Graphics
Gameplay
Story
Sound
Developer
Rusty Axe
Publisher
Rusty Axe
Pros:
• Like buying and selling houses? You get to do a lot of that
• Pretty addictive game progression
• Very realistic simulation. Almost too realistic
Cons:
• Man, that’s a short demo
• If you listen to that soundtrack for more than 10 minutes, you are a more man than me
I have no idea why I like this game. It is everything most people hate about their mundane lives all piled up in one very realistic financial simulator. You get the joy of driving yourself into debt and mounting thousands of dollars in predatory credit card charges on home improvements for a place where you don’t even live while you slave away at a crappy day job. Throw in a shrewish wife who never loved you and a couple of snot-nosed kids whacked out on reefer and goof balls, and you’d have a simulation of all that is wrong with modern middle class suburban society. And in a delicious irony, it’s all wrapped in a casual game designed to help you forget the world and relax. And yet, against all odds, it works.
Lets get the bad stuff out of the way first: the game is on the upper end of indie in terms of graphics and production quality. None of the art is going to blow you away, but honestly it’s not going to piss you off either. The game is not about graphical brilliance, and it doesn’t pretend to be. The city map is functional, if a bit bland – but it is more than attractive enough to get the job done. The characters share a similar blandness, but you really don’t care about them so much anyway. Rusty Axe takes the subject matter relatively seriously, and the overall presentation would not be out of place in a community college class on real estate business.
That being said, it would be a heck of a lot more informative and educational than most of “do it yourself” videos or night classes would be. Its beauty lies in the details, from the interest rates to whether you sell through an agent or through your own newspaper ads. If you are not into details, you are going to hate this game. If you are the kind of guy that loves to tweak the last variable, then this is going to be right up your alley. There are dozens of little ways to squeeze a bit more profit out of each deal, and a good player will find them, and find themselves trading up from the double-wide to a big house in the circle before they know it. It is strangely compelling looking at the houses up n the hill and thinking that you are working your way into one of them – and a decent credit rating.
Is it going to be the smash breakout casual game of the season? Nope. But it was never meant to be. Is it the most compelling casual house trading simulation game out there? Absolutely. And if that sounds cool, then by all means, go play it.
Review by
Nick Kojima
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