Game Review: Create-A-Mall

I recently reviewed the unimpressive Create-A-Mall:

Unfortunately, Create-a-Mall took mindless consumerism and crossed it with repetitive, challengeless gameplay. You play as Kelly, a corporate drone tasked with leasing stores to create a mall.

Time and resource management games all have some similarities. No matter what the game theme is, players will need to manage resources and time to complete goals. But Create-a-Mall felt like a clone of the repetitive playstyle and unrewarding rewards of Build-A-Lot 2, reskinned as a mall instead of a neighborhood.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Create-a-Mall.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Game Review: Build-A-Lot 2

Most – should I say all? – casual, time-management games have a system of unlocking new features. In Buildalot, the pacing was off so that the game was unchallenging and the newly unlocked scenarios were repetitive. Build 2 Rambler houses. Well done! Now you can learn the Colonial blueprint! Now build 3 Colonial houses! Well done! Now you can learn the Tudor blueprint! Now build 4 Tudor houses! You get the picture.

I really enjoy building and decorating Sim houses, so I was quite disappointed to find out that improved houses look just like regular houses, only with a star icon. The houses in disrepair, rather than sporting a broken window or some peeling paint, has a wrench on top. Build-A-Lot 2 missed these chances to give the game some style.

To build a new house, the player must have the  required money, resources, workers and building plans, but all of these things are purchased with cash, so it became kind of a spend-and-wait game. I don’t think waiting to have money in order to buy things is really a game, especially if the things you’re able to buy are little stars over cookie cutter houses.

A lot of games have starter cashflow problems, so I waited a bit to see if things improved once I got a working system. I did get a steady income stream without a lot of stress, but then I found that what I could purchase or unlock was not that different from what I already had. I wanted special level-ups, like the option to hire a super-fast construction team or buy paint colors for my houses, but instead, I moved on to learning the McMansion blueprints. Now build 5 McMansions!

And there was just something so sketchy about the town mayor encouraging you to flip those houses for a tidy profit!

Overall, I found this game to be repetitive and annoying, without even the benefit of nice graphics or endearing NPCs. I played on for the sake of games journalism long past the point where I would have shut it down and picked up a book.

Popularity: 14% [?]