Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

Have you ever said "Oh please, that game sucks. I can make a better game then that." You might say that and feel confident about it, but can you REALLY make a better game than the developers out there?

Enter the world of Game Dev Story, a business simulator where you run your own game company. Once you start the game, you get to name your company. When your company starts out, it's not very big and you make mostly mediocre to bad indie PC games. However, as you start making capital, you can hire more employees, or upgrade the ones you already have. If they have more skill, then they can make better games.

You don't actually make the game, your employees do. When you start making a game, you pick a console to develop for. The consoles cost a different amount to develop for and it costs money to get licenses. They also can get discontinued so you must worry about that. First get an employee to write it's scenario. You wanna pick the employee that has skill in writing, or you can hire an outside source for an extra cost. Then you get them to create the graphics, and then the sound. After the game is complete, the game will be debugged, however it is possible to release a game before it's debugged, but I don't recommend it.

After the game is shipped, the game will be reviewed by critics. Then, you can track how the game is selling. Sales are affected by critic scores and your fanbase.

As you play, you will have to keep attention to your money, and your fans. If you run out of money when making a game, you may have to cancel the project. Your fans are also important because they affect your sales. You need to put lots of variety into games you make so people won't tire of them.

Now the whole development phase is very addicting, but it's the humor and over the top references that make this game a blast. There are plenty of references to companies like Intendro(Nintendo)Senga(Sega), Sonny(Sony), and more. The console parodies actually reflect the time it was based, like how the Virtual Kid(Virtual Boy) sold poorly. If you aren't a gamer, then the humor will be lost.

The game is really addicting. You won't think it at first, but the game will definently suck you in with it's addictive gameplay, keeping you to keep improving your company and making games.

THE VERDICT!

Game Dev Story is a really addicting game. I played this game for over 5 hours straight when I first got it. Unfortunatly, there is a slight learning curve. However, the concept of the game and the humor made it really fun to play, and you should definintly buy it now.

Final Score
9- Superb