PC Gamer - UK 2020-04)

You’re in control of a small hive that’s
only just about ticking over. There are
few workers buzzing about in search
of nectar, while the queen sits on her
throne twiddling her antennae. To
succeed, you’ll need to
gradually expand your
borders, research new
technology, and
construct workshops
and storerooms for all
those lovely resources.
Your ultimate aim is to
make royal jelly, with
which you can replace
the serving queen when she
eventually dies. But that’s a long way
off yet: a persistent, growing threat
lurking in the periphery.
As someone who finds base
management games daunting, I
appreciate the streamlined,
approachable nature of Hive Time.
There are only a few menus, which
pop up as you click on cells, while the

I

f you’ve ever made small talk with a bee, you’ll know that they
take their work awful seriously. Inquire about their leader,
Jerry Seinfeld, or try to convert them to salted caramel, and
they’ll just sit there, sticking their beaks in your flower bed.
Well, if the bees get wind of Hive Time, I’m not sure how they’ll
react. It’s a moderately involved simulation game that puts you in charge
of a friendly bee hive. But it’s very tongue-in-cheek, and probably not
entirely accurate to the hive experience.

upgrade trees and population sliders

are kept tidy and manageable. More

importantly, your hive is fairly

compact: about the size of a small

fort rather than a sprawling

metropolis.

While you will have

to worry about enemy

attacks later in the

game, you’ll spend

most of your time in

Hive Time futzing

about with population

sliders, trying to make

enough drones to staff

your various bee departments. Oh,

but that research is almost complete.

Crap, but I can’t construct it with

these paltry resources, so I’ll need to

build some new storage rooms, etc,

etc. The early game can feel painfully

slow, but the later game is a stress-

fest. There’s no option to speed

things up, or slow down time, which

feels like an oversight.

BEE PUN NO. 46

I mentioned before that this is a

lighthearted game, and that’s evident

in the artwork, which is blandly

cartoonish but, vitally, extremely

readable. This is not a game with a

vast amount of character, but there is

humour in the descriptive text, and

in the random events that crop up

every so often. While you can safely

ignore most of these cutesy story bits,

you’re occasionally invited to make

mysterious deals that will either help,

or hinder, your hive progression. The

outcome is just some numbers going

up or down, but after all the toil it

can be exciting to roll the die. If only

these deals would come up slightly

more often during the game.

They’re enough to inject a little

flavour into a honey that feels slightly

watered-down, but that should be

more edifying to newcomers as a

result. As for those looking for an

authentic bee simulator – a honey

strategy game – I’m afraid they’ll

havetofinditelsewhere.

NEEDTOKNOW

WHAT IS IT?

A game where you

expand, defend and

manage a beehive

EXPECT TO PAY

Free

DEVELOPER

Cheeseness, Mimness

PUBLISHER

In-house

REVIEWED ON

AMD [email protected],

6GB RAM, GeForce GT

610

MULTIPLAYER

No

LINK

bit.ly/HiveTime

71

A lightweight and

approachable

management game that

would be a good entry

point into the genre.

VERDICT

HONEY TRAP

Build a thriving bee community in buzzing base-builder HIVE TIME

The early game

is painfully

slow, but the

later game is a

stress-fest

COOLTITLESFORNOCASHbyTomSykes

FREE GAMES REVIEW

You can hover over each unit to

see a little bee-ography.

The interface isn’t flashy,

but it’s easy to grok.

Hives are a manageable size,

requiring little camera scrolling.

Other species appear

during special events.

The artwork is cute,

if a little bland.