A long time ago, I played the first Cinema Tycoon game. I tend to have a weakness for Tycoon games but this one was fairly boring. Basically, you are given a movie theater and you need to run it. You pick what movies will play, how much tickets cost, the type of advertising you'll use and even what you'll sell at the concession stand. The problem is that once the day started running, there wasn't anything for you to do. So you spent a lot of the time fast-forwarding through the day. Cinema Tycoon 2: Movie Mania isn't much different. You seem to spend a lot of time just picking out what movies to show and restocking the concession stand. The rest of the options don't seem particularly necessary. Definitely a boring game.
Game review: Road to Riches
Wanting to try something a bit different, I downloaded Road to Riches. You play John, a trucker who has been fired from his job. Instead of getting down in the dumps, he decides to open his own delivery company. Unfortunately, this is not a good time management game. It is difficult to figure out which shipments you need to pick up and which ones you should turn down. If you try to pick up all of them, you will frequently go into "overtime" and be penalized. It would be nice if there was a way to color the important deliveries one color and the unimportant ones a separate color. So, while this should be a fun game to play, it is not. It is just frustrating.
Game review: Cooking Dash
Everyone's favorite waitress, Flo, is back for yet another Dash game. This time it's Cooking Dash. At Flo's order, her chef has left the restaurant to further his career, leaving Flo and her grandmother to handle the shop. Grandmother handles making the sandwiches while Flo cooks food and serves the customers. This was a ton easier than the Diner Dash: Seasonal Snack Pack. As a matter of fact, this version is a lot like the original Diner Dash game but with better graphics. However, instead of just handling customers' orders, Flo also has to handle the grill and the fryer. Adding these jobs to her waitress job doesn't make completing her tasks impossible though. It's just another trip around the kitchen. If you like the Diner Dash series, I think you'd really like Cooking Dash as well.
Game review: Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyville
Yard Sale Hidden Treasures: Sunnyville is an interesting hidden object game. Your character recently bought a new house and is in the process of fixing it up. In order to make it beautiful enough to feature on the cover of a magazine, you hit up the local yard sales to find a variety of treasures. While the hidden object parts of the game are pretty standard, the in-between pieces are where the game shines. At times, you will find broken but gorgeous pieces at a yard sale. You put these broken treasures back together in these in-between games. Everything from fixing a broken lamp to painting a chair can be found here. A great way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Game review: The Great Chocolate Chase
About a year ago, I played a game called Chocolatier. While I didn't have fun at first, I quickly grew to enjoy the game. So I tried one of the sequels, The Great Chocolate Chase. Unfortunately, everything that was fun about the game was removed. Instead of flying around the world trying to find new chocolate recipes for your company, you are waiting on customers much like a Diner Dash game. (Though the visuals are more like Cake Mania.) From the first level, the game is way too difficult. It is almost impossible to keep up with the number of customers they throw at you. And since each order takes about three steps to make, it's difficult to make the chocolate the existing customers want while getting menus for new customers. Overall, it's a terrible game that isn't worth the time to try.
Game review: Sunshine Acres
It seems that farming games have become pretty popular lately. Sunshine Acres is one of the new time management games based on raising crops. It is not a difficult game but it does get a little tedious after awhile since it is the same motions over and over. Due to this, it's hard for me to judge how fun the game is. I enjoyed the one hour demo but I can see it getting boring in higher levels. This is one you'll just have to try out for yourself.
Game review: Diner Dash: Seasonal Snack Pack
I've always been a big fan of the Diner Dash series. It pretty much started the whole time management genre and it still managed to stay interesting after all this time. However, the Seasonal Snack Pack version is much too difficult. As a matter of fact, it's so difficult that I stopped playing around the third level. I keep going back to try to beat it but, no matter how hard I try, I just can't do it. The main problem lies in the table organization, which you cannot change. You are given one or two four-seat tables and three or four two-seat tables. A majority of the customers that come in are four-person parties, which means you cannot seat them until one of the few four-seat tables opens up. Then the customers get pissed off having to wait. Since it takes so long to do the "Make the waiting customers happy" thing, there isn't really a way to keep them from walking off. Well, there is, but it's difficult. Either way, the level is still too hard for the game. I can't imagine what the higher levels are like.
Game review: Mystery Chronicles: Murder Among Friends
On a whim last night, I downloaded Mystery Chronicles: Murder Among Friends. I found myself growing tired of time management games. Perhaps a hidden object game was what I needed to get me out of my funk. The game takes place in 1899. While on your way to visit your cousin, you find out that he and his wife have been killed. Police currently believe that she shot him then killed herself but you don't believe that. Not to mention that the children are missing! You decide to do a little searching on your own to try to track down the killer and find the children.
I am so amazed by how much I like this game. Everything in each location has a place in the scene so there isn't anything "odd" like a duck in the kitchen or anything. Some of the objects you need to find are difficult but they aren't so difficult that you find yourself getting frustrated. There are also mini-games that you need to solve to do things like opening safes or reading a ripped up letter. Even these mini-games are fun! I think this was just what I needed to take my mind off crappy time management games.
Game review: Jewelleria
In the Jewelleria time management game, you are the owner of a jewelry store. You need to sell your jewelry in order to advance the family business. The game takes us back to very standard time management game play. Each customer tells you exactly what they want. You pick the pieces from the cases and customize them as necessary. Unfortunately, instead of making the game interesting, it feels stale and boring. This is the exact template for Cake Mania and Ice Cream Dee Lites, just to name two of the many games that play this way. I found myself stopping the game frequently because I found the game dull. Perhaps next time, there will be a little more oomph.
Game review: Forgotten Riddles: The Moonlight Sonatas
Last year, I enjoyedForgotten Riddles: The Mayan Princess. While I want to call Forgotten Riddles: The Moonlight Sonatas a sequel, it doesn't quite fit since there isn't a combining story arc. The basic game play is the same but with a completely different storyline. Like last time, you have to solve riddles in order to find many of the objects. Some of the riddles are very easy and some of them require a bit more thought. Either way, I still find this an ingenious way of spicing up the hidden object genre. I also find myself looking forward to the next incarnation of the game. They've tackled Mayan history and music - what will be next?