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.

two words: Animal Crossing.

:)

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

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.

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

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

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.. :)

Screw these punks. Sim City 2k 4 Ever!

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.

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.

LEMONADE STAND 4EVAH

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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 sé (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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

I haven't played it in a while, but there was a Microprose game put out years ago called "Colonization." I think it was building off the success of the Civilization series, but it's not really anything like those games. There is a much bigger focus on asset management and trade in particular. You might like it if you can find it. Railroad Tycoon Gold is another oldie but goodie. -F

How about board games? and I'm not talking about Monopoly or Chess.

I'm not really a PC gamer at all, apart from enjoying the odd go at Half-Life or Shogo, and an occasional touch at cracking little games like Abuse, so I'm not really into the whole resource management and development thing, so here's a different slant. If you're really that bored, why not forego the whole simulation scene for a while and play something else entirely? There are plenty of other games out there with a good depth to them that can take 10-15 hours of your life up in very enjoyable ways. A recent personal favourite of mine would be Advance Wars 2. Tiny part simulation, big part strategy, but 100% fun and highly addictive.

While involving no electronics, you might want to try a not-so-old fashioned German-made board game. Most of them revolve around resource management in a turn-by-turn tactical sense if not in the larger strategic sense.

Try Zoo Tycoon, a very good game in the mould of Theme Park, where you build environs for the critters and make 'em comfy.

Also a game called Sim Tower, which I've never played, but I believe it gave you a skyscraper to build, populate and manage every facet of.

Check the Home Of The Underdogs at http://www.the-underdogs.org/ in their strategy or sim sections, you'll find a few gems. I think that was where I read about a Bridge-building simulator, in which you literally design & build bridges with all the technical bits (tensile strength, etc) and then test them out under traffic.

And keep your eye out for a game coming out soon which puts you as the head of a Hollywood studio in the 1930's, and you control every aspect of their resources -- from script development, casting, marketing, release schedules, etc etc. Sounds like a blast (but I forget the name!). I think it may be by Bullfrog (makers of Populous, Black & White, etc).

I'd highly recommend Uplink. There's a demo available there, so give it a whirl. Yay for independant game design!

Cyber jew- errr I mean Cyber Judas!

That game was sweet. An amazingly detailed presidential simultor. Few things were more fun than annexing Canada, sending troops into Mexico again, and nuking Luxemburg. Then immediately getting sanctioned by the UN, having dozens of assassination attempts levied at me, and having all of Europe angry at me for the radioactive fallout floating around the country.

Ah, memories.

I know this is way old, but there is a game called Banja that has some nice features, and might be a light alternative.

I'm rather surprised that no one has yet mentioned "Europa 1400: The Guild".
It's a simulation of a medieval city, and the player(s) play as citizens who simply make their living by being a trader, a priest, a smith, or whatever. It's an economic simulation (of the business you run), but covered behind the simulation of living person in a medieval city.

If you want to try an extremely unique Massively-Multiplayer game, try A Tale in the Desert (both linux and windows clients available). No combat, lots of resource-related stuff, etc. Might not be what you're looking for, but it's very unique.

No no no, get Aerobiz for the SNES. The cut-throat Airline industry, it's only really fun with your friends though.

How about a Wall Street simulation? Wall Street Kid was a particularly frustrating favorite of mine back in the days of NES. You start with a half million dollars with which to earn a million dollars by trading stock. Mixed in with this, you must also manage your personal life and physical health.

If you're interested, vimm.net specializes in dealings with old-school NES and SNES games. Even if they don't have it in stock, they do have ROMs available, if you aren't too worried about the legality issues. ;)

Oh, darn. Someone beat me to it. I was going to suggest Aerobiz for the genesis (and apparently also for SNES). It's old, but pretty easy to find a ROM for (I can send you the Sega version). Sure, the graphics are crap, but it doesn't really matter as 90% of the game is text anyways. The only recommendation i have is that you find someone to play it with - the computer's not much fun.

Hmm... I don't know if this fits your description, but whenever somone comes to me asking for an older and unusual gaming experience, I tend to recommend the old Infocom Text-Based Adventures. If you don't know what I'm talking about, do a google-search for "Zork."

There was a telnet server running all 20-something of them for free, and as far as i know it's still up. My recommendations (for humor and all-around cleverness) try Nord and Burt. Also, the political humor is a little outdated, but Beurocracy was fun too.

Hope this helps you put a new spin on gaming!

~me

Oh, darn. Someone beat me to it. I was going to suggest Aerobiz for the genesis (and apparently also for SNES). It's old, but pretty easy to find a ROM for (I can send you the Sega version). Sure, the graphics are crap, but it doesn't really matter as 90% of the game is text anyways. The only recommendation i have is that you find someone to play it with - the computer's not much fun.

Hmm... I don't know if this fits your description, but whenever somone comes to me asking for an older and unusual gaming experience, I tend to recommend the old Infocom Text-Based Adventures. If you don't know what I'm talking about, do a google-search for "Zork."

There was a telnet server running all 20-something of them for free, and as far as i know it's still up. My recommendations (for humor and all-around cleverness) try Nord and Burt. Also, the political humor is a little outdated, but Beurocracy was fun too.

Hope this helps you put a new spin on gaming!

~me

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Posted by: firebunny on May 6, 2006 05:49 PM