Coffee Tycoon Review
21 September 2006 | By Simon Priest
It's a game to remind yourself that there's a big wide World out there, and you're missing it!
A caffeine fuelled tycoon that most gamers probably won’t want to brag about owning.
It’s almost scary how far the tycoon genre has ‘evolved’, Coffee Tycoon is one title to show us that perhaps the human race has gone a little too far. That’s not to say the game is all bad, strangely it can be addictive for a while.
You get to name your little empire, choose a style for your coffee shop and then its location. Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and some others, each seem to adjust the difficulty slightly. Seattle being the hardest locale as it’s the coffee capital of the World, the style of your shop also factors into the happiness of your customers.
You don’t get to design the shop yourself as it would be impossible given the number of stores you can own. In fact the only things you can tweak are the staff percentages and what to spend money on, menu additions or upgrades. Baristas serve the customers and rake in the cash; Managers do what they can to pull in more customers and the Executives secure new stores.
In order to progress you need to level up your empire, you do this by having a certain number of customers. When you’ve reached that limit you’re given some extra cash and new menu and upgrade items. You win the game once you’ve reached one million customers. Cash can be slow in the beginning; randomised events usually take place each ‘day’ so customers, stores and money can easily go up or down. This can be very helpful or just plain annoying; this dynamic tends to be what prolongs the game.
The interface is very simple and straightforward to operate, menus are simply tabs. You are given a main picture or illustration of your store; the busier it gets the more customer cartoon styled models show up. You don’t get to decide prices which could have made things a bit more interesting.
Essentially it feels as if your just watching something slowly trail to the finish line, you know it will make it there and not much that you do can jeopardise your ‘empire’, unless you purposely set out to sabotage everything. For this, the game becomes virtually impossible to lose at, much like Tycoon City New York, but that was far more visually entertaining and diverse.
Overall Coffee Tycoon isn’t something you’d go out of your way to get a hold of. If you feel you must try it for the sake of it then play the demo first and decide from there. The casual gamer won’t even dignify this with half a first glance, it’s a game to remind yourself that there’s a big wide World out there, and you’re missing it!
Top Game Moment:
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| Upgrades can make a lot difference | Customer info isn’t all that crucial |
It’s almost scary how far the tycoon genre has ‘evolved’, Coffee Tycoon is one title to show us that perhaps the human race has gone a little too far. That’s not to say the game is all bad, strangely it can be addictive for a while.
You get to name your little empire, choose a style for your coffee shop and then its location. Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and some others, each seem to adjust the difficulty slightly. Seattle being the hardest locale as it’s the coffee capital of the World, the style of your shop also factors into the happiness of your customers.
{GOOGLE_BANNER}
You don’t get to design the shop yourself as it would be impossible given the number of stores you can own. In fact the only things you can tweak are the staff percentages and what to spend money on, menu additions or upgrades. Baristas serve the customers and rake in the cash; Managers do what they can to pull in more customers and the Executives secure new stores.
 |
 |
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| No money? No problem! | Slowly expand your menu selection |
In order to progress you need to level up your empire, you do this by having a certain number of customers. When you’ve reached that limit you’re given some extra cash and new menu and upgrade items. You win the game once you’ve reached one million customers. Cash can be slow in the beginning; randomised events usually take place each ‘day’ so customers, stores and money can easily go up or down. This can be very helpful or just plain annoying; this dynamic tends to be what prolongs the game.
The interface is very simple and straightforward to operate, menus are simply tabs. You are given a main picture or illustration of your store; the busier it gets the more customer cartoon styled models show up. You don’t get to decide prices which could have made things a bit more interesting.
Essentially it feels as if your just watching something slowly trail to the finish line, you know it will make it there and not much that you do can jeopardise your ‘empire’, unless you purposely set out to sabotage everything. For this, the game becomes virtually impossible to lose at, much like Tycoon City New York, but that was far more visually entertaining and diverse.
 |
 |
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| Watch your shop get ‘busy’ | Another day, another percentage calculation |
Overall Coffee Tycoon isn’t something you’d go out of your way to get a hold of. If you feel you must try it for the sake of it then play the demo first and decide from there. The casual gamer won’t even dignify this with half a first glance, it’s a game to remind yourself that there’s a big wide World out there, and you’re missing it!
Top Game Moment:
TOP GAME MOMENT
Yeah whatever.
