Convenience stores: the answer to all your financial troubles.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/42907/conveni-dream-review
Conveni Dream is perfect for anyone who’s ever walked into their local convenience store and thought, yes, this is the dream. See that garbage bin? I can’t wait to empty that, but only after I check the expiration date on these hot dogs. Admittedly, convenience stores in Japan are a whole different ballgame. They’re practically a one-stop shop for everything, including video games, so it’s not too strange to see a game like this.
Conveni Dream works like a typical game where you run a business: you get to hire employees, expand the store, choose what to sell based on the return margins, etc. The game goes from day to night as people run in, buy things, and leave, and every week your supervisor checks in and lets you know if a special holiday is happening. The controls are simple, and all the information is laid out to help your decisions.
However, here’s the pitfall: Conveni Dream is a little too convenient. I honestly couldn’t figure out how to lose, and in fact am now the proud owner of a ten billion dollar single convenience store operation. No matter what I sell, how I lay it out, who I hire, the people just keep coming back. I must have bought a very good location, probably next to a commuter train station where everyone just wants to grab something quick with no time to be choosey. Easy or not though, it is pretty fun. There’s a certain sense of relaxation that comes from watching people scurry about, as you occasionally direct your employees to empty the trash or switch out appliances and food items at your leisure.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a difference between slowly succeeding, and cornering the convenience store market. If you so choose, you can analyze the expected weekly customer demographic, compare different tastes and trends to what you’re selling, and find the balance between popular products and lucrative ones. You can even mix around your employees to balance special abilities like “attracts older women” (wink!) to other more practical skills like stamina. There is the potential to turn your game into a real challenge, but only if you decide that for yourself.
The game itself is adorable. Bright colors, cute characters, and fun items are everywhere. People are cheerful, special events are cute (Valentine’s Day chocolates anyone?), and the music is uplifting. I particularly enjoyed how many drunken old people I had to shoo out of my store in the middle of the night. I guess life gets crazy after retirement. There is also the occasional shoplifter your employees will catch, and complainers are dealt with swiftly (there will be no negativity in my store!).
Throughout the game, there is a constant reminder that this is a small title originally developed for Japan. It was common to see sentences such as “don’t cost much for maintenance” and some strange instructions from my supervisor during the tutorial. However, it’s always pretty easy to figure out the intention, but it’s obvious English localization for this game wasn’t a priority.
Overall I had fun, it’s a nice title to pick up and chill out with for a couple minutes every once in a while. I’m disappointed they didn’t create a more challenging algorithm that could match similar mobile games though, it just seems like they put in an abundance of data just to let it fall to the sidelines.
Topic: Conveni Dream Review (Read 1358 times)
