Space has always been a mystery and, as human nature, this pushes scientists, astronauts and cosmologists to try to reveal all the secrets it hides. Since the middle of the last century with the moon landing, we have now reached the race for Mars, with ambitious projects in search of answers to another of the most enigmatic planets in the cosmos, or at least the known and closest ones. proximity, accessible with the current resources of the space agency. Its immensity and all the secrets it hides have inspired works of all kinds, becoming, both in the literary and cinematic fields, one of the most recognized and appreciated genres by the public.
Certainly, video games set in space cannot be missing, and the works of science fiction are countless, with high-budget productions such as the eternal development of Star Citizen or the upcoming Xbox exclusive, Starfield. There is a chasm between these two exponents and in the middle there are many games that have conquered a solid community such as Elite Dangerous, Everspace and many others. However, not everyone, fortunately, puts us in control of a spaceship with the aim of exploring and fighting in the immensity of the cosmos.
There are many variations on the theme. tin review Today we are talking about a survival game that landed on Steam last year and is now also available on consoles. This is the Tin Can Studio production in which we will literally have to survive inside a can, or rather, an escape capsule with a thousand problems.
Houston, we have a problem
Tin Can puts us in the shoes of a cleaner who is forced to survive in space after an emergency launch from the space station he was working on, performing tasks while waiting to be retrieved and rescued. Before this fateful event we will be able to familiarize ourselves with the functions of the game thanks to a brief tutorial, which, although it explains the mechanics in very broad terms, is rather brief and simplified to the point that it does not adequately provide us with all the information necessary to survive. in "campaign" missions.
This lack of knowledge left us quite confused once we began the rescue scenarios, the five situations we were involved in resisting inside the escape pod. Although there are only five, The scenario is identical for all missions and the objective is the same: survive. What differentiates them is the duration, which ranges from 6 minutes to 30, and the problems and damage that the ship will suffer in this period of time.
As mentioned, the Tutorials It only gives us basic knowledge about oxygen, carbon dioxide and how to keep systems online thanks to the use of batteries if the primary electrical source fails, and small spoiler, it will always happen. In addition, there is also rather superfluous information on how to manage damage from the main computer, a very valuable help if it were not for the fact that it is never present during survival scenarios.
Try again you will have better luck.
This lack of information makes Tin Can a try and failure more than in a simulator, although not too rigid, of survival in space. If you are not passionate about the subject or do not have even a basic knowledge of the systems on board a spacecraft, the 6 or 30 minute mission will be carried out in an attempt to understand what is causing the alarm to sound wildly. To help us, there is a manual of about 30 pages with a list of errors for the different components that will appear on the monitors, and some of the possible causes that generate them.
Our task will therefore be reparación damaged electrical components or create new ones, replace oxygen and carbon dioxide cylinders, and plug any holes in the capsule caused by external debris. Said like that, it could also be quite simple but the problems we had to face within our can were incessant and not so easy and immediate to solve.
The further we go with the scenarios, the bigger and more contemporary the problems will be, especially the electrical systems failures that left us in the dark without oxygen and internal temperature control along with the gravity calibration failures. He sense of challenge In Tin Can there is no shortage, but completing the most complex scenarios without proper training can lead to slight but decided frustration as you have to repeat everything from the beginning in search of the right combination of systems to survive. It is the objective of the game, obviously, but since these are not procedurally generated missions, by dint of making mistakes and dying alone in space, little by little the solution is found and we can breathe a sigh of relief when the time comes. countdown ends.
survival challenge
Once you run out of quests, Tin Can offers a sort of asynchronous multiplayer, where you can compete online with other players thanks to the Challenges and the Ranking, a ranking of the best times recorded in each situation. Unlike the Rescue campaign, which has a fixed duration, in these scenarios you have the opportunity to get involved and prove that even an ordinary cleaner can become a top-level rocket engineer simply by following the instructions in the manual. To this we add one Sandbox mode where you can experiment and have fun with total freedom, a notable and certainly pleasant addition.
Tin Can Studios' job offer is quite limited and if only the campaign missions did not present the same events, the duration of the game would be much longer, keeping us glued to the screen for many more hours. Therefore, the time to complete Rescue activities is variable; It's all in our hands and our cunning and speed, but even those less familiar with changing batteries will be able to conclude the experience in approximately 4-5 hours, multiplayer excluded obviously.
All in all, trying to survive in the depths of space was fun, except for some situations such as lack of gravity or thunderstorms, events that tested our patience. That said, the game is solid on the technical side also in its port to consoles, where our test on Xbox Series
Conclusions
Tested version Xbox Series X digital delivery Xbox store Holygamerz.com 6.5 Readers (4) 6.5 your voteTin Can is undoubtedly an interesting idea, but unfortunately it must be recognized that the offer is still very limited and is not free of bugs with sporadic failures that can compromise the mission, either by not manifesting events of any kind or with problems that seem impossible to solve. . The multiplayer component is not enough to complete the title, which thanks to greater support on the single-player side would surely have been more intriguing even in the eyes of those less accustomed to space adventures.
PRO
- Simple but challenging mechanics.
- Good level of challenge of the scenarios.
AGAINST
- More missions or random events would have made it more complete
- Some situations can be frustrating
