DinerTown Tycoon
Action & Arcade Games, Simulation Games May 10th, 2009
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Who says Playfirst cannot deviate from the usual time management gameplay of all their Dash games? That’s because this time around, Flo of Diner Dash fame stars not in a time management casual installment but in a strategy simulation game with DinerTown Tycoon. And aside from Flo, we also get to see all the usual hungry citizens of DinerTown, as well as many of the familiar stars of previous Dash games.
DinerTown was put in a bad situation after the appearance of Grub Burgers, a new chain of restaurants trying to put all the DinerTown restaurants out of business. Grub Burgers are putting Ingredient X into all their burgers, transforming citizens into mindless zombies consuming large quantities of their products. The Mayor is no good in putting a stop to the madness, thus marks the cue for Flo to step in and unite all of DinerTown restaurateurs against the evil Grub Burgers.
Deviating from the usual time management gameplay, DinerTown Tycoon is a simulation game wherein you just plan your restaurants’ day to day activities and afterwards, let the game AI run and determine your day’s profit and accomplishments. You get to play through five parts of DinerTown, starting from Squid Row, Avenue Flo, Bistro Bay, Thyme Square and lastly, Champagne Falls. And your objective for each level is to drive a branch of Grub Burgers out of business by converting a set number of citizens into patrons of the local restaurants.
The game interface puts you on the top view of the part of the town you wish to play, putting you in perfect view of a Grub Burger branch and your very own restaurants. The first step is to view your goals for the level, reviewing how many customers you’ll need to satisfy against how your competitor is doing. In the Goal interface, you can also research on each customer’s wants and needs; however, research will cost you money, which mostly will hurt your finance more than just playing the game without research.
Next in the order of business in DinerTown Tycoon is the News interface wherein you get to see the daily paper about the day’s crowd number, what ingredient is in demand, and the daily chef challenge – an optional side quest you can play if you aim to slow down Grub Burger’s increasing influence. Following the news during preparation will mostly earn you big bucks, and the daily chef challenge is very much useful in later levels wherein competition is at its peak.
The Prep tabs are divided among the restaurants you own for each stage, wherein you can plan your menu for the day as well as the ingredients and décor you wish to purchase before proceeding in simulating the day’s activities. This is where heavy finance management comes in, which is somehow also the game’s greatest challenge as you progress through the levels.
Actual action in DinerTown Tycoon takes place in the Neighborhood tab, where you have an option to buy advertisements, purchase restaurants or start the day if you think you’re ready enough. Afterwards, just wait and click on customers who wish to give you tips. Flo may sometimes appear too, which is an added bonus as she hauls customers into visiting your active shops.
One thing really surprising about this game is its deviation from Playfirst’s run of time management games. It’s a fun new way to play all of the DinerTown characters and it’s like a new breath of fresh air since there’s no hectic clicking and dragging involved this time around. The game is still action-packed and the game is still challenging, just not that fast-paced as all of Flo’s previous games.
DinerTown Tycoon is also very dynamic in how you plan on approaching each challenge as they appear before you. This gives the game a replay value you’ll keep abusing as long as you own the full version, until of course if you play through all the game probabilities, which is something highly unattainable.
Bottom line is that the game is both innovative and fun, definitely a great new way of enjoying Flo and her gang of restaurateur friends.
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