Friday 13 April 2012

Youda Survivor Game Review - Computers - Computer Games


Fend for yourself and live off the land in Youda Survivor! After an accident at sea, you have been washed ashore on a tribal island and there's no way off. Use your survival skills to keep yourself fed and hydrated, and well protected against the cruel elements. Befriend the natives and help them against pirates. Learn powerful rituals and potion recipes from them in order to safeguard the island and eventually find your way back home!

Youda Games, creators of hit time management games such as Youda Farmer and Youda Sushi Chef, is back with their latest offering. Youda Survivor has a Robinson Crusoe-esque story where a shipwrecked man has to do all he can in order to survive on an isolated tribal island. The characters, visuals and setting of the game are entertaining and reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series and the Madagascar cartoons.

The game begins with the island's shaman predicting that a hero will arrive on their island and save the natives from the threat of the pirates. Unfortunately, the person who arrives is a shipwrecked scrawny guy (that's you, by the way) who is barely alive. Undaunted, the natives start teaching you basic survival skills as well as the knowledge to mix potions and control the weather, hoping that you will one day be strong enough to drive the pirates off.

The gameplay in Youda Survivor is similar to farm management games such as the Farm Frenzy series. This time, instead of raising chickens and cows to sell their products at the market, you have to gather food and drink to keep yourself alive. You will have an energy bar and a hydration bar. Your energy will decrease as you complete tasks, and your hydration will deteriorate over time. Poor weather will cause both bars to decrease faster as well!

So how do you replenish your energy and hydration? That forms the main part of the game, where your time management skills will be crucial to beating each level. The native tribe is kind enough to lend you a cook, and she is able to turn almost any organic matter into potions that you can drink to increase your energy. Eggs from visiting birds, coconuts and meat are some of the ingredients that can be dumped into the pot to become energy potions. Similarly, the cook can use water obtained from the local watering holes to create potions that will keep you hydrated.

The efficiency of your potions will also increase as you progress through the game. Potions made from powdered eggs will give you more energy than those made from boiled eggs, which in turn give more energy than raw egg potions (eww!). However, these will require machines that you can buy and upgrade in between levels. The game isn't all about keeping yourself well fed though. Each level will require you to achieve a set of objectives while making sure you don't die of fatigue or thirst. These objectives usually involve accumulating a certain amount of resources or reaching a target energy level.

The local shaman will also teach you a few rituals to help you achieve your goals. You will be able to learn useful spells such as summoning a rain cloud to fill up your watering holes and create new fertile patches of earth. Similarly, there is a wind ritual that will blow coconuts off the trees for you (beats having to climb the trees to get them!). Unfortunately, these rituals require energy to cast, so you will need to properly manage your resources in order to keep your energy sufficiently high while still achieving each level's objectives. And you have to do all this while racing against a time limit as well!

And then there's the pirates that are threatening the natives. You will get random interruptions from an assortment of beach creatures as well as the dreaded pirates. These unwelcome visitors will interfere with your resource collecting if you do not deal with them. The creatures can be removed with a couple of clicks, but you will need to defeat the pirates by reducing their health. Be careful though: each swipe you take at them will use up some of your energy. You will have to decide whether you want to keep your energy efficiently lean, or leave in a bit of a buffer in case a pirate comes calling.

Youda Survivor is a really fun game, and it invigorates the farm management game genre with a whole new theme complete with new mechanics and concepts. It is also a cheerful and bright game, and is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Youda Survivor is definitely worth trying if you like any of the other Youda games, or farm management games such as Farm Frenzy 3.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

You can read more about Youda Survivor at /r/youda-survivor.html



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