Desperately Seeking Simulation

I've gotten into a terrible gaming funk lately, and I want to appeal to the gaming experience of the readers of GGA to see if they can find what I need.

I'm totally dissatisfied with everything I play currently, and there aren't any games out there that I find appealing. I don't want a new FPS, Driving Game, or Strategy Game.

I want simulation.

But not just any kind of simulation. I want asset management, but I don't want the focus to be any sort of combat, nor do I want any sort of civilization builder. As my friend pointed out, this pretty much rules out everything but Rollercoaster Tycoon, which I've already played. I've even joked that I'd be willing to play a baking sim at this point, if one existed (and I've already experienced Harvest Moon, so that's out, too).

So what do you guys say? Let's see those suggestions. Don't worry about the console type or system requirements; so long as it isn't on a Mac I've got at least one of each in the house.

Comments

[Eleanor]

Have you ever played Theme Hospital? It's a sequel to Theme Park (I've never actually played that). The premise is to design and run a hospital, keeping it clean, efficient and above all, profitable. There are goals for each level in terms of the amount of money you need to make and the number of patients you need to cure. There's a certain cheeky sense of humour throughout the game - funny voice overs, bizarre diseases to cure(eg "King complex" - people think they're Elvis) and bonus levels all about killing rats. Theme Hospital's not the greatest game ever, but it's strangely addictive. I've had hours of fun with it.

[mnickel]

two words: Animal Crossing.

:)

It may fall into the catagory of civilization builder, but it seems so endless...

[chance]

Sea Trader on the Gameboy Advance. Little known, almost entirely devoted to trade routes and building an economic empire. In a pirate/sea frigate background. Good portable economic sim.

[ancil]

sea trader, which is entirely extra good, is based on a simpler apple ii game called taipan that is probably one of the best pc economic sims ever made. a recent windows port available at http://digitallabs.bluestream.org/taipan/index.htm is very slick and swell and worth a look for simulation-enjoying people.

[miles jacob]

sim earth has always been my favorite sim game... i played it on mac but i assume they made it for pc as well. its pretty old now, but if you've ever felt the urge to create a 'working' planet as i often have... well it's the only game that lets you do that as far as i know :)

here's another game that could be a refreshing change of pace (if you can find a copy) http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/review/24584.html

[ClockworkGrue]

Not a simulation, but the most fun I never knew I wanted comes from the GBA game WarioWare: Mega Micro-Game$. 250-odd games, each 5 seconds long.

[Rik]

I send and organize software for an educational facility and when testing some titles, came across the Zapitalism! and Gazillionaire business/economy simulation games. They're actually quite fun, although like any game in this genre they tread the line between spreadsheet and game. They've been released for both PC and Mac and should still be available. And for a baking/love romance sim, look up Bistro Cupid. I've never had the chance to play it but the premise seems funny (bake your way into the hearts of women).

[Sal M]

Galactic Civilizations from Stardock Software.
The Corporate Machine, also from Stardock.

The first is a galaxy builder sim, with options for winning that allow you any combination of military, economic or cultural conquest.

The second is an economic sim.

[Sinclair]

It'd be really old now, but the makers of all the other tycoon games had a restraunt management/baking sim called Pizza Tycoon.

[Ben Sawyer]

Trevor Chan's Resturant Tycoon, Hotel Giant, and Capitalism II are all non-civ sims. Stronghold is pretty good too although it's mostly a strategy game I'd recommend it. The sequel came out a bit ago but I don't think the reviews were as good.

- Ben

[mnickel]

You should also consider Creatures and Creatures 2. Both of these are non-combat type sims featuring the training of little creatures called Norns...

It's kinda like Black and White, but with no combat. Just the neural network learning structures...

I played the first one and found it pretty challenging. The learning simulation part was well done, but sometimes the little Norns wouldn't always do what you wanted them to.

Anyway, just another contribution.. :)

[Jake of 8bitjoystick.com]

Screw these punks. Sim City 2k 4 Ever!

[dtburton]

A lot of people are saying sim games like Sim City here, but I take it from your post that your looking for something a little different. Red Storm made a little known game awhile back as part of their continuing Tom Clancy's series called Ruthless.com.

Premis is your a software startup and the point is to gain absolute control over the stock market. You can perform various shady actions such as firebombing an opposing companies factory, or an assassination attempt on their CEO. Ofcourse you can always stick to the legal aspects such as R&D or Marketting. It's fairly simplified and the learning curve isn't too steep.

It even has multiplayer support, but the odds of actually finding anyone to play it are probably pretty low.

It had a hold on me for a couple weeks.

[Hammerheart]

Well its rather old now but I always manage to get addicted to Railroad Tycoon 1 or 2. Both of them are good. For lack of being able to come up with a good description, I'll just say give it a shot.

[amar]

LEMONADE STAND 4EVAH

[Karl]

Ye olde "Balance of Power" by Chris Crawford is freeware, and can be found at the Home of the Underdogs.

It's a geo-political sim with already built civilizations where you're trying desparately to avoid combat.

[Marguerite Frey]

Restaurant Empire! Along the lines of Theme Hospital and Rollercoaster Tycoon, another combatless simulation.

http://www.restaurant-empire.com/flash_content/index.html

[kikkoman]

Have you seen Uplink? Its a "hacking" simulator. It lets you do all the fun hacking that you see the movies: bounce your connections all over the globe graphically, crack passwords one letter at time, futz with the Stock Market!

While its not an asset management simulation per say, it is
an interesting simulation.

http://www.introversion.co.uk/uplink/news.html

Milo S.

[SR]

I'm a big fan of Hidden Agenda, a simulation of trying to run a factionalized, highly volatile Central American country in the 1980s. Also of note is Alter Ego, a web reincarnation of a very, very old game that's, well, a human life simulator (or, if you prefer, one of the most un-RPG-like RPGs you're likely to run across), from cradle to grave. It's cost-free and plugin-free. What's not to love?

[benthemad]

if you've got a decent SNES emulator available, I'd suggest E.V.O. The Search for Eden. While not a resource management based game per s (any more than any other game), it is a fascinating bit of media, and despite the retro feel, it's quite engaging.

Another one to check into, though not for the faint of engrish, would be Bistro Cupid. It's a japanese cooking/dating/RPG sim. Odd sounding, but apparently it's a lot of fun. Of course, you'll need to have an import console, but it might be worth your while if you've got the time and energy for that sort of thing. Bistro Cupid 2 Official Webpage

[Matthew]

A bit late but... Master of Orion 3.

[Mike]

Anyone remember SimTower I was hooked on that one a while back... in it, you build a skyscraper level-by-level, you have to deal with tenants and such... it was pretty fun.

[Timothy Burke]

Ok, forgive me for a moment for getting all hung up on definitions and such, but I really have no idea how anyone could call Master of Orion (whatever number) or Galactic Civilizations a simulation. Plus Bowler says he doesn't want a civilization builder anyway. (Please, for those few weird people who actually like MOO3, let's not trot out the whole propaganda line about how it's 'macromanagement' and not a civilization builder, etc.)

Truthfully, there isn't much new that fits Bowler's request, which is why lots of people are citing old games. Some of those really are interesting if not previously encountered: Balance of Power, though horribly "rigged" in that it compels the player to accept a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, is definitely interesting. So is Hidden Agenda, though I feel that's "rigged" in certain ways too.

SimCity4, of course, if never tried before. I'm finding Port Royale somewhat interesting--it appears to be a pirate game but it's actually an economic sim set in the early modern Caribbean with a few "piratey" elements mixed in.

I don't care for Flight Simulator much myself but that's an obvious one to try as well.

Capitalism 2 is a somewhat interesting business sim. Good AI.

There are a couple of good baseball management simulators, where there is no arcade component whatsoever. Gotta be a bit of stathead to really enjoy them.

I recall that there was a series of "emergency room" simulators but I never heard much about them nor did I try them.

[Zan]

Try the demo of Firefly's Space Colony looked very inventive and fun at E3.

[Esther]

As far as "economic sims that don't like an economic sim" go I would recommend you have a look a couple of German-made games like the aforementioned Port Royale, which looks like a pirate sim but is indeed a pirate themed complex economic sim.

Patrician II is a trading sim in 14th century Europe. I played the first Patrician game back in the day on my Amiga and hat a lot of fun with it. The economic system is quite complex and requires you to do more than just ship stuff from A to B and back to A.

Then there's The Settlers: Fourth Edition, the most recent incarnation of the (in Germany) highly succesfull Settlers franchise. This game looks like an RTS but it too has an underlying complex economic system where most commodities have to be processed in a chain of facilities before you can actually use the final product. Easy example would be: farmer harvests wheat, miller makes wheat flour, baker makes bread from flour. So you have to try to optimize transportation routes in order to get your products quickly.

The Anno series is worth mentioning as well. Anno 1602 and its sequel Anno 1503 (called 1503 A.D. in the US I believe) are about founding colonies on islands, developing them and trading with neighboring colonies. A bit like Sim City with trading elements in a historical setting.

As to Railroad sims: I hear Rails Across America is pretty good.