Mobile Games Roundup
Springs! Katamari! Food! Zenonia! Minotron!
It's all very well us telling you about the relative merits of the latest mobile offerings, but sometimes you want to see a game action before you commit. So, to all those who have been demanding moving pictures, we've done our best to bring you the official videos.
And while we're feeling generous, we've also done some extra legwork and thrown in some handy links pointing in the direction of the places you can actually buy the games. We should get royalties for this stuff.
Hot Springs Story
Under normal circumstances, a management game focused solely on running a Japanese hot springs spa would generate about as much excitement as an accountancy seminar. But what if you knew it was coming to you from the makers of Game Dev Story?
Putting the dull subject matter to one side, you already know the mechanics of this game, and how much of your free time they gobbled up last time around.
Sure enough, after just a few minutes laying down vending machines, restaurants, hot tubs, shrubs and sleeping quarters for your guests, time starts to evaporate. Before you know it you're building vast complexes while doing your best to tempt lucrative clientele and impress the folk who compile the guide books. It's a juggling act that keeps you hooked for hours - but you could have guessed that was going to happen.
What the game lacks, though, is the self-referential humour that made GDS so adorable. While the mechanics are still strong enough to keep you tapping away, Hot Springs Story never quite proves as impossibly captivating.
7/10