As you sit in your booth, you call people to show their papers. You check whether the names, serial numbers, dates and data match. If all is good, [...]]]>

Dealing with immigration: the best way to understand the word "bureaucracy"

Papers, Please puts you in the hotseat of an immigration officer in a fictional country of Arstotzka where you get to decide who gets in, and who doesn’t.

As you sit in your booth, you call people to show their papers. You check whether the names, serial numbers, dates and data match. If all is good, you can approve this person. If it isn’t, you deny or detain him or her, depending on the severity of the issue.

Detecting a discrepancy of wrong issuing city by cross-referencing your official handbook and a person's passport

There is a backstory to the game. It goes like this: a border has just open and you have been given the job as the one and only immigration officer in this border. For thirty days, you will go to work and every person you correctly approve or deny will reward you with money, along with bribes, bonuses and other one-time events.

You have a family to take care of, which will cost you money to upkeep due to rent, heat and food. Your efficacy at work will determine if they flourish or perish.

The game gets increasingly complicated. You start of dealing with two or three documents, but because of different world events such as terrorism, deteoriating relations between nations, and disease, you will increasingly need to deal with more paperwork, weapons and dilemmas.

A dilemma you will encounter: do you help your government or assist a clandestine anti-government group? Do you take bribes? Each choice you make will lead to a different ending, of which there are 20.

A miserable ending awaits if you make the wrong choices

The game runs very well on a netbook and you can probably play it with a trackpad should you wish. It is certainly advantageous to play with a mouse since speed is of the essence in this game.

The only issue is that you must play fullscreen, because windowed mode is way too big for a netbook’s display of 1024×600. Fullscreen resizes it down, but oddly, it will scale it down such that Papers, Please will only take up half the screen, leaving a substantial perimeter of black bars on all four sides as evident on the first two screenshots.

Papers, Please offers some of the best value for money and an addicting factor that is up there with highly rated regular games. You can play it through once to get the story, or you can play it again and again to experience the different endings. It’s fantastic.

Like

A unique game with a good replay value

Great storyline, thrilling endings

Fun because of the constantly changing environment

Dislike

Suboptimal fullscreen scaling

Verdict

Great fun, great value, good replay value.

Gameplay: Great!

Graphics smoothness: Excellent

Work needed to get game to play: None

Future patches might change it, but as of now, you’re stuck with either playing it on an external display or a different [...]]]>

Faster than Light is not really netbook compatible... this is how the game looks like at a non-native 1152x864 resolution.

Here at Netbookist, I take pride in helping my readers. So here’s something from the get-go: Faster than Light will not display properly on netbooks that do not support at least a 1280×720 resolution.

Future patches might change it, but as of now, you’re stuck with either playing it on an external display or a different computer altogether.

This is how full-screen on a standard laptop screen looks like.

The game is still playable if you really, really wanted to play it on a netbook. The game’s native resolution is 1280×720, which means that on a typical netbook, you’ll have a lot of horizontal resolution truncated. The fix to this, to make this game playable, is to familiarize yourself with the way the game works before attempting to play it on a netbook and playing it at the maximum resolution which your graphics card will allow. More crucially, play the game in windowed mode, so you can move the window around to see parts that are truncated.

Finally, for the majority of netbook users with integrated Intel graphics drivers, it can be hacked to 1152×864. If you haven’t already hacked the drivers, follow this link.

Readers, if a future patch solves this problem, please do let me know!

Quick Review

Faster than Light is a unique game. For ten dollars, you get many, many hours of fun.

The game is basically a point-and-click game, where you have to manage the roles of your party. For maximum efficiency, you have to match certain jobs to certain people. Each space race has attributes that make some better at attacking, some immune to fire and some can repair your ship faster. Your job is to make sure you’re getting most out of your (non-)human resources.

With that done, your job is to constantly upgrade your ship so that you can fend off the final ‘boss’, the Rebel Flagship. On you way to meet the Flagship, you will attack lesser enemies who will dispense resources such as Scrap, which is the currency you use to buy upgrades for your ship.

With these two elements – a good ship and a good crew – you will then be tasked to defend yourself against pirates and other aggressors. Combat involves choosing your target and crossing your fingers, much similar to X-Com games. In Faster than Light, you will have to choose discrete faculties of the ship you want to destroy – you can destroy the shield regenerator,  the weapons first, if your strategy is max damage to them, and less damage to yourself.

On the other hand, you can pick an alternative strategy of maximum resource gain, by teleporting your best troops to their ship, and killing the crew in it. Leaving the ship in tact will generally give you more resources per battle.

All these minute considerations might seem unnecessary, but the real test of how well your strategy is will come together when you face the Flagship. And fear the Flagship much, because this game has no save game feature that features like a “backup”. Instead, the save game feature is there only to allow you to pause and resume the game once. A deliberate feature that was annoying at first, but I learnt to appreciate it as a means to keep the game challenging, and to make you keep coming back for more.

It’s hard to classify this game. In a sense, it’s a game where you take on the role as a hacker, using programs to crack passwords, your wits to [...]]]>

If you like 'hacking' Facebook profiles...

Uplink is a very unique game. Even up until today, there hasn’t been a game this similar to Uplink, and it has been over ten years…

It’s hard to classify this game. In a sense, it’s a game where you take on the role as a hacker, using programs to crack passwords, your wits to fool authorities into framing someone, and covering your tracks to ensure you don’t get caught for your crimes. You act as an agent of a company called Uplink, which manages its ranks of freelance hackers by providing a central location where you can find jobs, buy programs and read the news about successful infiltrations, arrests and it also serves as a place for you to get a glimpse of the storyline.

The game is a true one of a kind, but it has a moderate learning curve and a really unforgiving ‘game over’ mechanism, you’d be glad you played this game. In this game, you only get one shot. There is no official way of saving the game, so if you were slow in covering your tracks before the Feds come after you, it’s a hard-hitting game over where the only way back into the game is to start all over again. The makers of this game probably were trying to inject some realism into the game… or maybe it’s because the game was created in 2001 when games were tougher.

Missions are varied, and you get more challenging ones as you climb up the ranks

The progression of the game is simple. You start out with a pretty lousy machine capable of doing things at a snail’s pace. With the 3000 credits you start with, you must buy the basic tools such as a password breaker. This allows you to take up beginner missions which require you to hack into a system and delete or copy a file.

As you progress, you will be up against higher security computers, such as government computers or banks. Hacking a government computer will allow you to change someone’s education credentials, or authorize his arrest. Yes, there are no females in this game. Similarly, if you hack a bank, you can view someone’s balance, max out their credit limit, and (riskily) transfer their balance to your bank account. Mid-level missions usually require you to do something of this sort, although at this level, there are proxies and firewalls to counter against, which require you to buy programs to counter it.

But the chief characteristic of how Uplink makes itself extremely exciting is in the fact that everything you do seems like brinkmanship. One of the most basic programs is called a Trace Tracker, and what it does is it tells you how far you are to being caught. As the server you’ve hacked into traces your footsteps backwards, the Trace Tracker tells you how much time you have left in the worst way possible – beeping like a bomb. In high security computers, you might get traced really quickly, and the constant sound of BEEP BEEP BEEP will definitely put you on your toes.

Uplink runs excellent on a netbook. It runs great, is extremely addictive, and has few problems. The best way to get an optimal experience is to ensure you patch it to the latest version once you install it. Version 1.00 only allows you to play at 640×480, but once you upgrade it, you can play the game at a resolution compatible with a widescreen display, and it also smooths out any bugs.

The graphics are simple, the soundtrack is excellent and the game is extremely addictive. Try it!

Digital footprints... must be destroyed!

Tweak: How to Save Game

The game doesn’t come with a simple ‘save game’ button, so you need to do it manually. In order to save your game, you’ll have to head to your installation directory, and copy the contents of the users folder to somewhere off-site. Remember to always go into the main menu by clicking the ‘X’ button in the top left hand corner while in-game before you attempt to copy the files.

Like

The thrill of being a hacker with the ability to change things

Wonderful soundtrack

Plays excellent on a netbook

Dislike

Some bugs

Extremely unforgiving!

Verdict

Three days, three nights. Prepare pizza delivery numbers.

Gameplay: Keeps you planted at the edge of your seat for hours.

Graphics: Not fancy but functional.

Work needed to get game to play: Get it patched ASAP.

That [...]]]>

A typical tradition of traffic dynamics: ensuring congestion no matter the era

Recently, I’ve been hooked on transport management games. I played Cities in Motion, a game where you have to manage the public transport system in different cities such as Berlin, Helsinki and Tokyo. Interestingly, in that game, people in Tokyo drive on the right, while streets in Berlin look more North American than European.

That said, Cities in Motion was a game I was tempted to try on my netbook, but given that it runs like dung on my proper gaming laptop, it’s definitely not gonna fly on a netbook.

I stumbled upon a really old school game. Not as old school as Transport Tycoon, not as focused as Railroad Tycoon 3, but similar. Similar in a sense you have to manage your business, ensure that you have the cash, and complete goals. It’s an isometric game made in the early 2000s, with an intriguing concept of managing a transport system that consists of vehicles such as trains, trucks, airplanes, blimps and helicopters.

Just like Railroad Tycoon, you have a choice of fetching passengers or cargo. You have to build the infrastructure – streets, railways or airports, and then pick from a large list of vehicles. From thoroughbred horses of the 1850s to electric trains of the 60s to the Boing 747 of the 90s. Yes, Boing 747.

The game pits you in three regions – North America, Europe and Australia. And in each region, there’s a host of mission that takes you through the years. The American campaign starts from the 1850′s, and your role in that campaign can range from amassing a fortune, connecting cities via rail, and supporting the space race by creating an efficient system that allows you to transport raw materials to the value-adding industries, and then sending them to the space station. What keeps you on your toes is that you’ll have to complete all of these missions in a limited time, mostly about 15-20 years.

So many choices...

The game is actually very entertaining when you’ve set up something really efficient, profitable and current. There is a great feeling of seeing the dough come forth automatically, so you can expand your transport networks. The game also runs excellent on a netbook, and you can expect hours of enjoyment on it if you like these sort of games.

The flipside, unfortunately, is also very distinct as you spend time on this game. The game has a huge host of bugs, annoyances, typographical errors and has a learning curve that is moderately a mission to learn.

The bugs are minor but can turn into major annoyances. Sometimes, buttons don’t work. Other times, you can have a route to your station, but the computer won’t recognize it and tell you that the train can’t get there. That gets truly annoying because it means you have to spend cash to rebuild your railroad. Out of the box, the game won’t save properly either – the fix is below.

Learning the game is also quite hard, especially if you’re not the RTFM (Read The Friendly Manual) kind of person. There is no tutorial, although the first few missions are quite easy because you’re only required to manage horses which don’t break nor need maintenance.

The game also has a very inelegant interface. In order to do one thing, you’ll have to make quite a disproportionate number of clicks. For example, to build a railway, you have to click on build. Out of ten buttons on the sidebar, you’ll have to remember which one. Once you click build, you’ll be presented with a number of buttons again for different modes of transportation – do you want to build a horse and truck depot? A train depot? An airport? A shipyard? Click on the right one, and then the cycle repeats again. Do you want a small, small-medium, medium or large depot? Electric or non-powered railway?

The biggest pain lies in the building the railway. To build a railway, you have to join two stations. Usually, these two stations require you to curve the railway. And then here comes the inelegant interface again: how steep do you want it? 1×1 curve? 2×2? It becomes a puzzle sometimes where you’ll have to engage in trial-and-error to see which curve will allow you to join both stations. There is no diagonal track, by the way. So building diagonally means curving left, right, left, right, etc.

Oh, if only they’ve seen how easy it is to do this on Railroad Tycoon or Cities in Motion.

The game runs excellent on a standard netbook. It does run at a native 1024×768, which means that it won’t be a perfect aspect ratio for a netbook, but the graphics looked fine while I played it. It ran quite stable without crashing.

FIX: Save Game Error

If you have a problem saving your game, head to the installation folder, and create a folder called save . The theory that I heard is that Transport Giant is too old a game and therefore is unable to weave through Windows 7′s file protection system. Create that folder in small caps and you’re good to go.

Like

So many vehicles to choose from…

So many missions to play on…

So many eras to play in…

So time sapping… (i.e. it’s ultra-addictive!)

Dislike

So many bugs…

So tough to play (initially)

So annoying sometimes

Verdict

I’m pretty glad I found this game. I used to play it in my youth and it was great. The game has lost some lustre as it has aged graphics, but the gameplay is still excellent. It is a lot of fun, and if you can tolerate the bugs, the inelegance of its interface, and the  minor annoyances that come with the game, you’ll be set on one of the best transport-management sims. Though if you don’t want to go through the torture, try Railroad Tycoon 3 instead.

Gameplay: So simple, yet so addictive.

Graphics: A throwback to the mid-90s.

Work needed to get game to play: None!

Building roller coasters is unbelievably addictive.

Holy mother of addictive god. As if Lords of the Realm 2 isn’t extremely addictive already, I recently installed Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, and these two games have been keeping my neck strained as I hunch down to look at my netbook screen – better fix this problem using this guide. A little cautionary tale.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 is one of the most unique games out there. It comes as one of the most outstanding games of the early 2000′s due to the fact that it is extremely unique, and it is also lots of fun.

In the spirit of tycoon games, your goal is to ensure that you manage your theme park well and you make a lot of dough. Yep, that’s pretty much the basis of a lot of missions. Sometimes the missions have other requirements such as ensuring that your park rating does not drop below a certain score, or that you have a certain amount of rides that have a high excitement rating, etc., but the basis of the game is that you need the dough so that you can keep the park clean and tidy, and always with new rides that are enticing and exciting.

Well, f***...

The game is quite engrossing because of one key feature – designing roller coasters. While your park must contain other elements such as ‘Gentle Rides’ and ‘Thrill Rides’, which are basically rides such as a ferris wheel or a rocking ship, designing a roller coaster will be the feature that will keep you coming back for more.

In order to make a roller coaster entertaining, you have to know your crowd and design rides that are not too intense, not too nauseating, but are as exciting as possible. ProTip: high lateral G-forces will cripple your ride.

Then comes the other little bits of the game, and what I like to call the ‘nitty-gritty’. Your rides don’t last forever, they break. So you have to make sure your mechanic is always on-site, not stuck in the sticks where he’ll take three (in-game) months to arrive from the jungle to the broken ride.

People puke too and that’s because they refuse to go into a toilet to let it all out, or head to a first-aid clinic, so they vomit on the path. It almost feels like it’s Theme Hospital as you call a handyman (yes, they’re all men) out.

As you build your next great masterpiece, keep that financial statement window open, so you can conveniently loan thousands.

Lastly, certain eccentric individuals also pay a premium to enter your park, and then head out to vandalize the benches, which is a sign you don’t have enough po-po patrolling.

But despite all these, the game is extremely entertaining because of how it gives you satisfaction to be the owner of a high-rating, revenue generating park.

The best part about this game is that it runs smoothly on all netbooks, because the game is essentially a throwback to the heydays of 256-colour, meaning that you won’t need any fancy graphics card – Intel GMA would do fine. It even supports widescreen displays natively, how rare!

Like

Building roller coasters!

A well-managed park is a reward in its own

Dislike

It can get repetitive if you play this game constantly over a short period of time

Verdict

As always, a game with a good concept can last through all sorts of ageing. While RCT2 has pretty old-skool graphics and cutesy music, the game makes a great tycoon game because it has a great build-it-yourself concept, a bit like how Lego is fun. The endless combination of roller coasters, dealing with the ‘nitty-gritty’, and then launching your way to capitalist heaven makes RCT2 a must-have.

Gameplay: So simple, yet so addictive.

Graphics: A throwback to the mid-90s.

Work needed to get game to play: None!

I have often triumphed a truth about games – good graphics, great sound and a great storyline is nice to have, but these elements don’t make the game. There are games out there which you play once, and then never play it again, until, perhaps, nostalgia hits you, and then there are games out [...]]]>  

Crappy screenshot? Sorry - I can't seem to take pictures in Windows mode without getting the colours all garbled.

I have often triumphed a truth about games – good graphics, great sound and a great storyline is nice to have, but these elements don’t make the game. There are games out there which you play once, and then never play it again, until, perhaps, nostalgia hits you, and then there are games out there which can be infinitely replayable. The key difference? A game’s concept.

There aren’t too many games out there that don’t follow the logic of safety. The biggest example out there is probably Call of Duty with its many iterations of pretty much the same thing.

But then there are games out there which also try something new. If we look at The Sims, which was a game that was predicted to fail, or if we look at Theme Hospital, we see how unique ideas can translate to a timeless game. People still play Theme Hospital – just look for mods that try to wrestle with Windows 7 compatibility issues.

And on that note, my friend recently introduced me to a game that is so addictive, I haven’t had time to… write on Netbookist. I’m sorry.

The game is called Lords of the Realm II. It’s a sixteen year old game that has such a good concept that I don’t even mind suffering 256 colours and 640×480. It’s a game that seems like a mix of Civilization and Age of Empires. Yes – your goal is to conquer and smite your enemies until you are the one and only left.

Every turn, you have to deal your domestic issues first, and then military issues next. A bit like Civilization.

You allocate your citizens into different industry – wheat farming, cow herding, stone and iron mining, forestry and blacksmithing. There’s a cycle to this – you feed your peasants so that they multiply and provide you with labour (and don’t overthrow you), once you have extra labour, you allocate them to resource hunting, and then putting these resources into building arms. You then raise an army with the weapons you have – all while taxing your peasants a nonsensical 5% tax that won’t put much into your coffers until your empire becomes massive.

With the army you raised, you then go out to conquer neighbouring counties. And this is where this game turns from being a turn-based strategy into a real-time strategy. Every time you fight an enemy army, you must strategize on how best you can make the full use of expensive-but-strong knights, or your archers, which are terrible at self-defense but can shoot enemies miles away. Or you can go trampling on their land, disrupting their economy and causing a displeased peasantry.

The game ramps up in intensity as you proceed from fighting just one opponent to have to deal with four of them. Things get tougher too – land starts out unarable or you might not have an iron mine in your county, causing you to need to buy it from roving caravans.

And because of this convergence of Civ-like elements and AOE-like elements, Lords of the Realm II tends to have the addictiveness of Civ, while giving you more control over battles by putting you into a real-time fight. You’ll see your time disappear as you have one more turn… and then another.

If you want to get this game, you have to search it up online – it’s considered abandonware, so I suppose you can find it really easily. I’d recommend you the place I got the game from, but I don’t want you to suffer 5kb/s speeds.

Like

Civ-like turn-based strategy

AOE-like real-time warfare

Extremely addictive, in a “one…more…turn…” sense

Dislike

Low-res graphics

Verdict

This game is so good, you probably could play it all day, all night. It’s simple but extremely fun!

Gameplay: Engrossing.

Graphics: It’s the 90′s!

Work needed to get game to play: Minimal, though getting a screenshot… oh god why…