12 Labours of Hercules

12 Labours of Hercules is the best Time Management game I've ever played. The extremely tight tuning, flexibility of play and excellent presentation makes the game incredibly fun and rewarding, especially for those who aim for perfection.

As with other titles in the genre, you're tasked with completing a set of goals in order to proceed to the next level. While the goals vary, the general concept is the same; collect resources and construct buildings to beat the timer. Efficiently managing your workers is at the heart of the gameplay, although it's by no means necessary if you want to play more casually, but doing so adds strategic depth to what is in essence a very simple game. Ultimately, the more effort you put into challenging yourself, the more reward you'll get out of it.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=458157857
There are multiple ways to complete each level, but to earn gold, especially on Expert, not only are your multi-tasking skills put to the test but strategic planning as well. Figuring out which routes need to be cleared first, the order buildings are to be constructed (and whether to level them fully or at all), and which of the multiple power-ups are most beneficial to reaching your goal is what makes the game so fulfilling. You can tear your hair out spending dozens of tries on a single level, but when you make that one small change that brings your +5 second run to a -5, the feeling of accomplishment is like nothing else.

A handful of mini-boss levels breaks up the standard gameplay with Hercules fighting off mythical beasts and smashing through barriers on his quest to save Megara. These are enjoyable little interludes that add variety and humor to an already fun game.

Presentation is great as well. I generally don't expect much graphically from these games, but the artwork is cute and the animations fun. Musically, the soundtrack is a joy featuring plenty of classically inspired themes that are quite impressive for a casual title. Topping it off is full Steam integration with achievements, cards, cloud saves, and even leader boards, something ALL casual games benefit from on the platform.

It's not often that I walk away from a game with not a single complaint, but 12 Labours of Hercules has managed that feat. My only worry is that I will now hold all future Time Management games to the excellent standard of this gem, and that's a high precedent to reach. But excellence always comes at a price. Unless you absolutely abhor the genre, there's no excuse not owning this gem, especially considering the very generous sales it often receives.

Bottom Line: A must have gem that belongs in every gamer's library.

Curated by: Chudah's Corner

Casual and rewarding time-management game

With this, the first installment in the 12 Labours of Hercules series, Zoom Out Games hit bull's eye upon release in March 2015. The mere fact that only half a year later the fourth game in the series has already been greenlit, speaks tons about the game's success.

12 Labours of Hercules is being advertised as a casual strategy game, but in reality it's a time-management game with very limited strategical options or choices. The story, although rooted in Greek mythology, is shallow and serves merely as a framework for the 40-odd levels. These levels are almost all based upon the same principle: control your workers (and now and then a very lazy Hercules or some other mythological figure) in order to clear the path towards the objective. In order to do so, you'll need three resources: food, materials & gold. These can be found or collected in several different ways, such as constructing and upgrading appropriate buildings.

Since each level is timed, it's quite important to take a look at the map before rushing off, noticing the places where buildings can be put or gold can be found. Playing on "casual" difficulty let me progress through the game without much of a hassle, collecting "gold score" on almost every level at the first try (and I am a complete noob at this type of game). But the higher difficulty setting was an entirely different story: all of sudden every second counted, and one wrong action early on in a level could ruin it. An extra difficulty level in between these two extremes would have been nice, but that's a very minor criticism.

During the course of a level, the player can activate one or more "powers" which boost some aspect of the gathering & building process. This provides a neat extra layer of gameplay, something the game needed more and more while progressing since the levels are nearly all built upon the same principle. Happily, the levels are never too long: most of them last somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, which makes the game perfectly suited to be consumed as a gaming snack.

12 Labours of Hercules comes with full Steam integration such as trading cards, leaderboards and a varied bunch of achievements. These are not very difficult but still entertaining, and the game can be completed to 100% really easily or without any tiresome grinding.

Highly recommended to everyone with an even remote interest in time-management games. Or to all of you looking for a quick but very tasteful snack.

This game is a good definition for casual games. Although it is a time management one, yet you never feel stressed in any way while playing it. 12 Labours of Hercules story based on Greek Mythology, it starts with our hero Hercules, chilling in his temple while listening to the beautiful melody of his wife's music, but he wasn't the only one there as Hades showed up and abducted Megara. Our hero started his journey to save his wife while he is, of course, chilling on his hammock while his servants do all the hard work.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1475058153

Just like any time management game, you do have a time limit to finish some tasks and gather resources in order to remove obstacles and build a couple of resources buildings which provide food, woods. You also have to think strategically because in one of the levels I got stuck since I didn't clear the path to the mine before removing the other stuff, this made it impossible to progress and I had to restart the level.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1475379720

Music is really good as well as the artwork in all 40 levels. The gameplay may be too repetitive to some people, but the challenge in each level is different. I liked those short voiced cutscenes between the episodes.

Pros:
+Very nice artwork.
+Relaxing music.
+Fun gameplay (Can be repetitive to some people)
+40 Different levels.
+Voiced cutscenes.
+Family friendly.
+Addicting gameplay. (This is one of those games which you forget about but once you play you can't stop playing)
+Steam achievements.

Cons:
-No replay value.
-Few mini-games.

The game is amusing, a fun one to play with young children or if you want to play something relaxing after a long day at work. I do recommend it to people who enjoy this genre.

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎'𝑠 𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒