Bonfire night is behind us now, which hopefully means we get fewer fireworks going off every hour of the day! I saw some spectacular displays on the 5th, but we’ve been getting fireworks here every day since September. They do get annoying after a while. Enough about this bitter man’s complaining however, we’re back on the games. It’s another indie double bill where I feature two games I was meaning to get to sooner. Seriously, the amount of work right now is making me wish I could take up drinking.
Nah, it isn’t that bad. Let’s crack on with the first game!
The Boss Gangsters : Nightlife
I was planning on covering this sooner, but I had run into some really nasty crashes to the desktop during some playtime, so I unfortunately wasn’t able to play as much as I would have liked. This is a pretty original concept as games go however, and once the launch teething troubles are fixed I see this becoming a bit of a sleeper hit.
What I find so interesting about Boss Gangsters is the stark contrast of its game modes, combining a robust management of a nightclub and roaming a world like a topdown GTA game. Players assume the role of a crime boss who runs a high-end club while simultaneously maintaining a criminal empire. It is a strange mix of styles, but I’m also surprised it has not come up much before in games. The closest I can think of is Yakuza.
The mechanics are fairly solid overall. Within the club, you hire staff, entertain VIP guests, manage supplies, plan themed nights, and design the venue to attract affluent clientele. Beyond the glamorous nightlife, you expand your gang’s influence by dealing with rival factions, engaging in black market trading, bribing officials, and fighting for territorial control.
One of the game’s standout features is how the different gameplay modes play into each other, and that they feed each other’s gameplay loop. You can transition from managing your club to conducting criminal missions without any loading screens. As your reputation grows, you unlock new areas, better staff, advanced club features, and more lucrative criminal operations. Set in an urban landscape known as Night City (Hello Cyberpunk city name!)The environment looks great, although the cyberpunk cliches are through the roof. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, although I’m hoping for some more creative
Currently available in Early Access, the game offers only a portion of the planned content, with the developers already making some good inroads in the challenge. There is plenty to like like the management as well as the engaging criminal gameplay. The game desperately needs a manual save function however, and I ran into a few bugs where I had to restart a mission from the beginning because something broke and I had no way to backup my save.
To conclude, The Boss Gangsters: Nightlife is surprisingly engaging so far, and the blend of management, role-playing, and sandbox gameplay has tons of potential despite some early teething troubles.
Moros Protocol
The second game I’m featuring today is Moros Protocol, one of those many first person shooters that look as retro as possible to attract the nostalgia crowd. I’m one of those who likes a good Doom-like experience now and then, although I am still preferring the tactical shooters. I ended up buying Arc Raiders over the weekend and having a blast, although it is still early days. I thought I would get into Moros Protocol more than I ended up doing, but it is still a nice option for those who like these games.
Moros Protocol’s big draw for me is that retro scifi aesthetic, and the game looks fantastic. I usually don’t like this new trend boomer shooters delve into, but it suits this one. It’s one of the nicer looking retro shooters, on par with Prodeus, Selaco and Fallen Aces with the modern lighting systems combined with the old textures. It looks great overall, and it blends well with a solid combat system. Weapons feel great, and the enemies are both diverse and aggressive. This is a hard game, but all the augmentations and roguelike upgrades through death helps sell the gameplay. It feels solid to play at least in its fundamentals, although it took me a while to get into it. I kept getting killed very early on, so it took me time for enough upgrades to make a difference.
I have gripes, and my main one is the level variety. I found that the constant reuse of enemies and rooms made the runs a little repetitive, although I love how the rooms look overall. They are well designed, but I feel the placement of items and foes could use more randomization to improve replayability. It was this that made me less interested in playing more, although I definitely had some troubles with bugs like falling through platforms and some doors not opening when they should.
I feel Moros Protocol should have had more time in the cooker before launching out of Early Access back in September, but the devs put out a roadmap last week, so we should still see some more updates for now. It may be flawed but the fun combat and gorgeous visuals do make it worth trying out.
