The Van Game

[quote]A review copy was provided by the developer.[/quote] [quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote] [h1]First Impressions[/h1] [h1]Overall Rating - Seriously Flawed ★★☆☆☆[/h1] A few years ago, I played Organ Trail as a new interpretation on that school classic The Oregon Trail (OT). That popular game in a time when PCs ran about as slowly as a wagon. Either way, I wasn't that fond of Organ Trail, but couldn't help but be interested when The Van Game (VG) came up as another attempt at recreating that old-school title. Maybe this whole time I just needed to hop into a mom van. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Once you set up your characters, van, starting area, and difficulty, you'll start out in a random city. Some things you can do in any city is rest, try trading with someone, and buy any items you'd need, though the stock will be limited on normal and hard mode. While there, you should complete the activities available. These are mini-games, which are locked to the city you're in, with a 24 hour cool down after you've tried them. It's possible to rest and double back and forth to grind them, but with limited inventory there's some prohibition on exploiting this. Doing well at these will grant a decent amount of money, and might include bonus rewards such as gas, food, or a van decoration. You'll need that money to maintain the van's engine, stock it with fuel, and have enough food for your travelers. Another set of items you'll want to stash away are spare tires, first aid kits, and repair tools. Without tires you won't be able to drive, first aid maintains the health of your party, and tools are needed to fix a variety of items in the vehicle. Those breakdowns aren't permanent, but if you don't repair them, will cause a negative event to occur, such as losing some food or fuel. They're expensive though, so that might be a manageable loss. Managing those resources is your main focus as you try making it to all of the tourist destinations on the map. Unexpected events will occur while you're on the road, and can throw a wrench in your plans. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2888223562 [h1]Controls[/h1] Like the school PC games, this is one you'd play with a mouse instead of a controller. Since the gameplay involves interacting with quite a lot of text and menu navigation, those were never a problem for me. A decent amount of the mini-games handled just fine too, though a couple of them felt kind of wonky. The two I struggled with at times were the Magnet and Arena games. It's functional, but sometimes the way I'd try steering the car didn't feel quite right and that it wasn't doing what I wanted. [h1]Story[/h1] This interpretation is more jovial than traveling across the empty plains for a better life, as you're going cross country just to see the sights. Road trip! I thought there might have been a bit more behind it, but no, it's as straightforward and simple as that. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2888223269 [h1]Visuals[/h1] Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of the art style. The human portraits look a bit off. Despite not being an artist, to me the proportions look wrong; the ears and necks look huge, and with five people looking at you constantly, with no change, you really want something else to gaze at. A smaller issue, but the font is also very blocky, which coincides with how much of the game looks too. Since you navigate so many menus, there's not much roundness or curvature in what you see. [h1]Sound Design[/h1] Considering what the theme of VG is, it's a real shame the music doesn't better reflect that. You're traveling to such distinct parts of the USA, but aren't listening to songs that would represent those areas. Even if it were offensively stereotypical, I'd prefer that to a repetitive tune that never changes with your locale. Another way to have done it would be to reflect what listening to a radio would be like, perhaps letting you change to a handful of themes or styles that'd play on loop. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2888223781 [h1]Pros[/h1] 🌟 I like the brochure style information presented at each national park, with the quiz and social event representing how a road trip kinda feels once you've arrived. 🌟 It could include and represent much more of the country, but for a small slice of Americana, this seems like a reasonable display. [h1]Cons[/h1] ❌ When traveling, you'll encounter random items you can choose to investigate or people you can help. However, there's not much variety in events you'll have to deal with while on the road, and a few of them just happen without any chance for input; getting lost, being stuck in a traffic jam, losing something out the window. Having choices, especially more than a blanket yes/no, would give more versatility. I search for the lost item, I try asking for directions (men lose comfort doing that), etc. ❌ You can customize the appearance of the characters and van, but only the van has stats. The characters don't have skills or tools that would make any impact on the gameplay. On hard difficulty, choosing the right materials is important, but its items you get more of while playing, not unique tools like a road map or pocket knife. ❌ There's no map marker to show the places you've already been to. [h1]Tips[/h1] 🔍 Many trades aren't worthwhile unless you desperately need an item you can't buy with money. So you really need to know the value of your items in contrast to one another. For instance, gas costs around $3 a gallon, and food goes for $1 each unit. Someone wanting 50 food for 3 gallons of gas is ripping you off. 🔍 Make sure you're checking the health of your engine. For me, it was one of the easier stats to overlook because repairing it requires going to a menu within the garage, with nothing else to look at or buy. 🔍 The quizzes are pretty easy and tend to focus on certain aspects most of the time. Things such as dates, names, unique features, and wildlife. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] My main issue with VG is that I only play it in shorter bursts because I start getting bored. Intermittent mini-games that aren't even that good doesn't make up for all the tedium of just playing VG. Traveling overall is quite a drag, yet makes up most of the game. Waiting for a random event, which amounts to text on a screen and some number shuffling, is uninteresting. They either mildly annoy me for wasting an item I just spent money on, or I'm a bit perked up because I got some free stuff. These are so passive though, it's hard for me to care all that much. For those of us who grew up with the OT, I think it's time we all admit that we only liked the hunting game and having nothing else better to do in school. Due to its boring, unskippable sections, I wouldn't recommend VG. [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] [table] [tr] [th]PC Specs[/th] [th]Performance[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ryzen 2700 RTX 2070 16GB RAM ADATA SSD 1920x1080 [/td] [td]The game ran without incident on default settings. 💖 - VG is healthy [/td] [/tr] [/table]