Bad Hotel

About

"Bad Hotel" is an IGF Finalist 2013, BAFTA Winner 2012 and TIGA Award Finalist 2012 game where you build a hotel, make music, and stop Tadstock's army of animals. The game features a unique combination of tower defense and procedural music toy, with a generative music system that creates original music based on your actions. As a hotel owner, you must defend your property from Tadstock's attacks by building your hotel as quickly and intelligently as possible, using an array of weapons. The game is available for Windows and Mac.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

31%

Audience ScoreBased on 276 reviews

gameplay14 positive mentions

music23 negative mentions

Bad Hotel offers a unique twist on the tower defense genre by incorporating a music generation mechanic that reacts to player actions.
The game's quirky art style and humor provide a lighthearted atmosphere that some players find enjoyable.
It can be a fun and challenging experience for those who appreciate frantic gameplay and are willing to adapt their strategies.

The game suffers from a steep difficulty curve, with some levels feeling impossibly hard and frustrating, leading to a lack of enjoyment.
Many players report poor controls and bugs, including issues with the mouse cursor disappearing and crashes when trying to pause the game.
The procedural music often becomes annoying rather than enjoyable, detracting from the overall experience.

music
120 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
67%
19%
The music in *Bad Hotel* has received mixed reviews, with many players finding the procedurally generated soundscapes to be more annoying than enjoyable. While some appreciate the concept of music evolving based on gameplay, most agree that the resulting cacophony lacks melody and can become tedious and frustrating. Overall, the game's musical elements are seen as a gimmick that detracts from the experience rather than enhancing it.
- “What I like most about it is the variation in rhythm and music based on the units you play.”
- “The beautiful artwork, quirky storyline, and frantic gameplay all work seamlessly together with a generative music system, which creates original music depending on the player’s actions and decisions.”
- “Each room produces a different sound, so as you design the hotel you want, it creates a soundtrack that is constantly changing in tone and pace!”
- “The music consists of sounds made by your rooms (i.e. towers) that don't form a melodious whole but end up driving you to the brink of insanity with cacophonous chaos.”
- “Unfortunately the music turns cacophonous as rooms are added or removed from your hotel.”
- “The music created by the various sounds of each tower is anything but melodic, more akin to a skipping CD or a telephone booth with various beeps and buzzes all combining into an awful mess of sounds and clashing time signatures.”
gameplay
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
69%
11%
The gameplay of *Bad Hotel* is characterized by a blend of tower defense mechanics and music generation, but it suffers from a lack of depth and polish, leading to a frustrating experience for many players. While some appreciate the artistic elements and frantic pace, the simplistic and often repetitive mechanics, coupled with a steep difficulty curve, make it hard to recommend for a broader audience. Overall, the game is seen as a potential distraction rather than a compelling or engaging experience.
- “Bad Hotel is an interesting combination of music and tactics as its core gameplay is centered around rapidly generating profit to maintain your hotel while defending against multitudes of enemies attacking from the air and ground.”
- “The beautiful artwork, quirky storyline, and frantic gameplay all work seamlessly together with a generative music system, which creates original music depending on the player’s actions and decisions.”
- “Bad Hotel manages to take extremely simple, borderline-mindless game mechanics and elevate it to one of the most intense, vivid gaming experiences I can remember having.”
- “Despite Bad Hotel being a BAFTA-winning game, I struggle to see why the British Academy of Film and Television Arts would award it anything because outside of the frustrating core gameplay loop, neither the art nor music is anything I would hand out awards to.”
- “The gameplay is incredibly boring and repetitive.”
- “The game is obviously meant for a phone-based clicker game, which is fine, except the gameplay is severely simplistic and incredibly boring.”
graphics
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
62%
10%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the unique art style and its suitability for the gameplay, while others criticize the simplistic and unpolished visuals that can be visually jarring. Many players find the bright colors and minimalistic design either charming or distracting, leading to a polarized reception. Overall, the graphics are seen as a notable aspect of the game, but opinions vary widely on their effectiveness and appeal.
- “The graphics and art style suit the game really well.”
- “After watching the trailer for this game, it seemed like a really interesting minimalistic take on the tower defense genre with a cool art style and nice music.”
- “With its unique visuals and design, it adds an interesting experience to the gameplay.”
- “Although some people will claim that they are stylized, the combination of bright colors with simplistic graphics tends to hurt the eyes.”
- “Unpolished graphics, only a very small amount of content, the music gets annoying fast and the gameplay is unpolished and unbalanced.”
- “Graphically, the game isn't much to look at.”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
25%
38%
The story is generally perceived as lacking depth, with some players finding it minimal and underdeveloped, primarily focusing on gameplay mechanics rather than a compelling narrative. However, the vibrant artwork and quirky dialogue add a unique charm, and the integration of generative music enhances the overall experience, even if the plot itself feels thin. Overall, while the story may not be the main draw, its whimsical elements contribute to the game's appeal.
- “The color palette used is vibrant and attention-grabbing, and the in-game dialogue/storyline is quirky.”
- “The beautiful artwork, quirky storyline, and frantic gameplay all work seamlessly together with a generative music system, which creates original music depending on the player’s actions and decisions.”
- “I lol'd at graphics, I lol'd at music, I lol'd at gameplay, I lol'd at story...and still played it.”
- “It's not much of a story in any case, just type up what the structures do and how they 'should' be used.”
- “There's not enough meat in the gameplay or the story to keep me invested here.”
- “That's the whole story.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
Overall, users express disappointment in the game's replayability, noting its short length and lack of engaging content to encourage multiple playthroughs. While some mention score attack modes as a potential draw for certain players, the consensus is that the game offers minimal incentive to replay.
- “I don't care about score attack, but that may appeal to some people for replayability.”
- “After you manage to complete the game, you notice that there is about no replayability available, which is quite disappointing for a $5 game.”
- “Another downside is the length of the game, very short with little to no replayability.”
- “It'd be nice if it were a bit longer or had some more replayability.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's optimization appears to cater primarily to casual players, resulting in poor performance and occasional hangs, which detracts from the experience. While it has originality, those seeking a more competitive or min-maxing approach may find it frustrating due to its performance issues.
- “Probably optimized for casual players on portable initially.”
- “B+ for originality, but poor performance and hangs for seemingly no reason.”
- “Anyone who approaches this game as a min-maxing optimization exercise (as I suspect most of those who complain about the alleged 'learning curve' do) is using the wrong parts of their brain.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with users reporting numerous bugs that disrupt gameplay, including erratic difficulty levels and problems with the pause function. Overall, it is described as a "buggy mess," particularly on Windows systems.
- “The issue is that the difficulty is wonky and the game is generally buggy.”
- “This is just a buggy mess on Windows.”
- “So buggy that if you press Esc to quit/pause, it jumps levels behind.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, with procedural music failing to enhance the experience. The gameplay, described as a drag and drop mechanic in a tower defense setting, lacks excitement and can be completed in under five hours, even for those pursuing grind-heavy achievements.
- “In practice, however, it becomes tedious and repetitive, with the procedural music generated never being particularly interesting.”
- “What might have been a strange frenzied tile flicker for tablets has been ported over to be a rather tedious drag and drop under the guise of a strategic tower defense game.”
- “Even if you're aiming for the more grindy achievements, 'Bad Hotel' shouldn't last you more than five hours.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized as lighthearted and amusing, with players appreciating the ability to create funny shapes and share entertaining screenshots. While some find the frantic nature of the gameplay challenging, the overall sense of humor and soundscape contribute positively to the experience.
- “It's very lighthearted and funny.”
- “Personally, I am not so great at it, and it is really frantic... but I like the sense of humor and the soundscape.”
- “If the game has any redeeming quality at all, it's the idea that you can make funny shapes like swords or faces or names and upload some amusing screenshots.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is noted for its simplicity and difficulty, effectively creating a unique mood that stands apart from the typical atmospheric tropes found in many games. Reviewers appreciate its ability to evoke emotion through minimalistic design rather than relying on common visual and auditory clichés.
- “Simple but difficult tower defense game with an interesting atmosphere.”
- “In an age where 99.9% of games described as 'atmospheric' tend to be nothing more than blue-green forest hues, gratuitous mist, and new age music, Bad Hotel actually manages to create a mood through pure feeling alone.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy incorporates ads that enhance the gameplay experience through unique visuals and design, making it an interesting addition rather than a hindrance.