Overview: You're an employee for Cargo Corp and your job is to collect cargo from abandoned cargo containers. Of course, you're likely to die from aliens, bombs, or the cold vacuum of space.
20160213:
I played some of this game for the first time today and was initially skeptical when I read that it was a rogue-like. However, after the first couple minutes of play and after one or two deaths I definitely had a positive opinion of the game.
Setup: While I decided to play the game with keyboard and touchpad, the game supports gamepad control and might be more efficient than using a keyboard and mouse.
Tip: While various guns run out of ammo, you will always have your Fistcannon, so upgrading its damage first may be worthwhile. Similarly, investing in the speed of the drill seems beneficial to me.
Tip: Along that note, it may be beneficial to avoid fighting enemies whenever possible.
Tip: While you can cheaply purchase health, you can opt instead to purchase a health upgrade (e.g., 3 hits to 4 hits) and your health bar will automatically be filled (in addition to the hit point increase).
Tip: When everything is breaking apart, I suspect buildings either fall off in reverse of the order they attached or starting from the furthest attached.
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Good tutorial/Teaches gameplay the way I expect every game to teach gameplay
+ Customize the way you play by choosing what you want to upgrade
+ Occasional humor
+ Minor attention to detail such as recoil and crashing
Neutral:
~ There's a sort of theme song that seems to play and its catchy, but repetitive.
~ As with other rogue-like's death in Cargo Commander is a die and learn experience
Con:
- The rogue-lite experience mainly comes from exploring a new sector. Otherwise, as far as I can tell, replaying a given sector will always be the same. Unfortunately, every sector begins to feel the same.
Recommendation:
While Cargo Commander is essentially a platformer, it actually brings several novel gameplay mechanics to the table and I would start by applauding the game developers for coming up with the Cargo Commander gameplay and the coding required to make it work.
With that being said, I didn't like Cargo Commander nearly as much as FTL: Faster than Light (PC) (2012) or Rogue Legacy (PC) (2013) and the major difference is in variability.
I will, however, recommend this game to anyone who enjoys rogue-likes and anyone who already owns the game.
Steam: 76 minutes (total game time)
Cargo Commander (PC) (2012)
Relevant Links:
Cargo Commander Website
Cargo Commander (Steam Store Page)
Cargo Commander (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
20160213:
I played some of this game for the first time today and was initially skeptical when I read that it was a rogue-like. However, after the first couple minutes of play and after one or two deaths I definitely had a positive opinion of the game.
 |
| Firing the nail gun (and wasting ammo) |
Setup: While I decided to play the game with keyboard and touchpad, the game supports gamepad control and might be more efficient than using a keyboard and mouse.
Tip: While various guns run out of ammo, you will always have your Fistcannon, so upgrading its damage first may be worthwhile. Similarly, investing in the speed of the drill seems beneficial to me.
Tip: Along that note, it may be beneficial to avoid fighting enemies whenever possible.
 |
| Using my ship's magnet to attract abandoned cargo. |
Tip: While you can cheaply purchase health, you can opt instead to purchase a health upgrade (e.g., 3 hits to 4 hits) and your health bar will automatically be filled (in addition to the hit point increase).
Tip: When everything is breaking apart, I suspect buildings either fall off in reverse of the order they attached or starting from the furthest attached.
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Good tutorial/Teaches gameplay the way I expect every game to teach gameplay
 |
| The bar indicates the remaining breath while in a vacuum. |
+ Customize the way you play by choosing what you want to upgrade
+ Occasional humor
+ Minor attention to detail such as recoil and crashing
Neutral:
~ There's a sort of theme song that seems to play and its catchy, but repetitive.
~ As with other rogue-like's death in Cargo Commander is a die and learn experience
 |
| Death comes swiftly to those who trigger bombs. |
Con:
- The rogue-lite experience mainly comes from exploring a new sector. Otherwise, as far as I can tell, replaying a given sector will always be the same. Unfortunately, every sector begins to feel the same.
Recommendation:
While Cargo Commander is essentially a platformer, it actually brings several novel gameplay mechanics to the table and I would start by applauding the game developers for coming up with the Cargo Commander gameplay and the coding required to make it work.
 |
| Occasionally you'll get e-mail. This one explains your job. |
With that being said, I didn't like Cargo Commander nearly as much as FTL: Faster than Light (PC) (2012) or Rogue Legacy (PC) (2013) and the major difference is in variability.
I will, however, recommend this game to anyone who enjoys rogue-likes and anyone who already owns the game.
Steam: 76 minutes (total game time)
Cargo Commander (PC) (2012)
Relevant Links:
Cargo Commander Website
Cargo Commander (Steam Store Page)
Cargo Commander (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
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