by Michael Collins

Created on: June 06, 2008   Last Updated: June 08, 2008

Flower Stand Tycoon, by Big Fish Games, is a simulation business strategy game along the lines of the more professional "Railroad Tycoon" and "Roller Coaster Tycoon" games of the past. The player takes on the role of business manager for "Uncle Potts," whose business savvy is decidedly lacking when compared to his scientific acumen for breeding new types of flowers. In this capacity, the player must manage the desires of the population by selling flowers from neighborhood to neighborhood, purchasing upgrades which allow them to sell more flowers, retain more inventory, and keep their customers happy.

As simulations go, Flower Stand Tycoon is nothing new - gamers have been running successful virtual businesses longer than some college graduates, and the mechanics have rarely changed: purchase resources, acquire upgrades, manage inventory, and click the "skip" button to get through the business day. Flower Stand Tycoon thus suffers what any of those games would if the creators had settled on the basics: it grows very tedious very quickly.

Another unfortunate aspect of the game is that it seems to be too complicated and crowded: the "Route" screen, where the player will decide where to set up shop for the next business day, is packed with colorful graphics and statistics, making it seem very confusing for first-time players. Also unnecessarily confounding is the process of figuring out where you can (or should) go to sell your plants next; the tutorial largely ignored such nuances. The beginner is also stumped as to how many of each type of flowers they should be buying each day. The philosophy seems to be one of "wing it," although they've seemed to have forgotten that that only works if your game is intuitive enough to play as soon as one downloads it.

One of the stand-outs in the game is the music: in most Sim games, the music should not be overpowering, since it must repeatedly loop while the player is deciding where to allocate resources to next. The music of Flower Stand Tycoon is exactly what it needs to be: upbeat and cheerful, but largely ignorable. The graphics are similarly useful, consisting of largely undistinguished people who convey the information that is required of them. Watching these little people line up for flowers only to leave at the last minute without making a purchase can get frustrating, though.

Flower Stand Tycoon suffers what a lot of strategy games suffer from: boredom. Your average gamer is not going to be happy simply watching the numbers go up day after day; they're going to want some kind of instant gratification. Flower Stand Tycoon is just too boring to recommend.

1/5

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