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If you are at all a fan of sci-fi, then, like me, you are no doubt anxiously awaiting Luc Besson’s latest, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Well, you still have to wait another couple of weeks, but in the meantime, you can get a taste with Spil Games’ Valerian: City of Alpha on iOS and Google Play.
Valerian: City of Alpha is a fun way to interact with the world of Valerian without spoiling anything, and is a great casual game. This is not an action or fighting game, so if you’re expecting that, you’ll be disappointed. Going it to it knowing that its a city building, resource management, space exploration game will make it much more enjoyable!
Valerian: City of Alpha puts you in charge of meeting and building relationships with alien races, and cohabitating them in Alpha for the best resource production possible. As you explore and increase your reputation with a given race, you unlock more production capabilities as well as facts about them, further expanding the world of Valerian.
You also manage and build a fleet of ships that explore galaxies and complete missions. Those ships are manned by your recruits who come with different special abilities that will help them on their missions. Both ships and crew members can be upgraded by finding schematics and building upgrades (ship parts or equipment) in your factory. Missions themselves are relatively easy, fun, and sometimes even funny. A mission consists of three multiple choice, choose your own adventure type narratives. Each path is given a rating of difficulty and having the right skill can boost your chances of success.
Like most games, there is a throttle to how much you can play by allotting an amount of power to your ships–every mission and exploration costs energy–and running out requires waiting for the recharge. There are also in-app purchases of crystals that can be used for buying better crew members and rare gear for crew and ships.
Overall, this is a fun game that enhances the enjoyment of Valerian. If you have no interest in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, then this game probably won’t do anything for you, but the ability to gather resources and complete missions in just a few seconds, makes it a great game to break out on the go for a quick little gaming fix.
You can also check out the trailer for more details.
Disclosure: I received access to an early version of the game for review purposes. Art and gameplay features are still subject to tweaks and changes.
