Easy Street
Last Updated: 2014
Company: Rikard Swahn
# of Levels: 76 "Weeks"
Price I Paid: N/A
Time Spent Playing: 1 Hour and 30 Minutes
Story Line: Reach your goals in the areas of Happiness, Career and Wealth before your opponent does.
Review:
+ At the beginning of the game it goes through the whole city map and explains what every location is and does.
+ You can choose if you play against the computer or a random opponent (I picked computer), if you want to play on Easy, Medium or Hard. (I picked medium) and where you want to end up for Happiness, Health, Job and Money.
+ You can watch the computer's turn in regular speed or fast forward.
- You can do a lot more "adult" things that I haven't seen in other life simulation/time management games that I've played. You're able to break into your opponents apartment to steal items and bribe the cops if/when you're caught, drink beer, harvest and sell weed (see picture 4) and spend you're relaxing time searching porn (see picture 5). I'm in my twenties so I don't care about these aspects but I don't think younger children should be playing with them.
- Unlike other life simulation games, when it comes to food you normally just have to eat one of something. Here you have to eat enough to make your burger (at the bottom of the screen) completely colored. You can do this by eating multiple cheaper and smaller meals or just by eating a burger.
- There isn't a lot of things to do in this game, especially when you're halfway through. You pretty much just spent time going to work, eating, going to school and working out.
- Just like in real life there is inflation, although this game is constant inflation with the starting price for items being no where near the price for them by the time you finish the game.
- I don't like the fact that when you are in the Job Office trying to get new jobs that it uses up your clock time. So if you don't get to the office with a lot of time left, you might only be able to apply for one job instead of multiple.
- The loading screen (see picture 6) that came up when the turns came back around to player 1 was a nightmare and the only way I could get it to anything was to click out of the game and click back into it.
- When you are trying to get a new job and it rejects you, it's very generic and doesn't specify how you can go about getting the job. For example if you are applying for the accountant position and you don't have the qualifications it will say "Sorry. You are not qualified" instead of saying "Sorry. You need to complete an Accounting Course at the location University before you will be qualified for this position."
- By the end of the game, it took almost twenty minutes of constant "week" after "week" working at my job until I was qualified enough for the final job that won me the game. Because it wouldn't explain WHY I wasn't qualified for the higher up job in the first place. I finished all the school course and bought a business outfit trying to get the job when all I needed to do was work at my current job for a long time until it deemed me qualified.
Overall:
Strictly comparing this game to other life simulation games, it comes out in the middle. I like that it explains every location on the map, lets your choose your game options and gives you the ability to watch your opponents round in fast forward. However, the adult touches were unexpected and slightly inappropriate for a younger audience. I also found the food situation more difficult then needed, the loading screen was so frustrating, and the fact that it doesn't explain why you are reject for jobs all took away from the overall game. A few simple game changes and this game would have scored a lot higher. If you're new to the life simulation games, I'd recommend starting with a better one like LifeQuest but if you're a fan, then this game is worth a try. Just don't set your expectations too high.
B-
Game Play Tips:
- Happiness only matters in your end game and is not affected in day to day life, meaning you can work all day long and it doesn't affect your time for the next day.
- Don't waste time going around from location to location. Plan out where you need to go each day and just make one stop at each location per day. Don't go to school, then go to work, then go back to school. Just finish up at school and then move on to work otherwise you're just wasting time that could be spent earning money or doing something.
- Job wages and availability fluctuate so check back often.
- An easy way to avoid upgrading and paying so you're game has no ads, turn your phone to airplane mode and problem solved.
- Make sure you take time every day to work towards all four of your goals. (Spend time at the gym for health points, go to school to get a good job and earn more money and spend time relaxing at home or buying items for happiness points). Once one of the goals is complete, stop working on it and use your time toward the other three until they are all accomplished.
**Check back every Tuesday for another game review and feel free to tweet me @popculturedlife with any Time Management games (that I can get from the iTunes App Store) that you would like to see in a future review!**
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