Outpost Kaloki X won't win any GOTY awards. But those who spend time with it will find OKX intrinsically satisfying.
Outpost Kaloki X offers different modes of play. Story mode offers two campaigns; Adventure Story and War Story. If players want to just mess around without all the objectives and time limits required in the Story modes then there are several Scenarios offered as well. Some are simply a variety Sandbox's with different themes which players can get a lot of practice in. Doing this will help increase familiarity with the interface, thus improving success in the Story modes. There are also some challenging Scenarios offered as well.
One thing players will quickly discover in the Story modes is every mission is timed. You generally start out with 20 minutes to complete all objectives in a given mission, but as the Story progresses the timer will seem more and more an issue. I've never been a big fan of timed missions unless they were infrequent breaks in the action rather than a standard rule of play.
For one thing the *balance* seems like it could have used some more fine tuning. What I mean is this; it's fine to set objectives and timers but some of the things that need to be completed just to clear the way to complete a particular objective can seem rather tedious and annoying sometimes. Players need to manage the following:
*Money- Every item -whether it be
*Resources -From Lemonade Stands(which help unlock Pawn Shops and then Trading Centers), to Newspapers, Science-related structures, amusement-related structures, etc...
*Power for their stations -Start out with a basic Solar Windmills and work your way up to the much more powerful -and expensive- Fusion Generators.
*Monitor visitors to see what they're saying. They will let you know what you should be putting up to rake in the dough.
As you would expect, and as I alluded to, upgrades are also more expensive. Each expansion type is broken down into categories -each with a specific theme/expansion type. So of course coming up with the kinds of expansions which will attract visitors and get the cash rolling in is key. It's fairly easy to get so caught up in getting the expansions built and the power required installed that the Story-sensitive objectives can get overlooked or become impossible to the time allotted. You simply can't buy power expansions to make new and more powerful generators. Some Power Expansions also require you to build other types of structures first before they become available. It adds to the challenge but can also add to the frustration factor as well.
But like I said earlier, Outpost Kaloki X certainly is worthy of a play. It's not a game everyone will like. If you're looking for more depth in a Micro-Management type game, are turned off by timers and such things then Outpost Kaloki X is not for you. If you just want to kill some time with a decent, fairly amusing/non-serious game then give OKX a try.