Money Talks in This Simulator
Greed is good and money is power--at least within the world of Interactive Magic's Capitalism, a financial simulation game in which you assume the role of a fictional company's leader in a randomly generated world. You start out with $10 million, and your goal is to parlay that money into billions and join the Top 100 list of the world's richest people.
As you plot your dominance of the business world, questions start to arise: Should you go the corporate-raider route and focus on the stock market? Is the research on your Wedge-o-Matic 9000 complete enough for it to hit the shelves before Christmas? Will the Securities and Exchange Commission try to stop your latest stock purchase? Every choice you make has repercussions, and you must be willing to accept the consequences to get a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.
If this sounds complicated, it should--this is not your father's Monopoly. Capitalism is an extremely complex game, and you need to be willing to invest a lot of time before you truly understand its scope, and even more before you master it. Along with the full-scale simulator, Capitalism includes eight educational games that help you learn to play--and unless you are a Fortune 500 CEO already, you will need them.
Beginners can keep game play simple, focusing on a single type of business, such as department stores. As you become more adept, you can try your hand at farming, mining, or playing the stock market to ruin competing corporations. Within these various industries, you can focus on developing better products, a better brand name, or simply cheaper products. In some scenarios, you must complete specific goals in order to triumph.
Varying levels of difficulty mean that as your skills sharpen, so do those of your opponents. The game isn't networkable, so although you can buy out your virtual opponents, you can't merge with--or menace--your real-life friends.
Capitalism's interface can often be as obscure as the game itself, and although it takes a fair amount of time to decipher some of the game's icons, the charts and corporate reports are all easily understandable to anyone with basic accounting skills.
The Last Word
Capitalism is as realistic as simulation games get, and although certain aspects of the business world are left out--such as issuing preferred stock--these omissions help keep the game from becoming even more complicated than it already is. If you have a family or social life you treasure, you'll want to set a time limit for your games. If you don't, your priorities may shift. Inside all of us there's a little monster that always wants more. This game feeds that monster.--DANIEL MADAR
RATING: Four Stars/7.1
PROS: Realistic simulations of the business world.
CONS: Complexity may be daunting; not networkable.
COMPANY: Interactive Magic (919/461-0722, http://www.imagicgames.com).
COMPANY'S ESTIMATED PRICE: $54.95.
February 1997
page: 96
Copyright © 1997 Macworld Communications, Inc.
Archive
