully calculated too, giving you just enough time to accomplish the goal, without a lot of time for goofing around.  The time limits are not so tight that one mistake will doom you to failure, but there was more than one instance where time ran out just as I was building the winning unit.  That can be a bit irritating.

The goals really help this game from getting dull and monotonous.  With a target to shoot for and only a finite time to accomplish it, player have to come up with a plan and implement it without too many delays.  Gameplay isn't limited to reacting to the various problems that crop up, but on blazing a trail to the goal.

Though the game is challenging and fun to play, playing too much at one sitting allows one to see the limitations of the game.  Though each level is different, with varying goals and problems, they all basically play the same.  Build a power plant, build the most requested expansions until you run out of available power, repeat.  There are some variations on this, and a good deal of thought does go into beating some levels, but it basically boils down to that pattern.  There are aren't enough choices to make the game really complex, and this lack of complexity makes the game become a bit tiresome after a while.  When this happens I'd just save the game (you can do that at any point) and give it a rest for a while.  Coming back fresh after a break always made the game exciting once again.

Graphics:

The graphics are very simple and basic, but the game does look great in HD. The icons and various space port expansions follow the humourous nature of the game and have a cartoony style. The chemistry lab is a giant test tube with a face, the skating rink is a big roller skate, and the restaurant looks like a Big Mac extra value meal with fries and a shake. Okay, so this won't have you rolling on the floor in fits of laughter, but it does help finding the expansion that you want to get rid of a little easier. The space stations themselves are also pretty crude in their renderings, but it fits in with the style of the game.

Audio:

The game features a swinging jazz-style music track that is light in nature and pretty entertaining. While the game is going, the song loops over and over again but never gets repetitive since players quickly tune it out. The sound effects, like the graphics, are rather minimal. Occasionally a power generator will catch on fire or even explode, but these sound effects aren't that spectacular.

Conclusion:

This is a fun game that is very easy to learn but challenging none the less. Though extended playing does make the game's limitations apparent, they aren't so major as to ruin the game. The fact that this only cost 800 points, which translates into $10, makes the game a very good deal. I've paid four or five times that much for games that were shorter and a lot less enjoyable. Since there are extra scenarios available for downloading at very reasonable prices (some for free!) ensures that you won't run out of missions for quite some time. A good game that's worth the money, simulation players will want to spend the points on it. Recommended.