The Oil Blue: Steam Legacy Edition

Amazing game, if you can make it to paying for repairs it becomes even funner!

TL;DR

Overview

Graphics and Sound

Positives

Negatives

Conclusion

The honest word of Il Pallino... OR ELSE!

It has a tutorial which is kind of rare these days, but the tutorial is a little rough. You have buttons to progress the tutorial, but its not consistent. Sometimes completing and instruction progresses the tut and sometimes you have to find a checkmark button to click. Sometimes its on the lower right and sometimes its somewhere else so right away the game has you going, wha, where, wuduwy do? Then the game starts and they pile on extra stuff way too fast. Plate juggling is what I call it. You have to keep the plates spinning so they stay on the end of the stick. If they slow down, they fall and you lose. That's how it worked on Ed Sullivan show in the sixties. In this game you have to keep all the machines working and they throw them at you right away. An oil pocket is a white square. The drill is white squares. I didn't catch that at first. They could make the drill more drill shaped, but its just a square. The drill needs to be put into position.

I like management games, but I'm not seeing a lot of relaxation in this game. It seems to rely on pandemonium and stress, which is plate spinning as far as I'm concerned. Probably it would be something a younger crowd would like.

The price of the game is fantastic, especially on sale and some of the stuff looks good and is atmospheric. There is a learning curve, but its probably not too bad. I'm not loving it right now, but I may like it more as time goes on. I might also just quit playing it because I just don't like additional tasks constantly being forced on me. Kind of a weak recommended right now.

The Oil Blue is an early Vertigo/Chubigans game. It's a fun management game, and it exhibits the foundations of the emphasis on world atmosphere seen in the later CSD games. The gameplay is good and the aesthetic is genuinely interesting.

It's also a little rough around the edges. Some of the minigames (specifically the repair ones) are a bit wonky, it can't be played fullscreen, and the code got corrupted years ago so the dev can't fix it. Worth it at $5 for CSD mega-fans, worth it on sale for fans of the genre.

This game is pretty fun at first, but gets monotonous fast. The setting is that you are drilling oil underwater. There are four types of machines you use to get oil, and each of them have their own little minigames you play. You will soon be managing three or more at the same time, so this is basically a "Diner Dash" style multitasking game. The problem is that it doesn't change much and you end up doing the same thing over and over again.

Also, it doesn't upload your saves to the cloud. Really? Who doesn't do that these days? I switched computers, lost my saves, and decided not to start back up.

Beeing a fan of simulation and tycoon games and thinking about "oil imperium" when seeing this title, I figured I had to give it a shot. First of all, its nothing like Oil Imperium. This game is "only" about drilling and selling oil, nothing more nothing less.

The Oil Blue seems hard at first, but once you learn that you don't need to always utilize all the machines at the same time, you will reach the goal for each island.

The financial part of The Oil Blue doesn't seem completely balanced to me. Once you make your first 100k cash seems obsolete and you make tons more then you can waste. Some more ways to spend your dollars would be cool (except upgrades and machine repairs).

The mini games to repair the machines are allright, except for one of them where you are to switch lights etc, did not make any sense to me. Luckily I could randomly hit buttons and make it, and later on, pay for repairs.

One last thing, be sure to turn the volume down as you start drilling. The alarm sounds really, REALLY becomes annoying after a few days of drilling :) !

Good game 8/10

TL;DR - Multitask oil machines to generate oil barrels to sell and increase rank and hit objectives. For £3.99, pick it up if it interests you.

Had this game for quite a while now, maybe 6 months or more and the last time I played it I didn't think much of it.

Only because I didn't take the time to learn it.

Now that I have I've come to quite like this game, it's simple yet engaging and any lapse in concentration will make things go out of hand real quick. You have 4 machines, all but one will be given to you randomly depending on rank and a random quantity, also depending on rank. The one I meantion you will 100% have on every island. Each one will have to be repaired at the end of the day, (If you have time) or at the given time at the start of the next day. At the start of each island you will be given objectives to hit, make X amount of barrels within X amount of days. There is no penalty to not hitting them, however if you do hit them, you do get a nice reward.

You start at rank 50 and work your way towards rank 1, how fast you progress will depend on how many and the price of each barrel sold on the market. That's the basic gist of it. However, for me at least, multitasking anymore than 3 machines at a time proves to be a challenge for me. The tutorial also does provide adequate information about how to run each machine and gives you a general grasp on what to do during the game.

I do recommend this game and at the current price of £3.99 I would highly recommend you pick it up if it interests you.

This game is absolutely fantastic. It has so much of a great ambiance, the soundtrack is very very nice and the gameplay is very good. I really advise this game to stressed gamers that wants to release some pressure (lol sorry for the wordplay) since it would keep your mind busy while relaxing on the good soundtrack and the friendly ambiance.

A semi-satirical sim about being a lonely oil-drilling technician working for the worst companies on the planet doing the worst thing to the planet. True story: The creator of this game went on to make Cook, Serve, Delicious!, because the only thing more stressful and soulcrushing than working oil fields is fucking foodservice.

A Paladin’s Steam Review: The Oil Blue. Intensive Drilling Micromanagement That Requires Almost as Much Work as the Real Thing.

• Genre: Micromanagement Multi-tasking Strategy Game.
  
• Developed & Published by: Vertigo Gaming Inc.
  
• Platform: Windows only
  
• Business Model: Single Purchase.
  
[*]Copy Purchased by Myself

Read this review and more on A Paladin Without A Crusade

What can I say about this game?

Let's start with the fact that apparently I'm a masochist for time management games. The creator of Cook Serve Delicious has returned with another game that's torture on the eyes and hands, and yet still so much fun. However, there are a few downsides, and I'll start with those first.

The biggest problem is that the source code was either corrupted or lost, so the game is what it is until the end of time. Acquiring your first island isn't really a problem, but then you can get stuck with four machines that are nigh-impossible to manage all at the same time, and can easily lose your next three or four. The biggest issue I had here was that the number of barrels you need to produce keeps climbing, whether you succeeded or not. It can get disheartening to get on a losing streak, wondering how in the hell you're going to make a hundred more barrels when you couldn't even get close to your previous goal. So there's a bit of an imbalance there, as well as a small amount of luck involved. My only other gripe is that while the tutorials to learn the machines themselves are pretty good, the mini-games to fix them are... less clear.

On the other hand, if you DO luck out on an island, getting equipment you can manage with no problem, you feel like a freaking god. Once you get a handful under your belt, the money comes pouring in, and you don't have to worry about the mini-games at all. You can upgrade your starting equipment (since it resets at every new location), and rake in even MORE cash. Once you get the gameplay down, it can feel kind same-y, but if you let a few days go by before playing again, the magic can totally be recaptured.

This game is an interesting and mostly well-crafted challenge which is only good for a few nights of gameplay. For me, the game wore out its welcome long before the finish. There simply isn't enough variety there to sustain it. You can unlock every type of oil machine relatively early in the game, and there's really no-where to go after that. Every new island is more or less the same as the last. Once you have a good strategy established, there's really no incentive to change. You just keep rapidly clicking the same things every day and watch a number increase until you're done.

You can buy upgrades to your machine, but that just makes them do the same things faster while taking less damage - no additional features or interesting new mechanics become available. The strategic aspect of selling your oil reserves at an opportune market price is also broken imo.. The amount of oil you can store is so small that you're forced to sell it whenever you can. It just becomes another thing to rapidly click on.

I love little indie games like this, but can't recommend this one.

The Oil Blue really surprised me. I didn't know what to expect, and one of the reasons I purchased it was the obvious amount of meticulous work that went into the re-release of this game on Steam and the troubleshooting guide that you'll find on this game's Steam page.

You'll only point and click with your mouse, operating oil-producing machinces, then selling your oil barrels on the market, but somehow the action is incredibly compelling. It's very hard to describe why this game is so atmospheric, but for a few dollars you'll get a great little game.

I highly recommend this game!

The Oil Blue is a time management game developed by the same guy who brought us the oh so glorious Cook, Serve, Delicious. In The Oil Blue you play as one of the many people employed by the United Oil of Oceania company in a world in desperate need of more and more oil. Your job involves you travelling to different islands where oil drilling once took place in order to reclaim the equipment for UOO and use it to complete objectives set for you for that specific island.

Please take a couple of things into consideration when you read my review. Firstly, the original source code for the game was "corrupted years back" meaning the dev cannot update the game beyond what he already has, this means the negatives in my review have very little chance of ever being rectified. Secondly, in case you hadn't guessed, this game is pretty old and therefore it's doesn't have amazing graphics or HD resolutions, if this is a glaring problem for you then it's best not to bother with this review because I quite like how it looks.

+The drilling machine interfaces are well done and are, for the most part, easy to use though a few things here and there are slightly confusing (such as some of the displays aren't clearly marked as to what they are)
+The backgrounds visible behind your drilling machine interfaces are all very nice and there's a good amount of variation when it comes to the appearance of the islands
+The game's tutorials, presented in the form of earning your licenses, are very helpful and give detailed instructions on how to run each machine
+The game has a fairly good upgrade system. When you're using the machines found on any island you gradually earn experience points for each individual machine as they are used, once you have enough experience on a machine it levels up, granting you some form of upgrade to it but these upgrades only last while you're on that island. A few people have said the fact the upgrades are only temporary are stupid, I on the other hand think it's rather clever, considering the fact you take over different machines when you get to the next island. However, there are also permanent upgrades which can be purchased for each type of drilling machine, though you do need to be a certain rank (ranks are for your character and are completely separate to your machines) in order to unlock the ability to purchase upgrades
+As mentioned the game also has a ranking system for your character, new ranks are unlocked by earning a certain amount of money and each rank gives you some form of a boost, such as a higher chance to find a certain type of drilling machine
+The price of oil fluctuates between $100 and $200 constantly in the game which adds a nice bit of risk as judging when the right or wrong time to sell can have a serious impact on your profits
+Although you leave behind an island and all the work you did there when you reclaim a new island for a new objective you do still get money from those islands in the form of royalties
+Though your time on each island is limited to however long you're given for your objective there is no end to the game, you can carry on playing for as long as you like meaning this game has near endless content, though of course there are only so many upgrades for you to get
+The game's sound track and sound effects are good and fit in with the game well

+/-The game has a huge difficulty spike where the first couple of islands are relatively easy but then after that they increase in difficulty incredibly quickly, personally I would have preffered to be eased in to the more difficult levels but others may not feel the same

-The game has a stress system for all but one of the drilling machine types which adds a nice layer of challenge but, when your machines reach a certain stress level they have to be shut down in order for you to repair them (you can also perform repairs before turning the machines on when a new work day starts), the problem I (as a few of the other reviewers have mentioned) is that the repair mini-games you find yourself tasked with often feel far too difficult and in some cases purely rely on chance that you hit the right button combination to successfully complete the mini-game
-Steam achievements can only be unlocked by using a tool provided by the developer which scans your save games in order to find which achievements to unlock. Any achievements you have earned will be unlocked at the same time meaning it can end up looking like you've cheated with your achievements
-Due to the game's age the Steam Overlay doesn't work properly which means you can't use the Steam Messaging system or take screenshots

Verdict:
Worth Purchasing (7.5/10)

The Oil Blue is a great, if not a little chaotic, time management game with a nice look to it, a good upgrade system and lots to do. If you're a fan of other time management games, in particular Cook, Serve, Delicious then you're definitely going to enjoy this one!

No drama, Just Reviews.

El K.

I watched someone play this game before buying it. They said it was relaxing.

This game is nothing short of absolute chaos,

But it's a fun chaos.

The kind of chaos where if your concentration happens to slip at any point, or if you're not in complete control, your entire flow is thrown into jeopardy, and in turn you risk jeopardizing your assigned task, or at the very least making it much more difficult for you to hit your objective. As a result, there will be doubt at the end of each work day. Failure is not an option at any point here.

The kind of chaos where you're constantly second guessing yourself... 'Did I check that already?' 'Can I leave that alone?' 'Should I power that down now? or wait?' 'What about this, should I use this? Or will it be too much?' 'Did I sell those barrels left over from the day before already? Should I do that now or wait until the market's better?'
Until it all stops... And the work day is finally over.

The kind of chaos where you're running around yelling and screaming at bells and whistles while various bells and whistles are yelling and screaming back at you. You can imagine your character scrambling to hit this button, release pressure on this machine, start transferring oil from that machine, fiddle with this other machine.

10/10 Micromanaging is tough



Note: In the video I watched, the guy said it would be very cool to see this game in a touchscreen environment, which I can agree with. I personally think a VR environment would also be really cool, albeit it might be a stretch to implement. Special VR version perhaps?

Played for a bit, made so much oil that the U.S. Army invaded my steam account!
11/10 would have the U.S. army bless my steam account with democarcy again.

Serious review:
At first, I only bought the game to make a funny review, but this game is good and deserves some real insight:

STORY:
The game is about going to abandoned islands with oil extracting equipment on it. Each time you reach an island, you get an objective such as produce and sell x barrels of oil in y days, or make z amount of money from selling oil in y days. After y days, you either fail or succed. In either cases, you move on to a new island, if you succed you get bonus cash per day for the rest of your compaign, or royalties.

GAMEPLAY:
You manage up to 4 different types of machines, at the same time, and each one of them has its own method of operation. you can have 2 and maybe more of the same machine on one island. The machines produce oil depending on how well you manage them, and they are prone to get damaged. If you put too much stress on a machine, you'll be forced to repair it, which leads to a handful of mini-games to make your repairs.
The main goal is to produce and sell oil barrels.

DIFFICULTY:
This game is not for multitaskers. It wants your undevided attention, and some times your soul. It's not hard by any means, but it gets hectic when you have to manage 4 different types of oil producing machines at the same time.

SOUNDTRACK:
The music is fine and you can hear it for hours without problems. However, the alert sounds can be confusing sometimes.


SCORE:
7.9 / 10
Very decent for its pricetag, although some sounds and interface issues should be fixed.

I'm surprised that no one in the review section has mentioned that this game feels like a poorly ported tablet to PC game. Pixelated resolution / crap options menu, no key bindings, unnecessary mouse clicking, '1 hour remaining' message obscuring your way while your trying to play, setting speeds on the machine which reset every day (where the hell is the 'set to max speed' button on here). This either needs patches or mods in order to make it an actual PC game.

If your going to play through this tablet like-game then use the 'Control Panel\Ease of Access\Ease of Access Center\Make the mouse easier' option so that you can use your keyboard instead of giving yourself repetitive strain injury from left clicking. A mouse with turbo click or turbo click program will help ALOT!

Excellent time management game. I normally play this sort of thing while watching TV, but you can't do that with this game! One moment of lost focus and you've broken a machine. The day length is just about perfect - it's about 5 minutes per day. Enough time to screw up or to get into a nice rhythm but not too long. The interfece and the buttons are nice and solid. Very pleasing beeps and clicks when you operate machines.

I just wish the status bar above water was still there when you go below to the machines. I'd like to know how full my storage is and how much time is left during the day.

What is it?

What's good about it?

Anything not to like?

In summary

This is a multitasking game primarily. It is a series of minigames where you have to keep track of the other minigames and few things are automated. It is quite fun and cleverly made and the level up system makes you earn more money while increasing the pace of the multitasking.

Definitely recommend it as a challenging game, given the fair pricetag. But as I said, it's a multitasking game, not a business game nor a strategy game.

All I can really say is, wow! i never thought that i could be sucked into a simple(not simple) indie game so fast. The over-all concept to this game is TIME MANAGEMENT. Though the oil pockets are generated at random, if you manage time spent between rigs, swapping cells, and repairs.. you may very well find yourself achieveing your quota a day ahead of schedule. Good Luck and happy drilling.

At first I wasn't expecting much from this game, it was 4 bucks when I bought it and there were no reviews for it yet. When you first start, the tutorials help you get the basics of the game but thats really where it stops. Sure as you level up it teaches you how to operate the higher level machinery, but actually producing the sheer amounts of oil this game requires you to in order to "claim" the island and get its royalties is much harder. Learning how to balance each machine and still get all of the upgrades and sell your oil before the market closes is a challenge. This game wasn't at all what I was expecting but for the price, it is well worth. Have fun spending hours collecting oil in this unique story that'll have you wishing you had become a petroleum engineer instead of an IT person.