KairoSoft Sims (iphone): Crack addiciton in 1's and 0's.

During this dry spell when I have nothing coming out I went browsing around my Iphone to look for something new to do to fill the gap. That friend who suggested to me to try Infinity Blade earlier in the life of my Iphone contract introduced me to a Simulation game called Game Dev Story. I hate him to this day for that. I don’t know what it is about simulation games, by all definitions they should be boring as hell, but the second I get started with one I become physically unable to put them down. They become my sole focus in my existence. Maybe it’s the classic sprite animated charm or the simple midi sound track or the goofy parodies on the names in these games, but I don’t know why I keep falling for it.

KairoSoft Simulations: (Iphone/Android)

      

So out of curiosity I downloaded the game. The premise is fairly simple, you start a game development company and your objective is to make as much money as you can. The more you make, the more you can expand, hire new employees, purchase licenses to develop for consoles, and eventually create your own console.  The whole game is very menu driven and if you have happened to be a gamer in the past 20 years, you generally know what consoles will be successful despite the parody names. What made this game hilarious to me is the horribly offensive names I could think of for my game company and names I could come up with, most of which I am unable to provide for the sake of keeping this article PG. I don’t know why I found the game so entertaining, but I've played it through 3 times.

That was several months ago. The problem is when I was looking for something new to play, I found out that they produced three more simulation titles, and like the idiot I am I purchased all of them. Next up is Mega Mall Story, and much like the last game, the premise is pretty cut and dry. You want to try to become a five star mall, run the competition out of town and try to build up the surrounding community to raise your traffic. As people start to come to your mall, they give gifts and introduce ideas for new stores to bring in. You can hold sales to increase the amount of people to come in and placing the right stores next to each other raises their reputations.  You can hire floor associates and if they provide good customer service to people they give you hearts which you can use to upgrade store stock or quality. While some of the stores you earn are a little bizarre (my mall certainly doesn't have a casino or planetarium), this one was surprisingly addicting to play.

The one that I am currently playing is Pocket Academy. I have recently started playing it so forgive me if the review is a little narrower in description.  As you have already guessed, the objective to this game is to create a successful academy. You train your students and the more you do you can increase the level of learning to get more tuition money. That allows you to higher better staff, aside from teaching; the staff wander the halls and get you points to spend on new amenities for the university.  In addition to this your students can help in local events to earn money for your school as well as create relationships amongst the students, romantic or platonic. What makes this game different from the previous two is that you have a much more freedom in your construction of the academy.  Unlike Game Dev Story where you get no building at all and it’s all done for you or Mega Mall Story where basically place buildings in blocks of 1-4 spaces, Pocket Academy opens up the map for you to construct, much in a manner you would expect like in The Sims Series.  It’s still fairly early on in my play through so I’m sure there is more for me experience and unlock, but it’s looking to be just as addictive as the previous two.

Or if going back to school isn’t your thing, you can try your hand at Hot Springs Story.  I only have played the demo for this game, but it plays a lot like if not exactly like Pocket Academy does. You start off with a small spring you have to expand it. As you do you can add different amenities in the same way of the previous mentioned game and you can sway business depending on what clientele you advertise to. Like Mega Mall Story, you can you expand and invest in the surround community to try to bring more people to your spa. What I am noticing about this game and Pocket Academy is that in this one it forces you to plan your building more carefully as money is not as prevalent as the first two titles. That being said, they do open up a new dimension to the game. This is the next one I have on the chopping block.

You can pick any one of these you want. Their all about 2 or 3 bucks on the Iphone App Store or Android Marketplace and every single one of them should keep you distracted for a good number of hours. Plus, if you are like me and looking for more, Android users can download their newest title Grand Prix Story, with an Iphone release in the near future. 

Now they just need to make a Sim Game Rehab Story and I'll be all set.... Damn you KairoSoft... Damn you...