Review - The Fifth Gate!

I like when a game has a really unique set of mechanics, which is why I bought and played The Fifth Gate. Although, I have to admit, as unique as these mechanics are, this wasn't the first game to employ them. In fact, this game ripped off an older game: Magic Farm, which I reviewed a while ago. Because of the similarities between the two games, I think this review will be more of a comparison than a standard review. I'll attempt to identify the positives and negatives of The Fifth Gate's approach to this style of flower husbandry.

What I liked Lovely scenery Addictive gameplay Potion making Interesting plants What I didn't like No experience system Weak story Forced advancement

Quick Plot

Plant and harvest flowers to create potions to give to a witch lady who is forcing you to work for her. Oh, and you play young Jane Seymour (not really, but doesn't that girl look like her?).

Mechanics

Time Management: This game is a fast-clicking time crunch. I'll summarize it like this:

1. Start the day.
2. Harvest flowers as they bloom.
3. Water the plants as they become thirsty.
4. Attack pests as they come to eat your plants.
5. Do all of this as quickly and completely as you can before the day ends.

In between levels, you may:

1. Take on new quests from the witch lady.
2. Use your harvested flowers to make potions.
3. Sell potions for gold.
4. Use gold to buy
• upgrades for your fountain, watering can, flower basket
• new plants, or
• magic potions (power items that give you a boost when the pressure is on).

A standard level. Water and gold in the lower right. Timer and flower basket in the upper left. Fountain in the lower left.

Of course, as the game progresses through the 5 gardens, the difficulty will increase. More numerous and difficult pests will arrive, and you'll find yourself planting, harvesting, and watering more plants at a more rapid-fire pace. The game will certainly keep you on your toes. Well, maybe not your toes, but it will make you sit up in your chair. Okay, maybe not, but it will at least make your shoulders tense up.

Comparisons to Magic Farm

In Magic Farm...	In The Fifth Gate...
You have a pet who helps you.	You don't have a helper.
You gain experience points to improve.	There is no experience system.
You receive quests from various characters.	You only receive quests from the witch lady.
You can complete quests on your own schedule.	You have to complete quests according to the witch lady's schedule.
There is no "expert" goal for quests.	You can complete each quest quickly to achieve an "expert" goal for that quest.
The mood and music are chipper and bright.	The mood and music are more somber and new-agey.
The English is very awkward and poorly written.	The English is fine.
You almost never get to keep your earnings from one garden to the next.	You never get to keep your earnings from one garden to the next.
Late in the game, you can no longer return to some of the earlier gardens.	You can always go back and repeat any quest for any garden.
The story is fleshed out, with ups and downs.	The story is relatively vapid and minimalistic.
You use your flowers to make bouquets.	You use your flowers to make potions.
You are limited to choosing from 4 available bouquets at a time.	You are limited to choosing from 10 available potions at a time.
You get good graphics.	You get better, shinier graphics.
You earn trophies by accomplishing various feats.	You earn trophies by accomplishing various feats.

The level map. The mirrors at the bottom represent the levels for the garden you're on.

Highlights

Addictive: This game is hard to stop playing. It'll be late at night and you'll be saying, "Just one more level." even though you've already said that 13 times. I wonder if the addiction factor is related to the short levels? Or the reasonable goals you are always working for? Just a couple more of a certain flower and you'll be able to finish that sweet potion you've been working on. Just two more levels and you'll move onto the next garden. A little more gold and you'll be able to upgrade your flower basket. And on it goes.

Potion making: I don't know why this is so fun, but it is. You decide which flowers go into which potion. But even if you don't have every flower you need, that's okay. You can use up as many as you have, and the potion will fill up part way. This means you don't have to keep lots of flowers in your basket, taking up valuable space. In between levels, you can use up most of your flowers on partial potions. Once you finish a potion, it'll go on your sale shelf and you can earn gold for it. The potions look cool, and have weird or silly magical names like "Sneezing Potion."

The potion-making room.

Plant types: There was some cool plants in this game. You could buy a watering plant that gives you extra water every time it blooms. One great plant was this crystal that, when you click it, all of the pests are immediately drawn in and frozen in ice, so they're easy to destroy all at once. There's a butterfly plant that allows you to increase the maturity level of one of your plants (although, you still can't use this unless the next level for that plant has been unlocked....). There are also some great magic potions you can buy to help you work. One of these is a destroy-all-pests potion. One is a water-all-plants potion. The other is a harvest-all-plants potion. All of these are extremely helpful. You can only have 2 at a time. They each have something like 6 uses. And you have to pay for the slots to store them in your garden. But they're worth it, once you can afford them. And they are essential late in the game.

The trophy room.

Issues

Big bug: My wife ran into a technical bug on her game. During the last garden in the game, the game started taking all of her gold away, making it impossible to water her flowers or do anything else. Big Fish had no fix for the issue. Other people have reported the same issue. If this happens to you, contact Big Fish support to see if they have a fix yet. If not, they might compensate you in some other way. Story: The story in this game is nearly absent. And even what little story exists is boring and silly. Forced progress: In Magic Farm, you could take your time and pursue various quests at your own pace. If you wanted to build up your farm for a while, you could. And you could receive quests from multiple people at a time. In this game, you receive quests from one lady, and you are really forced to keep moving. It's just not as fulfilling. No experience system: In Magic Farm, you earned experience for everything you did on the farm, and you could advance both your skills, and the skills of your dragon familiar. This growth factor was good incentive to play well. It offered improvement. In this game, there is no experience system. They simplified the mechanics of Magic Farm without offering many beneficial additions (except maybe graphics).

Suitable for the family?

My wife liked the game until it glitched. The children gladly stood by, calling out when I needed to attack a particular pest. They like anything with little creatures, and this game is no exception. There's a witch in the game, but she is supposed to look deceptively attractive, I think. So there's nothing scary in the game. There are no voice-overs or scary sounds either.

The family man's final ruling

I have a hard time settling on a rating for this game, honestly. I found plenty of nitpicks, but the game really was engaging and kept me busy for a long time. The same mechanics that were fun in Magic Farm are fun in this game. And I did like the graphical presentation even more in this game. I also liked the way potion-making worked more than I liked how bouquets worked in Magic Farm. So while part of me wants to give the game 3 stars because it isn't quite as good as Magic Farm, I also want to give it 4 stars because it was a fun game. But it didn't have all of the qualities of a 4-star game, so I think I have to go with 3 stars. This means the game is average in terms of fun. There are great things about it, but also flaws. I recommend the game, but I recommend many other games more.

You'll like the game if... You liked Magic Farm You like fast-clicking time management You like gardening games You like games that you can play in short bursts You won't like the game if... You get stressed out by tracking lots of things on the screen simultaneously You don't like time pressure

My rating:

Review - Royal Envoy!

Where have all the great games gone? A lot of my favorite games are older ones (which means 1 or 2 years old in the casual games world) because the commitment to quality seemed to be generally higher back then. And yet, every so often, a developer will surprise me. Today, I review a new game that surprised me in a number of ways - a game that puts you in the role of the king's Royal Envoy!

What I liked Superb graphics Unique spin on the genre Good music Satisfying game length High degree of polish Perfect amount of challenge Stays interesting Subtle humor What I didn't like Character art

Quick Plot

Help to restore safe homes to the realm of Islandshire before the rainy season hits again!

Mechanics

Strategy: There aren't many casual games that immediately strike me as "strategy games." It wasn't long before I discovered Royal Envoy to be just that. Many building games offer some degree of strategy, but not like this game does. In your typical building game, such as the Build-a-Lot series or the Be Rich series, your goal is to finish the level within the allotted time. If you don't succeed, you have to play the level over. If you finish the level very quickly, you get an Expert rank. But in these games, the Expert goal is something extra to reach for, if you prefer the challenge. In Royal Envoy, all of the fun is tied into getting the equivalent of the Expert goal. It feels very similar to the Farm Frenzy games. In those games, half of the fun is in trying to figure out the particular sequence of actions that will earn you the Gold medal. That is exactly how Royal Envoy plays out. The developers have given a challenging, but reasonable, timer to each level. When this timer runs out, it just disappears and you can keep playing. But if you finish the level before the timer is out, you get the gold seal.

Pirate Island, with gold seals on all levels, as indicated by the stars.

So what's the point of achieving the gold standard? There are three benefits:

1. The gold seal earns you lots of bonus points, which can earn you a higher rank, which earns you trophies.
2. To unlock expert mode, you must complete all levels with a gold seal.
3. Achieving gold is very satisfying, mentally. It's a sign of good strategy.

It's very obvious that the designers intended it to be this way. I don't even know if you can lose a level. I suppose you could get stuck without enough resources to continue, and be forced to restart a level. Strategic tips are offered between levels. These tips give helpful advice for achieving the gold seal. I think you'll find that a dominant portion of the fun is found in

1. starting a level,
2. looking over the level's goals, and
3. devising a strategy for gold-seal success.

The timer doesn't begin until you give a command to a worker or tax collector (I'll explain these guys in a minute). So you can look over the level and its requirements with no time pressure. This allows you to study the level in advance, and to map out your plan of execution. Building: Once you have your strategy for a level, you begin building. This is similar to many other buildings games, in the tradition of Build-a-Lot. There are a number of slots on the screen where buildings or decorations can be constructed. Your objective is to meet the level's prescribed goals by

• building (or tearing down) the appropriate buildings
• in the best order
• as quickly as possible.

You have two kinds of hirelings to serve you:

• workers, and
• tax collectors.

Workers do all the manual labor of building, chopping, digging, producing and demolition. Tax collectors are the little fellows who run to money-producing buildings to collect income. They also carry out negotiations with pirates and merchants. Workers and tax collectors live in the castle. The castle is the central building where all money and materials are dropped off after being collected. You can also hire extra workers and tax collectors in the castle. This costs money. Money and materials (wood) are the two resources you'll be working with. You collect both resources in a number of ways, and they are both used for multiple purposes.

How a level looks. At the top you can see money, materials, workers, tax collectors, and happiness.

Now, let me explain all of the buildings and their functions. You have 3 types of things you can build, and they don't have names (just images) so I'll classify them as houses, decorations, and resource buildings. The 5 types of houses, from smallest to largest are:

• Cabin (makes the least money)
• Cottage
• Chalet
• Villa
• Mansion (makes the most money)

The 4 types of resource buildings are:

• Sawmill: You pay money to receive materials.
• Workshop: You pay materials to receive 10x more materials).
• Market: You sell materials to receive money.
• Bank: Accrues money every time you collect taxes. Money can be withdrawn.

There are 5 types of decorations. They add happiness to adjacent houses. The more expensive the decoration, the more materials you must spend to build it, and the more happiness it adds. (Incidentally, the most expensive decoration, the Statue, is a statue of the Playrix dragon. Playrix is the game's developer.) Every so often you can gain resources by other means, such as digging up buried treasure or chopping up brambles.

Every type of building. Top row: houses. Bottom row: resource buildings and castle.

Time Management: This is worth mentioning because the game is really a time challenge, if you play it as I've described earlier. You're trying to achieve goals as quickly and efficiently as possible. Still, for those of you who like the building aspect, but don't like racing against a clock, you can ignore the clock and go at your own pace. You just won't achieve the gold seal on each level, which is okay.

Highlights

Eye candy: How refreshing to play a game that bathes you in highly-polished graphics. The developers overlooked nothing in the graphics department. With the exception of the cut scenes, I was completely pleased with the game's visuals. Each level is vividly colored, with animated scenery and highly detailed objects. I sat and admired the map of Islandshire for the pure fun of it. A series of pretty little islands is situated on a large expanse of sea. The rolling waves are gloriously colored, and each island has special animations that play when you mouse-over or click on it (once you've finished the island). You can see whales jump out of the water while the best music track of the game plays. The map spans beyond the edge of the screen, and when you scroll to the side, a navigator's wheel spins. It's wonderful. This is the sort of thing that really draws me in and begs me to keep playing the game. I thank Playrix for putting this kind of effort into the visual aesthetics.

The map of Islandshire. I wish I could live there.

Music: You know I'm almost always disappointed with the soundtracks for casual games. With a few qualifiers, I'll tell you that I did like the music in this game. Let me explain. There are 4 kinds of game soundtracks:

1. Those that are so bad that you just turn the music off in the settings.
2. Those that aren't great, but get the job done, so you leave the music on.
3. Those that really help the game and sound good when playing, but don't hold up when listened to outside of the game.
4. Those that are so good that you'd gladly listen to the music on your iPod.

Royal Envoy has a #3 kind of soundtrack. I really liked it in the game, but isolated on its own, it doesn't hold up. Also worth mentioning is that the music style surprised me. The game has a medieval sort of theme, with castles, men in livery, and wooden ships. And yet the soundtrack sounds like it would be more at home in a Build-a-lot game. I was expecting something more like the Be a King 2 soundtrack. But nope! You can expect a happy, modern style. And yet it works. After I got used to it, I happily hummed along while playing. Game length: One thing that really makes any game disappointing is too short of a length. I'm glad to say that Royal Envoy has the perfect length. You'll feel like you got your money's worth by the time you're done. The game has 60-something levels, all satisfying. If you complete the trophy room, you unlock Expert mode and have a chance to replay all the levels with even more challenging time limits. Humor: The game is cartoony, cute, and funny in its delivery. In between levels and when you complete islands, you'll view dialogue between characters. I laughed out loud when one character said: "What a skinflint! The owner of the balloon refuses to let us have it for free." That quote left me snickering for days.

An example of character art in a cut scene.

Issues

Cut scenes: Each time you finish an island, you view another plot-advancing animated cut scene. Personally, I thought the art style in these scenes was unattractive. All of the character art (with the exception of the girl) seemed strange to me. The animation was kind of awkward, too. Although, I will say that the voice work was good. They obviously hired experienced voice actors. Other than that, I can't think of any other gripes.

Suitable for the family?

Everything in here is cute, so you don't need to worry about any offensive or disturbing content. I was surprised to find that my kids actually liked watching a building game such as this. What they really liked were the little workers and tax collectors running around, and the beer-gut pirates. My little people gladly stood watching. They even helped me keep track of things I needed to keep an eye on!

The family man's final ruling

This was one of the best games I've played in a while. So much effort went into making it a polished product. The game is worth more than you're likely to pay for it, I think. The levels are all unique, always offering a strategic challenge. The graphics and music support the gameplay with a high-quality delivery. The game kept me interested right up until the end. Virtually every time you mouse over something in the game - buildings, people, trophies, islands - you'll get some interesting animated response. When you get to a level with a cave, try moving your mouse in front of the cave and see what happens! This is as good as casual games get. It's right up there with games like Luxor: Quest for the Afterlife and Ancient Quest of Saqqarah in terms of production quality. If you like building games at all, don't pass this up. The emphasis on strategy and resource/worker management gives it a completely different feel from other games in the genre. I would gladly play a sequel! By the way, I'm going to be writing up a strategy guide for some of the most difficult levels in the game, detailing a method for achieving a gold seal on each level. So keep an eye out for that. You may find it to be helpful if you get stuck on tricky level!

The best way to fill out the trophy room is by achieving gold seals on levels!

You'll like the game if... You like building games You like time management games You like strategy games You like colorful, cartoony games You won't like the game if... You don't like having to do a bit of strategizing You don't like economic/building games

My rating:

Review: Burger Shop 2

If you've been following the recent casual game releases like I have, you're probably feeling let down. It is obvious that the standards for new games have been lowered. I have tried several of them, looking for something to review for you, and I just can't find anything good enough to play all the way through. Fortunately, today I (finally) have something worth reviewing for you - a tasty little time management game from 2009: Burger Shop 2!

What I liked Simple interface and controls Variety of features First-person perspective What I didn't like Not enough bonuses/upgrades Music

Quick Plot

You wake up in a dumpster. Someone has screwed up your life and burger business, and you're going to track down the dirty fiend while rebuilding your burger empire!

Mechanics

Time Management: This game is a very simple, straightforward, multitasking, time management game. Here's how it works:

1. Food and drink components come out of the BurgerTron machine on a conveyor belt.
2. Customers come in asking for menu items.
3. You pick up components off the conveyor belt and piece together the customers' orders.

Personally, I think the developers (GoBit) got off pretty easy here. They just had a clever programmer who came up with an algorithm for increasing difficulty (by means of more demanding customers, and an always increasing number of menu items). Then, they just throw 120 levels at you with 3 extra modes of play and their job is done. Genius. The game's mechanics are simple, but it keeps you playing. (Don't get me wrong, these developers are brilliant. I certainly couldn't code something like this. But I can see the game design for what it is.)

The interface. This is a standard breakfast level.

Your goal in the game is just to keep your customers happy by serving them quickly. As they wait, their patience meter goes down. If you serve all customers with 5-star happiness, you get a "Perfect" rating for that level. If you do pretty well, but don't satisfy every customer, you get "Expert." If you make too many customers ticked off, you get "Level Up," which just means you can go onto the next level, but with no honor. There are two reasons to push for Expert and Perfect.

1. That is what makes the game fun and challenging.
2. That is how you earn a number of trophies in the Hall of Fame (just your standard trophy room, as in other games - but this game has way more trophies than most games).

I was determined to get Perfect on every level, like I did with the Farm Frenzy games. But the last two restaurants were so stinkin' difficult, that I finally abandoned my Perfection Project in the name of finishing the game and getting it reviewed. But I did manage Perfect on every level before the final two restaurants, so that was cool. Also, you can replay any level, if you want to try for a better rating.

The stats screen after finishing a level.

Highlights

Interface and controls: Everything in the game is controlled with the mouse, as with most casual games. What's cool is how intuitive the controls are. Want to pick up 2 or 3 parts of the same food item? Just click them in succession and they automatically join up. Then, to deliver the food, you click it on the intended customer, or right-click, and the food will automatically deliver to the person who got there first. Need to get a waffle in the toaster quickly? Again, right-click the waffle, and in it goes. It is very easy to keep track of what's going on. You never have more than 3 customers at once. Breakfast always has the same types of foods, as do lunch and dinner.

One of 15 pages of trophies. You certainly won't run out of things to work for!

Variety of features: The game gives you lots of variety within the simple framework. For example, you'll get the following:

• 20 types of customers with different levels of patience, and different food preferences
• 120 levels
• 4 modes of play:
• Story (this is the standard one)
• Challenge
• Expert
• Relax
• Multiple bonuses you can add to your restaurant, including
• Freeze (temporarily freezes all patience meters)
• Speed (makes all food machines, such as ice cream machines, produce instantly instead of slowly)
• Traffic cone (puts a traffic cone at one customer seat, so only 2 customers can order at a time)
• Lollipop (adds more lollipops to your tray - these help to raise patience meters)
• Money (gives you extra money when you deliver the attached item), and
• BurgerBot (he quickly fills customer orders for you)

The Ninja. This guy orders stuff from breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus at every meal. Check out how I captured the screenshot right as one ninja was appearing from out of nowhere. w00t!

Perspective: This is a small thing, but it can make a difference. Many time management games show your character running around throwing things into ovens or serving tables. I find that I actually like games where I don't see my character, but rather, I see everything from a first-person perspective. I like this perspective in the Farm Frenzy games as well.

Issues

Not enough extras: I already said that this game is brilliantly simple. The downside of this is that the developers can only go so far before the basic mechanic becomes repetitive. They mitigate this repetitiveness by increasing the challenge. That works well for a long time. But, by the end of the game, I was glad to be done. Those last couple of restaurants were so mentally and mouse-handingly exhausting that I just wanted to be done with them. They weren't quite as fun as the easier levels. And if the fun level diminishes, what's the point?

The level map, showing your road to all 8 restaurants.

What I think they should have done was to introduce more bonuses or upgrades. Why stop with BurgerBot 2? Why not 5 levels of BurgerBot sweetness? Or longer-lasting bonuses? Anything to help ease the pain of those later levels would be welcome. This would have really helped the game I think. The developers piled on the complications, but didn't match it with numerous upgrades. It's not a big problem, but it would have helped. Music: The music was fair. It got the job done, but the few short tracks were repetitive and nothing special. I am continually dissatisfied with the way developers skimp on music to save money. I think music is among the top few features that keep me playing a game, or bring me back for a second play in the future. I can say that the Burger Shop 2 music is something I'd gladly forget.

The Clown. Probably my favorite customer because he orders completely random and odd dishes.

Suitable for the family?

There is nothing here to offend. The visuals are cartoony and everything about the game is diner-ish and bright. My kids liked sitting with me and telling me what they thought I needed to do. My wife likes the game, too. Count this as one for the whole family.

The family man's final ruling

This is one of the best time management games I've played. I was almost done with the game when my computer ran into issues and I had to reinstall the OS, and somehow didn't transfer my save games for Burger Shop 2. I had to start at the beginning, and still had fun going all the way through the game again. It's a light game loaded with strange humor at every turn. I think the Challenge, Expert, and Relax modes really aren't valuable offerings from the developer. I think these modes were easy to program and so they threw them in so that it would look like you're getting a lot of bang for your buck, but really it's just more of the same, and not really fun to spend a lot of time on, in my opinion. But just playing through Story mode is a great quick-mousing experience. If you're a time management fan, make sure to get this one.

One of the more colorful customers in the game.

You'll like the game if... You're a time management fan You like restaurant-themed games You like light, simple games You won't like the game if... You don't like fast-paced games You get frustrated trying to keep track of multiple orders at once

My rating:

Review - Youda Farmer

Youda Games, an uncommon casual game developer, never fails to put something unique and original on the market. Today, I review a Youda game from early 2009 - the aptly named pick-up-and-deliver game, Youda Farmer!

What I liked Gorgeous graphics and animations Original time-management concept What I didn't like Limited clicking speed Lack of variety

Quick Plot

Develop your farm by picking up goods from various production buildings on your farm, then delivering the goods to town, and doing it quickly.

Mechanics

Time Management: This is a time management game. You're not working against a clock, but against orders that are pouring in from all over your farmland. After an order comes in, it slowly falls off the screen. Once it disappears, you've failed to complete that order. This happens both in the pick up stage, and in the deliver stage.

Your happy little delivery truck, which looks even cooler when upgraded.

Pick-Up and Deliver: The first part of each level has you driving your truck madly around the farm, picking up available goods as they are produced, fulfilling a quota of orders. Here's how this plays out:

1. An order appears at the bottom of the screen (eggs, for example).
2. You click on the order, which takes the screen the appropriate building (chicken coop, in our example).
3. You grab the goods (a batch of eggs, in our example) and drag it to an empty shipping box.
4. The truck picks up the goods the next time it swings by.
5. A checkmark appears on the order, signifying that it has been picked up.
6. You click the order before it disappears from the screen.

You'll end up with an entire row of mixed orders along the bottom of the screen, which is what provides a challenge. It becomes more complicated as the game goes on. The second part of each level has you delivering the goods to various shops in town. Shopkeepers will request the goods required for their business. When you deliver the goods, the shopkeepers make their products - typically, tasty-looking food dishes. These have no in-game effect. They just look cool.

This cute, mustached man is ready to serve up some hot meals using the goods you deliver!

Highlights

Graphics and Animations: The strange thing about Youda is that their games are never awesome. They seem to come up with unique concepts, and execute them with beautiful eye candy, but then they come up a short in terms of gameplay. This was true, for me, of both Youda Marina and Youda Sushi Chef. Youda Farmer doesn't seem to suffer from this oversight quite as much as the other games, which is why it's my favorite Youda game to date. As with the other games, the graphics and animations are excellent. The truck rumbles around the farm while the windmill spins and crops grow. Every order shows an amusing animation when you finish it. The characters are cute and cartoony, and the buildings in town are shiny and very pleasing to the eye with their colorful tile roofs. These high-quality graphics are what drew me into the game and kept me playing. Original Concept: I don't think I've ever seen a pick-up-and-deliver casual game quite like this. This game offered the challenge that time management fans enjoy, but with a fresh mechanic. And I really liked the farm theme. After you deliver enough goods, the townsfolk award you with trophies. Part of the fun is watching these trophies slowly piece together, so I won't spoil for you what they are. I also don't want to reveal what goods you'll be picking up in the game, but there ends up being a good variety by the end.

New and upgraded portions of the farm show up in color on your map in between levels.

Issues

Limited Clicking Speed: This bothered me a few times. Here I was, trying to rapidly click these orders off with my mousing finger, and the game wasn't even equipped to respond to my click rate. It's always weird when games cap the acceptable clicking rate. In a time management game, you don't want restraints like this. You don't want to click rapidly through 9 orders only to discover that 1 or 2 of them didn't register, and you have to re-click them. Lack of Variety: Some time management games really build in the features. You'll get mini games, or have interesting goals or trophies to work for. But in Youda Farmer, you do the same thing through the whole game. Pick up, deliver. Pick up, deliver. After a bunch of levels, the game is done. To be fair, I'll mention that you can buy upgrades in between levels. This makes your buildings produce goods faster, and offers other cool new elements to your farm. You can also change the color and capacity of your truck. You also get a bonus round every time you complete a trophy. This bonus round just sends you on a mad dash around the farm to pick up as many loose goods as you can manage. Fortunately for me, I liked the basic mechanic of the game, so I had fun until the end. But if you're looking for numerous features, you've come to the wrong place.

I love how the village buildings look. Incredibly detailed.

Suitable for the family?

Sure. The innocent farm theme is pleasant and can be enjoyed by anyone. My son liked watching the animations with me when orders were completed. In particular, we liked watching liquid goods slosh out of the glass. He also helped me to spot items on the bonus speed rounds. Still, unless your kids really like watching a truck drive around, they might not get into the game very much. My wife tried the game and wasn't all that eager to keep playing. It's just not her preferred flavor of time management (her favorite is Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love).

The family man's final ruling

I have very little to say other than, this game is simple and fun. It's my favorite of the Youda Games that I've tried. The music fits, but doesn't offer anything special. I think most people will find the eye candy to be pleasing, if not stunning, for the casual games market. The game isn't all that long, but the length felt just right. But I have to wonder, when will the developer create Youda Man?

The windmill at the flour field. The blades are animated in the actual game.

You'll like the game if... You like fast-clicking time management games You like farm-themed games You won't like the game if... You want lots of variety You don't like picking up and delivering goods You get stressed out by time pressure

My rating:

Hunks galore! - a review of Coconut Queen

You might have played the Build-a-lot or Be Rich series. But what if the levels were much larger, and you could put buildings anywhere you wanted to? Throw in a cartoony style, lots of subtle humor, an interesting story, and a tropical setting, and you've got Coconut Queen!

What I liked Humor Hawaiian flavor Cartoony graphics Building and economic mechanics Lots of levels Decision-making freedom What I didn't like I found one game-stopping bug

Quick Plot

Make Lui-Lui Island a successful money-making tourist attraction with the help of some muscly hunks.

Mechanics

Time Management: Each level has a timer bar. Once the bar fills up, your time is out. Your task is to accomplish all of your listed goals before the timer runs out. As opposed to other similar games, there is no "Expert" goal to work for on these levels. And, you know, I actually didn't miss this feature. The time limits seem just right. Some are more challenging than others, and if you fail, you'll probably have an idea of what to do differently next time. Building: This game is about construction and money-making. You'll build 3 types of buildings:

• rental
• commercial, and
• outdoor goods.

Rental buildings house tourists and make money, commercial buildings just make money, and outdoor goods make rental buildings more attractive. Many buildings can be upgraded to be more valuable and more productive.

Constructing a temple next to a hotel. The dock makes both buildings more attractive.

Highlights

Theme: The tropical island theme permeates every part of the game, from the interface to the music to the dialogue. There's a distinct Hawaiian flavor that makes me want to go to the Tiki Room at Disneyland. In fact, that's exactly what the trophy room in this game is called - the Tiki Room. Features: By "features," I mean the little things that keep the game interesting. This includes

• 5 locations with 10 levels each, and 1 location with 5 levels
• 14 tikis to work for
• Lots of upgrades and unlockable items
• A good variety of buildings
• Interesting plot
• Clever and humorous dialogue
• Unlockable free play mode for every area (no time limit, no goals)

The Tiki Room, with 2 tikis left to earn

Humor: This is one of the best parts of the game. The voice work and graphics help to give the humor a wonderfully entertaining presentation. The main thing that cracked me up were the hunks, and more specifically, the head hunk - Kane. (Strangely enough, they don't pronounce it "KAH-nay" as with the Hawaiian deity's name. Instead, they just say, "CANE" like the thing you walk with.) As you play, you receive your instructions and feedback from Kane. He's the one keeping a strategic overview of what's going on, while your job is to successfully accomplish the construction, buying and selling, hiring workers, clearing forests, and making the place attractive to tourists. Kane never fails to say things in the most amusing way. The game is jam-packed with subtle humor. The same applies to the workers that you send running around to do your bidding. Every time you assign a task to a worker (a hunk, that is, a muscly dude wearing nothing but a red cloth around his waist), he'll respond with some comment like

• "More work! That's what I'm talking about." or
• "I need no rest." or
• "See these muscles? I made them myself."

The delivery of the lines is great. Whoever they got to voice this did a great job. Kane and the other hunks are pretty much clones of Kronk from Disney's The Emperor's New Groove. They look like him, and they speak in a similar manner. During the game, you'll have to deal with yuppies, surfers, and monkey infestations. Story: This game has a story. Every so often, you're given a cut-scene to show you how things are developing. And the story is actually interesting, and funny. Let me warn you though: you're left with a cliffhanger ending, which suggests that a sequel is coming. I'll talk more about this in the Issues section below. Cartoony Style: I mentioned before that the hunks look like Kronk. Well, the rest of the game has a cartoon style that also reminds me of The Emperor's New Groove. Fans of the movie should appreciate the art style here.

Liz and Kane

Issues

Progress-Stopping Bug: I figured out how to break the game, unintentionally of course. You see, at the Yippi Kai Yeh Temple, you are allowed to clear the forest in the first level. But in the rest of the levels, the game doesn't allow you to use that tool anymore. This is the only time in the game where this happens. The reason is plot-related. So, on the first level, I cleared out some trees and built a cabana down by the water. Then, when Kane told me to plant new forest after that, I closed in my cabana with trees, not realizing that hunks can't access a building that is closed off in this way. But, by this time, my ability to tear down trees was disabled, so I was stuck. I could never get to that cabana to salvage it, sell it, or shoo the monkeys away from it. Therefore, I couldn't accomplish the assigned goals, and therefore, I couldn't proceed with the game. There is no fix for this. I had to start the game from the beginning. And Yippi Kai Yeh Temple was the 5th of 6 areas to complete. I was almost done with the game. Needless to say, the second time through the game, I cleared every single spot of trees off the map on the first level of Yippi Kai Yeh Temple. I recommend you do the same. You'll need the space. Story Ending Confusion: As it turns out, there are only 4 required areas for finishing up the storyline for this game. So, once you play Kaba Lui Park, don't expect more from the story, like I did. Having viewed the final story sequence, I went on from Kaba Lui Park to unlock the two optional areas: Yippi Kai Yeh Temple and Blue Moon Lagoon. I didn't realize these were "optional" levels, so there I was, eagerly plugging away, waiting to find out what happened with the rest of the story. I finished the final level of Blue Moon Lagoon and waited for the big closing scene...which never came. No, friends, we have to wait for the sequel to find out what happens. So, just remember, Kaba Lui Park is the last level of the game that matters for the story.

What a level looks like after some development. Upper left corner: Kane, your advisor Lower left corner: You, Liz, the Coconut Queen

Suitable for the family?

My wife hasn't played it, so I don't know if she'll like the game. She's not much into building games. My kids liked the game because of the cartoony cuteness. And they liked hearing the hunks saying their numerous funny lines. We would snicker together as the hunks bounded across the screen from one building to another. The kids also liked pointing out crabs and butterflies for me to catch in my net, hearing the monkey sounds, and watching the hunks beat up sharks.

The family man's final ruling

Of all the building/real estate games I've tried, this is my favorite so far. The humor, the story, and the polished delivery made it a very enjoyable experience, even two times through! Build-a-lot or Be Rich fans are might really enjoy the freedom you have in this game. You can build anywhere you want, and the levels are much larger than a single screen. This open-endedness allowed greater creativity in arranging your buildings. And because the story drew me in, I'm all ready to play the sequel now. What's going to happen?!

You'll like the game if... You like real estate and building games You like a tropical resort theme You like subtle humor You want more freedom than other building games give you You won't like the game if... You don't like having to race the clock (time management) You don't like having to constantly track buildings, workers, and earnings

My rating:

The Movie's About to Start! - a review of Megaplex Madness: Now Playing

Want a straightforward time management game with intuitive gameplay? Megaplex Madness: Now Playing might be just the game for you. Hopefully I can help you decide in today's review!

What I liked Intuitive drag-and-drop gameplay Adequate game length What I didn't like Repetition Lack of features Mediocre production quality

Quick Plot

Provide good customer service, and make enough money to restore all the broken-down movie theaters in Movieville.

Mechanics

Time Management: Every level consists of the few minutes before the movie starts. During those few minutes, you need to serve as many people as you can. Each customer comes in with a good attitude (5 hearts), but their attitudes grow sour if you take too long to serve them (they lose hearts). You make more money from customers with lots of hearts. Arcade Games: During the game, you can buy arcade machines for your theaters. You can visit the arcade in between levels to play the games you've unlocked. These games are old-school arcade games with new names. You can play these to make extra money.

Highlights

There are very few highlights to mention for this game. The game is very simple. But there is one feature worth mentioning. Drag-and-Drop: In many time management games, you click-click-click to make things happen. In this game, you actually click the customer you want to move -- this picks them up -- and drag them to their requested stations (popcorn stand, ticket booth, bathroom, etc.). The developers even built in physics. The limbs of the little people will flail if you move them quickly, as if they're really being picked up and thrown around. It's pretty cute. This is the first time management game that I've played that used this sort of person movement, so it's worth mentioning.

Other than that, the game is very basic in its mechanics, which should be comforting to those of you who don't like complicated games. Each level consists of the following:

1. Look at the balloon above each customer's head. This tells you what the customer wants to do.
2. Drag the customer to their desired station.
3. Continue this until each customer has gone into the movie.

You will have

• 4 colors of characters: Blue, Red, Green, and Purple.
• 3 customer types: Patient, Normal, Impatient
• 3 degrees of success: Target, Expert, and Master.

You must earn the Target amount of money to move onto the next level. Earning the Expert amount of money does nothing significant. Earning the Master amount of money allows you to make a repair on the theater. These repairs, as far as I can tell, are visual only. They don't affect the gameplay. In between levels, you spend your money to buy useful upgrades, such as new workers, new concession stands, or new services. The more upgrades, the better your service. Each of the 5 theaters seem to get a bit more challenging than the previous one. There are 10 levels per theater.

One thing I was thankful to discover was that, even if you fail a level, you get to keep the money you earned. This allows you to buy additional theater upgrades before you try the level again.

Issues

Lack of Features: The only added feature of the game is the optional arcade games. But there are problems with these games.

1. It takes way too long to earn good money from them.
2. They are difficult old-school games (like Frogger, Galaga, and Breakout).
3. They don't have keyboard controls.

So, I spent very little time in the arcade. It just wasn't fun. Many time management games include a trophy room with various long-term goals to shoot for, or new upgrades and unlockables as you play and improve. You won't get any of that in this game. You'll just be doing the same thing over and over for each level. This will either be just right for you, or boring, depending on what types of games you like. In the Farm Frenzy series, it is fun to keep playing the level, trying for the Gold medal (the highest challenge level). In this game, there was nothing very fun about trying for the Master level, so I usually just moved on, regardless of how successfully I finished the level. Also, I would have liked more variety in the way customers look. But no. Each person is one of 7 or 8 models. It's a city of clones!

Suitable for the family?

Sure. The kids watched me play some of the time, but there is nothing inherently interesting for the weefolk. Also, the adult female customers all have bare midriffs. Why? As usual, the answer is simple: male developers. Would every female in town really wear stomach-revealing shirts?

The family man's final ruling

I've played various types of time management games, and I found Megaplex Madness: Now Playing to be unlike anything else I've played. The drag-and-drop method of moving people around was fairly unique, but nothing else really stood out. Is it worth playing? Sure. It was more fun than some other time management games I've tried. It was fun enough to keep playing to the end. Still, nothing about the game really shined. The music, graphics, and story are nothing special. This was just your everyday amusing casual game that anyone could pick up and play. I almost gave it a full 3 stars, but there are too many other high quality games pushing my rating lower. That said, if you can find the game for a good price, don't miss it.

You'll like the game if... You like simple games with few mechanics You like time management games You won't like the game if... You like complex games You like time management games with multiple features or layers of depth You like games with high production values like good music and graphics

My rating: