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There’s an
unwritten rule that economic simulations are supposed to be boring. But Gadget
Tycoon is probably Monte Cristo’s liveliest title yet, and certainly boasts
the greatest amount of built-in replay value.
You start the game in a building that looks ready to be condemned by any local
Board of Health, assuming an inspector could be convinced to risk contamination
by entering. It’s from these humble, stinky beginnings that your massive
corporation grows. Tickets
Over time, you’ll hire and fire employees representing 11 professions, including lawyer, sales manager, and production supervisor. All employees (you can have a maximum of 17) are rated for morale, efficiency, level of qualification, and salary.
The three products you produce are space-age latrines, jet-propelled rollerblades, and robot domestics. These items have more than 30 customizable components, like toilets with built-in television.
The real fun is the pleasing variety of corporate “dirty tricks” maneuvers. You can hire a spy to steal research, sabotage competitors’ production lines, or peek at an enemy’s marketing data. And if that’s not enough, your accountant can create a slush fund for building a Mafioso office in your backyard. Once hired, your “Don” can intimidate a variety of your competitors’ departments, reducing productivity and morale.
I’m also pleased by the ability to tailor the seven AI types — including my favorite, the sleazy discounter, who’ll try to lowball everyone else out of business. There’s also an eighth AI that will shift strategies to suit its opportunities.
Gadget’s accompanying documentation is good, and the in-game tutorial covers the basics well. Unfortunately, you can’t change the speed of the simulation. More annoyingly, you can’t examine financial data in pause mode.
Those nits aside, I really liked Gadget Tycoon. It provides a genuine challenge to resource-balancing strategists, while offering humor, configurability, and a dose of strong replayability.