Village Sim

I was very excited to try the newest game Village Sim, by Last Day of Work, the makers of one of my all time favorite games, Fish Tycoon. I had heard great things about this new sim game, and I am happy to report that all of the glowing reports are true! It is even more entertaining than Fish Tycoon, which kept me happily occupied (OK, addicted,) for quite a long time. Village Sim begins with 5 survivors of a volcano that set them out to sea and stranded them on a strange island. There is a very helpful tutorial that introduces you to the island, and teaches you the basics of the game. The idea is to teach the survivors to do research, farm, fish, reproduce, (very discreetly, ;-) and to ultimately turn the island into a tropical paradise. I love how the developers have thought of imaginative details, and since I just started playing, I’m sure I’ve only seen a few of the possibilities. Each of the villagers has his or her own personality, and some are better at certain skills than others. They need to do research to earn points to “buy” improvements which will help the island to thrive. The game continues to run in real time, even when the machine is turned off, which means it needs to be tended from time to time. There is a pause option, but it’s fun to see how things have progressed--or regressed--while you’ve been otherwise occupied.

I am certainly no expert at this game, in fact I have to reluctantly admit that I’ve killed off my first two groups of “survivors.” (I was stricken when I saw the first little pile of bones that had, not long before, been one of my best farmers!) I have learned a lot from both failures, though the event of a “Parrot Plague,” which wiped out most of the berries on the island led to the eventual demise of my poor first group! The second group would have probably done better if I had thought to feed them occasionally, until it was too late, and they were too weak to recover. (Oops! ;-)  So, having learned from my mistakes, I hope, with my current crop of survivors, barring a sudden hurricane, or an invasion of wild monkeys, to have a thriving “Fantasy Island” before long!

If you decide to try this game, I have a few warnings. Beware of being compulsively drawn to frequently check your villagers--like during church!! Yes, I ADMIT IT! I checked my doomed tribe during church today! (Maybe that's why they all perished! :) Another side-effect is the need to repeatedly recharge your PDA's battery! Luckily I have the game on my wonderful TH55, but yesterday its famous long-lived battery was put to the test as I directed my little captive islanders! With those warnings out of the way, I will say that I LOVE this game! Last Day of Work has another winner with Village Sim!

- Jan, Deputy Editor US, (Alpine, UT, USA)