I'm talking about money, money.
Spend time and money with Irreverend Opinions in AdVenture Capitalist!
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The Blurb
A remarkably simple game where the only goal is to make as much money as physically possible. As the game progresses, you will end up buying the Earth, setting up shop on the Moon, and even sacrifice angels by the millions, just to milk that little bit more moolah.
The Good
It promises simple, and delivers. The interface amounts to a series of buttons to press on the screen - one to buy at least one of a business venture (lemonade stand, newspaper delivery, or oil company for example) or for a payment cycle from that venture. It's exceptionally simple to follow with instructions like that, with upgrades to the businesses ("wireless donuts" or "pizza stuffed pizza" for example) both coming from buying a certain number of businesses, having a certain milestone of businesses (1000 of every venture for example), and from cash investment into research. Nothing in the game actually escapes a simple explanation, making it immensely smooth to play.
Once you've run out of things to do because you're out of money and waiting for returns on your investments (it can happen quickly), you can close the game and trust it will run in the background - so long as you are logged in on Steam both when you close, and when you open it again later. This means the game can be run as a casual experience, allowing you to play a little at the start or end of your day without much concern for investing your personal time.
Free is always a major buzzword in any game community, and AdVenture Capitalist sits happily in that category. A cash shop in the game encourages that you can spend some money to make the game more convenient in some fashion; avoiding a reset of your business when hiring angels for your investment, or skipping forward a week of game time instantly for example. Seeing as AdVenture Capitalist is a free product, I move this from 'bad' to 'good', as this allows the player to actually give something back for the developer if they enjoy the game, and they manage to make it polite and unobtrusive.
The Bad
Simple is indeed what it delivers, and outside of the buttons looking nice and occasional small points of flash or animation, there's really not much to the game in total. It is a clicker game about clicking buttons, with little more than that. Even once you get further in the game, this trend continues, which is disappointing. Another lack is that both the music and sound get repetitive after a short interval, with the 'mute' button also obscured (behind the portrait at the top of the screen).
Said portrait button also reveals the 'swag' you can buy - a house, a moon base, a ship, and so forth, which would be awesome if the player could actually do that. Instead, it just happens over time - suddenly, there's a boat in the harbor. Now there's a house. There's little involvement to link the player to this eye-candy, and with it hidden so often it detracts to the point of being completely ignorable.
Without any risk at all, and no decisions to be made beyond the clicking, there's no real danger, which removes an incentive to pay attention, and a big factor that could encourage play beyond a few minutes at a session. Without any danger of business or financial loss, it amounts to less of a game, than a clicking number generator.
The Ugly
Not really anything to speak of.
Suggestions
Despite it being such a simplistic game, a substantial amount of extra graphical interface could be worked on, such as 'swag' you can buy (say, a 'cut out' outline where a boat could be, and a price tag attached), with options to upgrade or choices between house color A and house color B or house style C. This could even tie into the cash shop by letting you purchase a special paint (nothing says ostentatious like a gold-plated multistory mansion).
Decision-making would add a whole element to the game, whether it be in response to random events, or timed events, or available once you have X money to make use of, et cetera. Loans, disaster and public affairs responses, dealing with competitors and their business, so forth, would make for a much more inclusive game, while preserving the simple element.
A risk factor (bankruptcy, legal repercussions, AI or player competitors) would make for a more engaging experience as well by making the clicking feel as though it has a purpose, as opposed to just making numbers climb.
Social involvement would assist with enticing the player to be more active, such as a leaderboard or even the much-despised Facebook 'invite your friends' or 'send XxXLegolassXxX1993 ten pizzarias' options that occur in many other free games. More recommended options would be a small feed (say, Twitter financial trends or Forbes financial) that can bring up current fiscal news not only to make this a more immersive product, but also to bring some small merit of education or awareness for younger players.
The Summary
A Facebook game that slipped and landed on Steam. A bit of free casual fun that, while offering very little, demands even less. Definitely playable, 7/10.
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This review is hosted for archival and backup purposes; the original can be found on Steam.
