Kaloki Adventure

Waiting is an unavoidable nuisance that most of us have learnt to take a reasonably dispassionate attitude towards.

Buses, securing a dental appointment, the App Store approval process - all involve unavoidable waiting times, and getting into a temper about it is a useless waste of time and energy. So we sit, we fold our arms, we sigh heavily, and we wait.

Gaming, particularly handheld gaming, is supposed to be a respite from this sort of thing. If you find yourself in a waiting room, chances are you’d be inclined to whip out an iPhone to help pass the time.

Attempting to do so with with Kaloki Adventure, however, would push even the most patient of stoics into a cyclonic, screaming, table-thumping rage. This is a game less about patience than it is about bloody-minded endurance.

Things start out well enough, and the premise is a good one. You're a rookie space architect responsible for overseeing the construction of various space stations, each requiring specific features depending on which part of the madcap narrative you're caught up in.

This has you building everything from lemonade stands to observatories to singles clubs, all of which earn you space cash from different visitors. To build something, you simply tap one of the space station’s nodes and select the build option you want from the list.

Buildings are split into categories with each offering occasional new building options, which are unlocked by building combinations of other buildings. Each level tasks you to create a space station featuring a certain number or type of buildings, against a time limit.

The game’s two key resources, energy and money, dictate the flow of play and your success. This is where the frequent waiting comes in.

For the majority of the game you will find yourself either waiting for your next power station to finish building so you can build the next structure you need, or for your bank balance to accumulate sufficiently to allow you to build the next logical option (or power station).

It’s a rhythm that gets monotonous very quickly, and though you can speed up time waits are still lengthy and frequent. This wouldn’t be so bad if there was anything to do between constructions, but the only distractions are the inane and not so subtle hints that flash up on screen intermittently from space farers looking to influence the evolution of your station.

Managing your resources and pacing expansion against the clock does present a decent challenge, but any satisfaction is short lived as you move through session after session of staring at your money counter as it undulates its way languidly upward. You might even find yourself scanning the room for distractions while you wait.

The presentation isn’t bad at all. By the time you get to the end of a level, you will be the proud creator of something that pleasingly resembles a giant celestial robot octopus with flies buzzing around its tentacles.

This doesn’t save Kaloki Adventure from single handedly inventing the wait-'em-up genre. however, which is not an accolade worth shouting about.

If it’s something to pass the time your looking for, Kaloki Adventure should be your second choice to gazing blankly at the floor.