Ready to hear the story of Fairy Godmother Tycoon? Once upon a time, there was a land known as Onceuponia and it had nine quirky villages. The Fairy Godmother managed potion stores in these villages, but competitors took over and almost ran her business into the ground.

Fairy Godmother hired me, the hulking Viking looking gal, to save her stores. The boss gave me goals in each village before I could move on to the next one. The first to conquer was Tutorialville. That helped me learn the business as Fairy Godmother didn’t want to throw me to the wolves, dragons and bulls when moving up to the seriously competitive villages.

This YATG (yet another tycoon game) succeeds in challenging players to run a business. Players must decide the following before the start of each day:

• Study weather reports to determine what potions to stock up on
• How many supplies to buy
• What to charge
• What marketing tools to use
• What to upgrade (building, potion maker, entertainment for entertaining people waiting in line, spells, spies, etc.)
• How much, if any, to invest in research for a new potion
• Whether to hire contractors to help promote your product or stop the competition
• Whether to take out a loan or pay it back

A celebrity or local resident popped in to request something or ask for help on occasion. Celebrities included Jack and Jill, Cinderella’s stepsisters, Red Riding Hood, Little Miss Muffet, Rapunzel and Pandora of Greek myth fame. It was an honor to meet them all, well, most of them. Some weren’t too nice. Be careful with the pop-in events as they could gain or lose beans (currency of Onceuponia) and inventory.

The people of the nine villages — Sure Would Forest, Beantown and Pirates Cove to name a few — needed help dealing with big head, floating, fire, broken heart, and swear curses. The goal for conquering each village typically required earning a specific amount of beans or driving competitors out of business.

Fairy Godmother reported in between each village and the witty dialog had me laughing. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the people who needed the liquid clothing potion to cure their curse (figure it out?) walking around with black boxes over their… ahem… privates.

The only annoying experience I had with the game was the too small screen (picture-in-picture style) displaying the store. Also too small was the space where the villager’s opinion appeared. I spent too much time trying to scroll to read the opinion and it wasn’t long before the day was over.

Truthfully, this was the best tycoon-style game I’ve ever played. The comical conversations, variety and challenges were neither too heavy nor too light. They’re just right as Goldilocks would say (and she’s a competitor in the game). Beware: Game will hook players with magic. Play at your own risk. This is an addiction worth experiencing.

System Requirements

• Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
• 500MHz or faster Processor
• 128MB RAM
• DirectX 8.0 or higher

Download and try the game free.

[tags]games,pc games,reviews,Meryl K. Evans[/tags]