Times and Galaxy

(Haven't finished this game, but I'm more than halfway through it. I intend finishing the title, and will alter my review if my opinions on it change later) This gets a positive overall review because there aren't enough games about journalism out there, and this one is fairly thorough about the nuts and bolts of the profession. But good lord. Good lord, it's *boring*. If you like games like American Truck Simulator or Microsoft Flight Simulator or other games that attempt to replicate a mundane occupation without any kind of drama or excitement or intrigue, and if 'cozy' is the key quality you're seeking for a game about journalism, then... congrats, Times and Galaxy is exactly the game for you. Times and Galaxy (T&G) combines a solid, interesting model of journalism (where you must balance the interest of the public with the public interest - while staying solvent) with a delightful 2D/3D visual style and the most brain-meltingly dull assignments and stories this side of the Dorp star system. Nobody lies, obfuscates or dissembles! No facts need to be checked. Everybody seems to be worthy, or they're at least forthright about their opinions. I think the closest I've got to a twist was a little telepathic girl revealing that her uncle was secretly pleased to be found guilty in court... so he could get the rehabilitative assistance he needed to return to being a positive member of society. ... It's like you're a reporter in Star Trek's Federation - which would be fine, but at least there you'd be able to cover the Romulan view of Vulcan interferance in Human civilisation, or do some background investigation on the Khitomer Outpost massacre, or do court reporting on a challenge to the precedent set on android lifeforms and, and-- like, it'd be INTERESTING. T&G is dull! And so is most journalism in real life! ...Which may be the point, but it makes for an EXTREMELY! BORING! VIDEOGAME! 63 reviews! At Very Positive! Makes sense to me - this is a visually beautiful execution of a clever design, filled with content that would instantly tranquilise an elephant with only the slightest dosage. If I tried to tell somebody about what happens in this game while they were driving a car, it would count as murder as they'd swiftly nod off and plough into incoming traffic. 63 reviews! No wonder nobody wants to talk about this! Have I mentioned how pretty this game is? How characterful and atmospheric the audio design? They're good! Very talented people worked on this game, and you can tell they believed in the project, lavishing it with care, attention and detail. The 3D models and 2D characters and assets blend beautifully and there's some entertaining work on the design of the aliens and the culture of the Dorp system. The controls are solid. The little upgrades you can get for your robot are fine - they're a good idea, but underexplored and exploited. The collectables are grand. Find seeds in the field and plant them in your spaceship's garden! S'alright! ... There's a mandatory achievement about a third of the way into the game and only ~20% of players have hit it. Possibly because by that point most players will have self-taxidermied from sheer tedium. The gameplay. Ohhh, the gameplay. Choose your assignment! Fly to the scene of the story. Talk to everyone there, trying to choose dialogue that doesn't close off further investigations, and in so doing collect elements that can be assembled into a report (the elements you choose to include in your report changes the tone and readership type of your work). File your report and go back to your home ship! Talk to everybody on your ship, in every room. Occasionally there's a tiny side mission. Choose your assignment again. Repeat. Repeat. Scream into the void. Repeat. Your collegues on board your ship give the impression that they're fond portraits of real journalists, minus any negative qualities or contradictions that would make them memorable or interesting. 'Copybot', for example, is the classic subeditor, focused on clarity and grammar - but has yet to allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good, or to develop an unhealthy obsession with a writer on the team and start playing favourites by sending tips their way or... Basically, they're nice. Painfully nice. They don't really seem to fight for anything, or have serious stakes at play. The majority of encounters on board your home ship are dramatically inert. There's something like nine 'rooms' in your home ship, and you're free to wander these as you please. And I would dearly have loved to see them all sacrificed but two - the bullpen and the morgue. Firstly, that would have removed most of the tiresome bloated fat of the collegue interactions (just talk to them in the field or on the phone!), and secondly it would have freed up some resources to visit secondary locations per news story. Imagine if they'd reassigned the ship resources! Now when you're in the court, you can step outside and talk to some eyewitnesses of the crime. You can check out the crime scene for colour and run into the defence lawyer and his teenage psychic companion desperately trying to scrounge up some evidence he can use for the trial the next day. Encounter someone that claims the judge has been biased! Follow that up! Now you have a sense of agency, there's meaningful stakes - you're not just clicking on everything by rote. There's the possibility of uncovering... a more interesting truth, perhaps. Or a more exciting lie. ...Drama! But no. As it stands... Jesus H. Christ and his adorable little goatee, this game is booooring. Like, if it picks up now, more than halfway through the game, I'm going to have egg on my face. And maybe I've missed some of the dramatic qualities I'm yearning for within the chapters I've already played? It's possible, but I think it's very unlikely, at this stage. Journalism is a fantastic topic for a videogame. Balancing ethics with the capitalist imperitives of the fourth estate, trying to sweet talk a source into going on the record while nailing down your facts before the deadline renders your efforts meaningless... Investigation! Intrigue! Craft! Politics! Manipulation! Word count! Public retractions! Burning one bridge so you can build two more instead! Scoops! EXCLUSIVES. [b]EXTRA! EXTRA! [i]READ ALL ABOUT IT![/i][/b] T&G has a lot of the mechanical guts to handle this content, but seemingly none of the editoral guts to actually do it. And for me, that's a shame. But if you're looking for something cozy, and silly, and light-hearted and well-made, maybe this is the game for you.