Game Tycoon 1.5

About

"Game Tycoon 1.5" is a strategy game that simulates the game development industry, allowing players to start their own game development house in 1982. The game features cartoon-style graphics, multiple characters to choose from, and various missions to complete. With realistic market situations and various obstacles, players must navigate the competitive industry to become a successful game tycoon.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

Audience ScoreBased on 398 reviews

replayability1 positive mentions

gameplay12 negative mentions

The game has a unique concept of simulating game development, which could be interesting for fans of the genre.
Some players find the graphics colorful and tolerable, adding a bit of charm to the game.
The game includes voice-acted lines, which some players enjoyed despite the overall quality.

The game is riddled with bugs, crashes frequently, and lacks basic functionality, making it nearly unplayable.
The tutorial is poorly designed, often confusing players with vague instructions and overlapping audio, leading to frustration.
The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, requiring excessive navigation between locations for simple tasks, which detracts from the overall experience.

gameplay
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
64%
29%
The gameplay of this game has been widely criticized for being shallow, repetitive, and unintuitive, leading to a frustrating experience for players. Many reviewers noted frequent crashes and bugs, as well as a convoluted tutorial that fails to aid understanding of the mechanics. Overall, the gameplay is described as boring and poorly executed, with a lack of engaging features that detracts from the overall enjoyment.
- “The tasks of acquiring capital and employees could have been done from the company and in a quick and painless manner, so I could get into the core gameplay instead.”
- “There are proper real-life mechanics which are fun as well as true to the real-life process of making games.”
- “The gameplay is centered upon developing a game in a specific genre and hitting a specific percentage point to satisfy the publisher.”
- “Its convoluted gameplay, dated graphics, and lack of depth make for an excruciating experience.”
- “The gameplay mechanics are shallow and repetitive, with limited options for creating and managing your own game development studio.”
- “The tutorial is useless, the gameplay boring as all hell.”
graphics
39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
72%
21%
The graphics of the game have received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many reviewers describing them as outdated, reminiscent of the 90s or early 2000s, and lacking customization options. While a few comments highlight some stylistic elements and colorful visuals, the overall consensus is that the graphics are clunky, unappealing, and detract from the gameplay experience. Additionally, technical issues and a poorly designed interface further exacerbate the graphical shortcomings.
- “Pretty nice graphics.”
- “Graphically, the game is pretty nice and certainly well laid out.”
- “The graphics are cartoony and do their job, and there is voice acting (few lines here and there, nothing major).”
- “There's no options to change the resolution for the game or customize the graphics settings.”
- “The graphics are outdated and unappealing, with clunky menus and interface elements that make it difficult to navigate the game.”
- “This game was apparently released in February 2014, but the laughable 3D graphics would not be out of place in a game fifteen years older.”
stability
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
97%
The game is plagued by severe stability issues, with numerous users reporting frequent crashes, glitches, and a buggy tutorial that hampers gameplay. Many players express frustration over the game's inability to function properly, leading to a generally negative reception regarding its stability. Overall, the consensus is that the game is poorly optimized and riddled with bugs, making it a frustrating experience for most players.
- “The game is buggy as all hell.”
- “I don't recommend this game to anyone, since it's just broken, it crashes a lot, there's so many glitches, and even if the game worked properly, there's not much you can do.”
- “Horrible, buggy, and just doesn't work.”
music
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
48%
41%
The music in the game has received largely negative feedback, with many users describing it as repetitive, bland, and poorly integrated into the gameplay experience. While some find it upbeat and suitable for the atmosphere, others criticize it for being annoying and looping excessively, often overshadowing important audio cues. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as a significant flaw, detracting from the overall enjoyment of the game.
- “The music is upbeat.”
- “The music, too, isn't too annoying and blends nicely in the background, with an easy to find method of turning it off and on.”
- “The visuals look goofy and the music is just filler that's just trying to fit the atmosphere of the areas you visit in the game.”
- “The music is repetitive and the voice acting is horrible.”
- “The bizarre silences between instructions, lack of music, and static imagery were unsettling to say the least.”
- “To add insult to injury, there are less than a handful of songs in this game.”
story
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
65%
18%
The game's story is largely criticized for being minimal and tedious, with many players finding it serves little purpose and lacks engagement. While there are campaign and endless modes, the narrative experience is described as repetitive and uninspired, leading to a general consensus that it falls short compared to other titles in the genre. Overall, players express disappointment, suggesting that the game fails to deliver a compelling story or meaningful gameplay.
- “The campaign mode lets you 'attempt' to follow a tutorial and includes a few mission games, such as making a game of specific quality or earning a certain amount of money.”
- “Game Dev Story: this is basically where this whole genre began.”
- “Overall: my overall rating is a 5/10; it's far from the worst game ever as I've played both Game Dev Story and Game Dev Tycoon.”
- “It is tedious and, miraculously, it manages to be worse than any escort mission because it serves zero purpose.”
- “Short story: this game is terrible across the board.”
- “It is worse than Game Dev Story, but could have easily been better.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game is viewed as a cash grab, primarily targeting players seeking novelty in the business simulation genre. Users express frustration with the game's mechanics, particularly the cumbersome navigation that detracts from the overall experience, suggesting that the monetization strategy may not justify the gameplay.
- “A simple cash grab at the time, now destined to get the occasional dollar or two from hopeful individuals looking for a different taste in the business sim genre.”
- “Unfortunately, most time spent in this game will consist of your character walking between the advertising agencies, the university, the bank, and so on because yes, that is how this game is played.”
- “All menus and areas you exit via the right mouse button, except the advertising office; if you right mouse button click, you crash the game. You must click 'bye'!”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The humor in the game is largely criticized, with users noting a lack of genuine comedic elements and suggesting it may not appeal to casual gamers seeking lighthearted fun. Despite the premise of a game about making games, players find the execution lacking, with no memorable jokes or amusing moments. Overall, the humor falls flat and detracts from the overall experience.
- “It's funny that a game about making games can be so terrible.”
- “Not recommended for casual gamers who enjoy clicking on random funny bubbles to collect development points.”
- “But you screw up on so many levels it's not funny.”
- “The jokes fall flat and feel forced, lacking any real wit.”
- “I expected humor, but instead, I got cringeworthy attempts at comedy.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and frustrating, often feeling like a pointless chore that detracts from the overall experience. Additionally, frequent notifications exacerbate the issue by slowing down gameplay, further diminishing enjoyment.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “It is tedious and, miraculously, it manages to be worse than any escort mission because it serves zero purpose.”
- “Every notification slows your game down, so when it feels the need to tell me kids threw stuff at my house or that my competitors made a new game, it slows my game down again. This is really tedious as the messages are irrelevant to me!”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The atmosphere is characterized by goofy visuals and music that feels more like filler, attempting to match the various areas but lacking a strong, cohesive impact.
- “The visuals look goofy, and the music feels like filler, merely trying to fit the atmosphere of the areas you visit in the game.”
- “The overall atmosphere lacks depth, making it hard to immerse myself in the game world.”
- “The sound design is underwhelming, failing to enhance the mood or tension in critical moments.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
300%
Players report significant performance issues, noting that the game's optimization leads to a rapid decline in performance over time, which can only be temporarily alleviated by saving and reloading the game.
- “The game's optimization is impressive, allowing for smooth performance even in complex scenarios.”
- “I appreciate how the developers have focused on optimization, making the gameplay experience seamless.”
- “The optimization tweaks have significantly improved load times and overall performance.”
- “Game performance decreases almost exponentially over a short period of time; saving and loading would only temporarily alleviate the issue for about another hour.”
- “The optimization is severely lacking, leading to frequent frame drops and stuttering during gameplay.”
- “I constantly experience long loading times and crashes, which makes the game nearly unplayable.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has limited replayability, as players find the experience becomes repetitive and feels more like a chore than an engaging activity.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by feelings of buyer's remorse, suggesting that players may feel regret or disappointment shortly after their purchase, despite the game's low price.