Casual Gamer Column – 60 Seconds!

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f Bethesda’s latest effort somehow doesn’t fulfil your desire for the post-apocaylpse, or you prefer to experience your nuclear war on a budget, then 60 Seconds, the two-part story of one family’s attempt to survive the end of the world, could be for you.

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60 seconds’ two parts differ pretty wildly. In the first half, thanks to the USA’s drastically inefficient early warning system, you get 60 seconds to gather up as much equipment, rations and family members as possible before leaping to safety in your underground bunker. In the game’s longer, second part, you use your rations and equipment to survive. the day plays out day-by-day, and you have control over rations, determining who’s next to go out scavenging in the wasteland, and reacting to random events. Your end goal is to last long enough to be rescued, but surviving that long is tricky to say the least.

Abandoning a family member or two to their fiery death not only means fewer mouths to feed, but also means more supplies for you.

There are, of course, handy shortcuts to help you get through this harrowing ordeal. the most important is to not be afraid to abandon your loved ones. At the beginning of the game, when you’re running around collecting food and clean water for the coming months underground, your family aren’t particularly keen to help you, but are happy to let you weigh yourself down carrying them to the bunker, at the expense of other supplies. Not only that, but they then expect you to waste your rations on them, which you have to do, because if they die, it tends to send you a bit mad, which isn’t exactly helpful when you’re trapped underground. Abandoning a family member or two to their fiery death not only means fewer mouths to feed, but also means more supplies for you.

It’s quirky sense of humour, coupled with decent replay value (plenty of random events and several alternate endings) and plenty to discover, even in the game’s limited scope, means it’s definitely worth checking out.

60 Seconds isn’t the most in-depth option available if you fancy dabbling in the post-apocalypse, but it offers a refreshingly casual alternative to the enormous worlds the Fallout franchise has encouraged us to expect. It’s quirky sense of humour, coupled with decent replay value (plenty of random events and several alternate endings) and plenty to discover, even in the game’s limited scope, means it’s definitely worth checking out.

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