Survival is Hard (60 Seconds review)

Games that focus on the apocalypse have become staggeringly common. I don't think a single year has gone by without a zombie or alien oriented armageddon. With such a wide selection to choose from, 60 Seconds is a wonderful breath of fresh air.

Released in May of 2015, 60 Seconds places players in a Cold War America setting. The main premise of the game is to survive the impending atomic war, a theme that is surprisingly uncommon for the survival genre. The player can choose between either Ted or Delores, family name unknown, as they rush to bring family and supplies to their bunker in just under sixty seconds. The family consists of Ted and Delores as father and mother and their two children, Mary Jane and Timmy. Once the bombs are dropped, whoever and whatever didn't make it to safety is lost forever - this game is not shy about death. Assuming you get everyone to safety, you enter the main phase of the game - surviving the fallout to the best of your abilities.

As far as stories go, this one, while having many character interactions you can choose from - doesn't particularly flesh out any of the main cast. This doesn't really take away from the overall experience, however, as it leaves the family open to player interpretation. Each is a blank slate that is easy to relate to. Other than our four protagonist, you'll also meet a fun array of characters ranging from bandits, to government agents and even a few friendly pets.

As previously stated, the story is a choose your own adventure. During the main phase of the game you will be presented with decision after decision. All of which are relayed to the player via a trusty notebook the family keeps handy. You have to manage your supplies and choose who should be sent to the surface on expeditions. These expeditions are how we get most of our scene setting information. The town the family lives in is your typical American town. We learn about nearby schools, cinemas, an old folks home and much more.

Besides the expeditions, you'll also be faced with tons of dilemmas and choices. The family needs food, water and sanity to survive. You can gather up cans of soup, bottles of water and various other items with carrying degrees of useful. You get to decide at the end of every day who gets food and water and who is forced to tough it out for a few days. Without these essentials, you'll be dead in no time. You can gather more through the surface expeditions or through the many random encounters you can have. You can try to make contact with the military, you can meet a pair of twins trying to rebuild or the occasional wondering trader. Most of these random encounters are a simple yes or no question. Other times you'll need a specific item, such as a radio to contact the army.

The game will treat you with a variety of songs during your adventure. The 60 Seconds before the blast has some wonderfully frantic and anxiety inducing music. The contemplative moments in the bunker have some calm, flawlessly looping tracks. While the songs are limited, they never get annoying or too boring.

Other than the main survival gameplay, there are several challenges that you can tackle. These served as a nice distraction and has the player scavenging certain items before the bombs hit. Sometimes they are rather difficult while other times I completed them in one try. It was never rage inducing, however. The quick nature of the mode and the short duration of the challenges makes it easy to hop right back in once you fail.

My biggest gripe can come from the controls during the scavenging phase and the overall difficulty of the game. Ted and Delores will not let anything get in their way of grabbing kids and soup. You will constantly he running into and knocking over furniture. This is a mechanic I mostly enjoy and it does make logical sense to me. However, it is frustrating when you knock over a chair and table and end up blocking yourself in the room. You will eventually break the barricade but it's annoying none the less. The RNG nature of the game is also a cause for concern. Supplies and family members do not spawn in the same spots consistently. They often radically change locations, making it hard to grab what you need but it should also be noted this does significantly help the panicked nature the game is going for. Speaking of the random nature, during the main survival portion you will often times receive little to nothing when a family member returns from exploring. Or you'll face a random encounter where you can potentially lose supplies or lives and be completely incapable of doing anything. You are at the mercy of the game's chaos. A fault, truly, but I also am not sure I can see the game doing anything differently. Sure it's hard as nails but if they changed the formula then it would be easy as pillows.

Overall, 60 Seconds is a wonderful game full of a lot of charm. I definitely think you should give it - or it's sequel 60 Parsecs - a try. I give 60 Seconds a final score of 8/10.

Have you played 60 Seconds? Do you plan on picking it up? Let me know in the comment section and please hit the subscribe button so you get notified every time I publish a post. Thanks for reading and as always good night and joy be with you all.