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Space Station Tycoon

Rule the universe by destroying hippies and pleasing the voodoo chicken.

Fans of the storied Tycoon series have done it all, building railroads, rollercoasters, and zoos to name just a few. Namco Bandai’s Space Station Tycoon for the Wii aims to refresh the series’ rote resource-allocation and management gameplay with a heavy dose of humor, story, and simplified interface. Much like its predecessor, Outpost Kaloki X, available as a download on Xbox Live, Space Station Tycoon aims to attract a whole new audience in with the charms of interstellar business building in a seductively approachable package.

The game follows the story of a young space loafer named Tam, and his monkey friend Shawn, through an increasingly eccentric series of meetings with alien entrepreneurs. These aliens hire Tam to build and manage various space stations throughout the universe in accordance with their quirky goals of attracting a certain kind of client or holding up under the stresses of some geographic challenges. The game is structured around specific missions in a variety of locations, each with a clear set of instructions and end-level goals. While the games developers at Wahoo Games promise a substantial narrative line through the game, players will still be free to choose from a wide variety of levels rather than being funneled through a linear progression of dictated tasks. Completing levels will reward players with tokens that can then be used to unlock more advanced stages.

So where does killing hippies fit into the equation? Front and center, based on the demo Namco Bandai had on display at E3 this year. In this sample level, serving as a perfect example of the game’s subversive tone, Tam is hired by a large chicken with a penchant for voodoo to rid his space station spa of hippies who, apparently, have taken up residence there. It’s up to players to figure out how to shoo away those hygiene-impaired sandal-wearers while preserving the functional capacity of the spa. The end result is a firey one, with the unwitting hippies lured into the space station and then ruthlessly tossed into a nearby sun to the delight of your chicken employer.

The game is controlled primarily with the Wii Remote, using it to navigate onscreen menus, position pieces around the space stations, and highlight different objects in the environment. Players can also attach the nunchuk and use the analog stick to move the camera around the level, though this can also be done with the Wii Remote alone. The game will feature a number of unique motion controls to interact with objects and add a layer of depth to the stripped down cursor-based controls. Players can crack open wooden crates, for example, by repeatedly shaking the Wii Remote back and forth. In another level, Players will have to defend a space station from a barrage of falling asteroids by pointing at them with the Wii Remote and tossing them back into space before they have a chance to damage the space station.