Empire TV Tycoon
I’ve been looking for a modern version of Mad TV for a long time, so I was quite excited when I stumbled upon Empire TV Tycoon on Steam. I had a lot of fun with it, but there were also some frustrating moments which I will explain in a moment.
How do the game mechanics compare to Mad TV?
The similarities are immediately apparent when looking at the interface. You are a tiny person using an elevator to navigate through a high building which houses your offices, film studios, a movie library, an advertising agency and so on. There are two AI opponents with their own channels.
– Real player with 48.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Management Economy Games.
Empire TV Tycoon is an easy to learn fun simulation where you run a tv channel.
As you increase viewership and make those important decisions on what to play and what ads to show, you can climb the ranks from a simple local channel to the world of satellite broadcasting.
Part of the game is programming your day’s viewing - which sounds more tedious or daunting than it actually is.
You will recognise some movie titles, and the spoofs of well-known award shows and film festivals. This adds to the immersive side of Empire, and it can be quite fun (if not diabolical) to plan a day’s tv viewing based on your favourite films… or least favourites…
– Real player with 21.8 hrs in game
Arcade Paradise
Welcome to Arcade Paradise, the 90’s-fuelled retro arcade adventure. Rather than washing rags for a living, you decide to turn the family laundromat into the ultimate arcade. Play, profit and purchase new arcade machines, with over 35 to choose from, to build your very own Arcade Paradise!
#### Rags to riches… literally!
Take the laundromat business made up of dull chores from washing clothes to throwing out the trash, and turn it into a booming arcade with the coolest games in town raking in all the money!
#### Insert Coin
Over 35 arcade games, each fully realized with its own gameplay, stories, missions and high scores to set! Inspired by 3 decades of gaming, from early vector games right up to the 32-bit era.
#### Here comes a new challenger
Insert a second coin and play against a friend in a number of co-operative & competitive arcade games up to 4 players locally.
#### Set the high scores
Prove yourself across each game, set your high scores, make your favourite arcade game more popular and upload to the online leaderboards.
#### Soundtrack worthy of the cassette collection
From the individual games to choosing what song to put on the jukebox inspired by some of the great records of the early 90s, the soundtrack captures the heart of a bygone era.
#### The greatest gaming era ever
Hello 90’s. If you could smell this game, it would smell like memories. Everything from the look and feel of the arcades, to using the latest PC connected to the mind-blowing dial-up connection, all have been recreated with pure love.
#### Gerald in the Riviera
Doug Cockle (famous for his voice acting in Victor Vran and The Witcher series) plays the role of Ashley’s berating father. Being too busy in the Riviera to see King Wash for himself, you will receive many phone calls from Gerald sharing his wise words of advice and constant reminders to fix the toilet.
Read More: Best Management Adventure Games.
Forking Hell
Godly
– Real player with 7.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Management Singleplayer Games.
I like. Much. Of this with yes
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game
Arcade Tycoon: Simulation
I purchased this game only a few hours after its release. Moreover, I waited until I had a few hours of game-play under my belt before I gave my opinion on the game and its current state of development.
First off I will admit that I was mildly disappointed by no campaign being available yet. However, what was there was very stable. In my game-play the only bugs that I have come across were the customers walking through the machines, the carpeting randomly disappearing, and random customers getting stuck while in a walk mode.
– Real player with 130.6 hrs in game
Updated 12/11 after 17 more hours of game play
I’m still happy I purchased this. The devs continue to push updates, and I believe nearly everything shown in videos on the store page is included. The only thing I see different is the tech tree in game is not as robust. Lots have been added since I last reviewed this, to include security guards, thieves, litter, trash cans, more food and drink options, machine upgrades, and the tech tree too. In my earlier review, I said there was no queuing system and all of the customers looked the same. Now, there is a queuing system which is great as it gives a good visual on what you may need more of. All customers no longer look the same, but there are still only three different looks for them.
– Real player with 70.7 hrs in game
Cosmo’s Quickstop
This is my GOTY 2021, and frankly it isn’t close.
Cook, Serve, Delicious, except it’s a 3D runaround with Among Us Tasks, except it’s a decidedly charming and hilarious time, except it’s SO HYPE. What is otherwise a very solid and enjoyable experience is cranked up to one of the most surprisingly awesome skill expression games on the planet (or off of it.) An amenity upgrade system that both requires and greatly rewards playing with all of your options and finding what setup works best for you, and an excellent variety of tweaks to the formula and post game content, combine to give this game way more replay potential than I’ve ever had from something in the same genre. What was literally an accidental stumble-upon one night has turned into one of my top 5 games of all time, in the span of a week. I cannot recommend this game enough.
– Real player with 53.6 hrs in game
I have been waiting for this game to arrive since it said was coming out in 2019 after searching for coop games so I am glad to see it finally out. The art for the game immediately drew me in, and could tell it would be a great co-op experience.
After now playing for only 9 hours, I will say they poured love into every fibre this game and polished it well for the release as I have yet to encounter an issue. It is fantastic for a couch co-op game, while not as frustrating as overcooked can be while still leaving me overwhelmed in chaos.
– Real player with 45.2 hrs in game
Crown of the Empire Around the World
One of the most polished and vibrant games in the genre, they really upgraded every aspect of it. Enjoying it so far and definitely recommend it when it hits a dollar to people wondering if it’s worth it. The gameplay is well designed and you can tell the developers have put a lot of thought into it after creating so many of these types of games.
EDIT: Level 13 is INSANE! Took a good hour to 3 star it. Giving the game a break after that but looking forward to picking it back up again.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game
Internet Cafe Simulator 2
The second game of the series contains much more detailed and different new mechanics.
Build a great internet cafe. Don’t let street thugs and mobsters take your money. They can even throw a bomb inside your cafe.
You can attract more customers on rainy days. Increase the skills you want to develop from the tech tree. Will you become a business prodigy or a brawler skilled at protecting his cafe?
You have to earn money to pay off your brother’s debt!
Keep guards. Prepare meals for your customers. Install generators for power outages.
Improve computers. Purchase game licenses. Delight customers. Turn a ruin into a great cafe.
As a decent person, he can proceed normally. Or you could get involved in completely illegal business.
Hire employees for your cafe and treat them well.
Remember, the customer is always right!
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!
Updated for v0.95/1.0 in comments
While Cook, Serve, Delicious! was already one of my favourite games, small things about it left me wanting more. The food options were very limited, there was little variation between days, and progression boiled down to how many days you completed rather than your skill. Despite that, CSD! is so unique that it’s hard to find other games like it.
I was incredibly hyped for Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! prior to release, but was put off by the changes to the formula. Recipes couldn’t be carried out rapid-fire if you remembered the keys, you had to press a key to go to the next page of steps. The menus and level select were obtuse to the point where I had to click blindly to navigate. The preset menus of the restaurants were brilliant as scripted level sequences, but made it difficult to justify working in my own restaurant when that contract work felt like the ‘real game’. Unlocking new foods felt incredibly slow. Serving more customers faster than ever was problematised by the need to still hit specific keys to start and serve orders, and that speed made slip ups way more common. The continuation of chores didn’t mesh with the new rapidity. Customising the restaurant was cool but I was also inundated with cosmetic unlocks I didn’t feel like using because, again, I didn’t feel compelled to work in my own restaurant. I return to CSD frequently, but CSD2 felt like experiencing Icarus flying too close to the sun.
– Real player with 145.9 hrs in game
I’ve played the first two CSD games and I love the first one. The second was okay, but lacking in terms of charm and progression. This game, however, blows both of them away, and it’s still in Early Access!
CSD 3 manages to keep the strengths of the first two games while avoiding their weaknesses. The first game was great because you were always working to become a top restaurant. Although you no longer have one in CSD3, your new goal is to travel through all the territories to Nashville and also upgrade your food truck to the ultimate cooking machine. Eventually there will be options to customize your truck but these are not in the game yet.
– Real player with 141.2 hrs in game
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!
CSD2 is enjoyable as a fast-paced cooking sim game, but it lacks the focus, charm and elegance of the original.
I’m left with the impression that too much focus was put into the restaurant customization and the breadth of food options available, at the expense of honing the experience and flow of the game.
The Good:
The gameplay core of fast-tapping gameplay is altered a bit with a new page system for ingredient management, and somewhat more emphasis on putting things together in stages. It also adds Holding Stations, a new element of play which has become a core focus of the sequel and offers a new dimension of time management which is mandatory for some foods, optional for others, and unavailable for the rest. Drinks become maintenance chores rather than serving orders, and drink+side+perfect gets you a bonus.
– Real player with 133.6 hrs in game
I was a huge fan of the original CSD game and I’m disappointed to say the second one just doesn’t live up to the first despite some good new features.
The Good:
- The game still fundamentally plays to the system of “everything’s chaotically messy and you’re trying to solve orders as fast as you can”, which is a fun game mechanic even if it can be stressful. Unfortunately a bit part of the “run your own restaurant simulator” is the progression, which isn’t great and I’ll be coming to later.
– Real player with 40.5 hrs in game
Cook-Out
Awesome game, its Overcooked VR.
I’m about a third of the way through the game, and it has gotten really complicated. I’m now chopping, saucing, grilling, cleaning, and plating all at the same time with my friends, and its delightful yet difficult.
Technical:
The multiplayer lobby system is REALLY easy, its just a room code. The Netcode is also really great, the polish is high, I’ve honestly had zero technical issues with the game.
This is a multiplayer-forward game, if you want a more single-player oriented experience, I would direct you to Rags To Dishes.
– Real player with 18.2 hrs in game
This is probably the one of the best VR Cooperative games to play with friends when you want something chaotic ala Overcooked. Missions become harder and harder as one progresses, and even with 3 friends requires quite bit of coordination to get past some of the challenges with full 3 stars.
There is also a puzzle mode which is fun to do while waiting for everyone to be ready trying to figure out various recipes. Some feel a bit obtuse tho and dont provide enough hints on solving them.
There are occasionally some bugs as well, but these are relatively minor: Had desync issues (between people playing across europe and us) but this gets solved by reconnecting on the next round and are relatively rare. The mission difficulty also is a bit all over the place with the later where very hard missions (to get full stars on) get followed up with something that is a breeze to 3 stars, but not sure if thats intentional or not.
– Real player with 11.5 hrs in game