PixelJunk: Nom Nom Galaxy (PlayStation 4)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): May 12, 2015
- Publisher: Qgames
- Developer: Double Eleven
- Genres: Sandbox
- Also For: Computer, PlayStation Vita
Game Features:
Planets and galaxies are separated into levels, which you enter into to explore the relatively samey areas. The colors and backdrops of all the levels tend to be the same orange and green colors, which get old incredibly quickly.
That being said, the worlds you drop into are relatively sizable. You traverse the landscapes with tools at your disposal to dig, build, and create various workings utilizing the environment.
There are caves full of resources, dangers of landslides and other environmental hazards, and some mean little critters set on protecting their precious resources. All of this sounds relatively close to games like Terraria or Starbound. But it’s the utilization of these resources where Nom Nom Galaxy starts to take its’ departure from the typical sandbox game.
Welcome to Nom Nom Galaxy, where you spend your days traveling the cosmos to provide soup to extraterrestrial inhabitants. All in a day's work, of course.
The actual plot of the game is simple. You are an up and coming employee of Soup Co., the galaxy’s newest soup manufacturer. Your job? Do everything. No, seriously, your boss is making you pull out all stops on these projects.
As you land on planets, your job is to set up and manage factories with a simple, yet expansive factory building tool. Sometimes factories already exist on planets for you to control, other times, you’re free to create your own mechanical mastermind of soup making goodness.
Levels are completed by obtaining 100% of the market share, which basically means driving your rivals out of business, all while providing various tasty soups to the galaxy. Your soup is made and delivered by combining any two ingredients together (or the required ingredients for specific soups) and getting them to the galaxy ASAP via soup rockets, which are constructed at your main base. You also have to pay attention to undesired ingredients, or your market share will tank if you ship off any soups made with those materials.
If you're a smart builder, you can make some very efficient, automated layouts working in your base...
You’ll manage robotic employees, create numerous new recipes of soups by finding various resources and ingredients within the planet you are dropped into, and even fend off rival soup companies that aim to destroy your business with all-out space war and combat. (Man, what in the world does your boss even do while he’s making you do all this?)
Protecting your factory is actually done in a pseudo tower defense method, by giving you the option to graft gun towers, man armed guards, and various other options to keep your rivals at bay. There is a LOT going on at once in Nom Nom galaxy, which makes it a bit difficult to do all on your lonesome.
...well, you could, if you weren't afraid of being attacked.
Thankfully, Nom Nom galaxy incorporates split-screen gameplay, as well as online gameplay, to drag your friends into the workforce and help you conquer the market with soup!
I feel like the game can stand on its’ own, but is a much more enjoyable experience played with friends. The fast pacing the game tries to force on you to stay competitive against rival companies, is handled much better when you have more human employees!
If you have no one to play with though, you can still ease the experience for yourself by hiring/building various robots to automate procedures like moving ingredients throughout the factory.
Nom Nom galaxy also provides an expansive amount of freedom and content for you to enjoy. Making every combo recipe of soup will take you over 100 different combinations.
Outside of the main campaign gameplay, there are other modes for you to enjoy with similar, condensed objectives.
Challenge mode for example, has rotating intervals of 5 levels every 48 hours that offer race levels, score attack levels, and co-op challenges. Every challenge has a leaderboard option as well, so bonus brag points for everyone! Oddly enough, the co-op challenges are couch co-op only though. Very strange considering the game offers online modes nearly everywhere else.
S.O.O.P mode offers up a free play option of levels from the campaign. You won’t have to worry about market share in this mode, so it’s more of a relaxing soup management simulation mode.
Caves, cliffsides, seabeds... you'll have to explore all of these, and more, but it pays off at the end of each level where you can unlock new technologies.
Overall, I think Nom Nom Galaxy kind of looks like a sandbox clone on the outside, but has many levels of depth to it to separate itself from everything else in the genre. There’s so much going on at once that it’s actually kind of difficult to find yourself bored, unless of course, you’re sick of seeing the same visuals and colors like I very quickly did.
The style, comedic atmosphere, and overall charm of the game is enough to keep a smile on your face though. Nom Nom Galaxy is a great indie multiplayer title to play with friends, and at $15, is certainly worth a shot if you enjoy exploration, moderation, and… something else that ends in ation.
Don't give up! You can see your performance at the end of each day, and once you hit 100% market share, you win!
Verdict
- Expansive
- Entertaining multiplayer
- Cheap for what it offers
- Dry single player experience
- Repetitive
