The Oil Blue is an indie action sim set in the near future where you explore the world's oceans in search of oil, landing on abandoned refinery islands and reclaiming them under the watchful eyes of a major energy company. Once you land on an island, you have a set amount of days and oil production targets to hit during your stay. Fire up those old drilling machines and start making oil underwater, watch the oil barrel market and sell at the highest price, repair machines and do it all within the time you’re given…or your employer, the United Oil of Oceania corp., will boot you off the island for a better crew. Sell more barrels to achieve higher ranks and perks, upgrade your machines, and conquer the ocean! See why About.com calls it "...a rich and rewarding experience that’s really unlike any game out there." and JayisGames.com says, "The Oil Blue looks great, plays great, and will suck you in for hours at a time."
A unique simulation of running an oil rig operation.
Pros:
A very unique game type.
You learn about something most of us have never done.
Various scenerios keep the game fresh.
Runs very well on Mid-range PC.
Cons:
Tutorial is a little to fast and doesn't hold your hand long enough
to understand everything.
Game starts out pretty difficult.
Not enough descriptive information to know how well your doing.
The clock is annoying. Game time is way to short espcially when you
are first learning the ropes.
Some ofthe machines have very complex sequences and no help once tutorial is done. So if you forget how to run a machine your not going to win.
Game takes several tries / failures before you can even produce decent output.
Notes:
I like the premise and the graphics of the game. I would like to see this game mature more. Maybe add a more comprehensive tutorial and go lighter on the diffuculty when you first start playing.
More explanation into how to effectivily plan your day so you can output decent oil supply.
Get rid of the clock and use a "turn-based" way of limiting player use per day. Clock does nothing but cause player to get paniced when they cant figure something out.
The Oil Blue is one of the best indie games I've played in far too long.
It mixes both great visuals with amazing and addicting gameplay.
I've spent a handful of hours on this game already, enjoying the great eye candy and audio the game has to offer.
The gameplay is sublime as well, though it can get... 'boring' and tedious a few hours in.
I could see this game appealing to tablet users; it's set up perfectly for the 'tap' style of gaming. But with a mouse, it tends to be difficult seeing at what speed you need to switch between the various machines at your disposal.
The music is great and calming, enough to settle the player down during gameplay and not irritate them too much. The background effects are great as well, especially the effects added to the machines during their start up (I've always been fond of machine noises for some incomprehensible reason).
The visuals are amazing too, being very crisp and sharp for an isolated indie game like this one. I love the added detail to each island; how you can see each machine it has on it including workers walking around on them and proceeding with their daily duties (mostly welding, as it seems).
All in all, this is a great pass-time, or 'hardcore' and fast-paced strategy game for any of you in need of a good game.
The Oil Blue is Very busy multi-tasking game
A Good atmosphere & Sounds.
But going to be a neurosis by chime...
Operation of the oil equipment is really well done as is the game interface. The biggest downfall of this game is the repair mini games. These take a huge detraction from the main game and at times ruins the gameplay. The main gameplay is operating the machines in a well thought out realistic way, yet the repair games are completely disassociated. If they were either removed or replace with something that was fitting, such as testing a circuit, replacing parts, anything remotely connected with repairing the machines, it would be far better.
this is a great game i loved it and i hope it goes on steam
For the daytrader that has everything
There is a genre for games like this, though I'm not sure what to call it. Juggling perhaps? It's a game where you have to operate a bunch of different machines simultaneously. The player is like a rope in a game of tug of war, constantly being pulled in opposite directions, in this case by blinking lights and sirens instead of kids and their overenthusiastic parents.
The learning curve is a bit fast, but I suppose if you fail your first objective (collect 15 barrels of oil in 3 days), you can always try it again, having learned from your failures. After a few rounds, it starts to make sense, and it's actually quite a fun game!
Whether or not you have any interest in drilling for oil, I recommend giving this game a try.
Retro poetic atmosphere for a post-capitalist game.
Great visual design, typography is admirable.
All of the mini-games are nice ideas and well implemented, although difficulty's a tad unbalanced. At first the juggling act between all the drilling machines and repair work feels like having your hands too full, until you find out you just have to prioritize those you prefer.
There's something magical about this one.
Surprisingly entertaining.
Weird game. I feel compelled to keep on playing, yet I don't enjoy it.
Personal Score: ★★✩✩✩