Moon Tycoon – PC – Review

In the year 2021, Earth is faced with the greatest threat it has ever known.
No, not the release of another Mary Kate and Ashley game. Earth’s greatest
threat is a global energy crisis, one that is causing many problems for our
beloved planet. The world’s obsession with technology and the
can’t-live-without-it attitude is finally catching up with them. Now our global
oil reserves are nearly empty. All of the energy needed to power the online
multiplayer worlds of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 10 and Quake VII haven’t helped
much either.

There are alternate power sources, but none of them will suffice. Nuclear
power plants are being used to stop the immediate energy needs, however, the
radioactive waste produced in these plants is far to dangerous to continue using
them. The only solution is Nuclear Fusion. Being a clean source of high energy,
Nuclear Fusion is exactly what the world needs. Unfortunately, Helium 3, one of
the necessary fuel components for Nuclear Fusion, is very rare on Earth. Helium
3 is most abundant on the moon though. This leads to the formation of the Space
Agency, a gathering of the top scientists, engineers, military personnel and
politicians to colonize the moon, mine the fuel components needed to make
Nuclear Fusion and send them back to Earth. While building mines and warehouses,
you soon realize that with all of the amazing technology you have, the moon
could easily be made into a second Earth; a new home for a new generation; a
tourist attraction for people looking for adventure, etc. And best of all,
you’re the one at the helm of this marvelous frontier.

But the moon is a bumpy place. You can’t expect to bulldoze a few hundred
trees and immediately begin constructing the ultimate colony. For one, there are
no trees on the moon. Second, you can’t build anything in a ditch or on top of
the mountains (except for Connection Tubes), so you’ll have to raise and lower
the ground until it is even. This isn’t cheap either, but who cares about the
expenses, you’re a moon tycoon! Money is no object. Eventually all of this
frivolous spending will catch up with you though, forcing you to come up with a
way to make some quick cash. Otherwise you won’t be able to continue your
mission and the game will be over.

Choosing the right industry can be tough if don’t have (or aren’t willing to
spend) a lot of money. Since the reason you came here was to mine Helium 3, you
might as well start there. Before you can begin, you must first determine where
the best place to mine is. Place a few Mining Probes around your colony and left
click on them to find out how high the percentage of raw materials is. Once
you’ve found a good space to start mining (I recommend no less than 60% Helium 3
and Uranium. If you have any patience, don’t start mining until you find an area
with 70% of each material), build a Small Mine on top of the probe.

A few minutes later, the mine is built, but for some reason it isn’t working.
Left click on the mine to check its status. See the numbers in red? That means
you don’t have enough of that particular necessity to run the mine. In this
case, you’re low on oxygen, electricity and personnel. To get the mine up and
running, you’ll have to build a few solar plants to generate electricity; build
some inflatable homes to bring more people to the area (who will then come and
work at the mine); and most importantly, build an oxygen plant so that the
miners can breath. Note: all of the utilities you build (solar plants, water
converters, etc.) must either be placed next to the building(s) you want to
benefit from them, or attached using Connection Tubes.

Now that that’s taken care of, it’s time to build a Small Warehouse to store
all of the materials in (Large Mines and Warehouses become available later on in
the game). Next, a landing pad, beacon tower and radio tower are needed to
transport the materials back to Earth.

Tourism is another good way to make money. Shopping Malls are the only
tourist attraction available at first, but later on you’ll be able to build
Lunar Hotels, Amusement Centers (similar to Sony’s Metreon. Coincidence?),
casinos and even a golf course. It is very important to build a large number of
tourist attractions to keep the morale up and encourage Earthlings to visit
often, which in return will greatly increase your funds.

In-game advisors (more like in-game pests) give you tips every now and then
and promise to alert you when any problems arise. But they’re almost always late
when it comes to giving you important information. The new apartment complex I
had built was low on water, yet the advisors said nothing. It wasn’t until about
thirty seconds AFTER I had constructed a water plant and solved the problem that
an advisor decided to let me know what was going on. "The colony needs more
water," he says, even though it no longer did. The advisors were similarly
clueless whenever a new building became available for construction. It’s not
that big of a deal, but for someone who calls himself an advisor, I expected
Brad McGann and the other advisors to be more helpful.

The sit-and-wait nature of Moon Tycoon may not have as broad appeal as other
strategy games, but I think that anyone who gives it a try will thoroughly enjoy
it. There’s usually something to do while you wait for the construction of
another building to finish. And if that still isn’t enough to keep you busy, the
speed controls at the bottom of the screen will help move things along.

Gameplay: 8.6
It’s hard to pin down what I liked most about Moon Tycoon, mainly because
there was so much to like. It has its flaws (as all games do), but despite the
annoying music, useless advisors and the at times frustrating money management,
I had a hard time pulling myself away from the computer screen. That made
writing this review very hard because I every time I went to write something
down, I’d ignore all of my responsibilities and continue playing instead.

Graphics: 7 
Moon Tycoon is far more pleasing to the eyes than most Tycoon games. But the
polygonal buildings, space ships and shuttles, although free of pixelation,
don’t have the graphical beauty we’ve come to expect in next-generation games.

Sound: 7.5
The default soundtrack is exactly what you’d expect — fast, repetitive
techno music.  By going to the options menu, however, you may change the
soundtrack to something much more enjoyable; quiet ambient music.  If that’s not
your cup of tea either, then you can off turn the music and play in peace.

Difficulty: 4.5
Moon Tycoon gives you the option to increase/decrease your starting funds,
the percentage of Helium 3 and Uranium on the moon, your buildings’ service life
and change the terrain level, making this game accessible to gamers of all skill
levels.

Concept: 7.9 
This game is like Gundam without any mobile suit battles: all you do is
build colonies in space. Saying that’s "all you do" may make it sound worthless
or unimportant, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Moon Tycoon was a
great idea and I think other game developers could learn a lot from it.

Overall: 8.1
Whether you’re a fan of strategy games or not, Moon Tycoon should hold your
interest long enough for you to realize just how good the game really is. When
you’re not building a monument or a military base awarded for doing a good job
of running the colony, you’re managing your expenses, listening to advisors
babble and keeping an eye on your utility needs. It’s complex, but simple enough
so that all gamers will understand it. Some strategy games force you to play
them a few hours before you finally get to the good stuff, but you get to Moon
Tycoon’s "good stuff" only a few minutes after play.