Pizza Connection 2 - demo
                 Part of SynTax demo disk 1

                      Reviewed by Sue

Move over, Pizza Hut! The aim in Pizza Connection 2 (PC2) is to
create a thriving pizza empire, deal with mobsters and fulfil
certain conditions, while still having fun.

Starting a new game, it's time to make a few choices. What is your
character like? Are you male or female? What are your physical
characteristics? But above all, are you a buyer or seller?
Specialist or politician? Gangster or guard? Like creating a
character in an RPG, in PC2 you have points to add and subtract to
these characteristics until you end up with a character you want
to be. Specialists, for example, are the Lawrence Llewellyn Bowens
of PC2's world - great at organising the decor of their
restaurants. Sellers, on the other hand, have good marketing
skills, reducing their advertising costs.

The demo mission is set in London where you are regional manager
for your New York boss. There is a tutorial which you can play
through while the strains of Rule Britannia play. Your aims in
this mission are to build a level 3 HQ, place a rat in a competing
restaurant and buy a restaurant.

The first thing to do is buy your first restaurant from the range
available with a variety of rents. Next, hire staff. You find them
at City Administration at the Employment Office and it's
recommended that you hire a cook, a service person and two errand
boys. Third thing to do is create a pizza recipe. The ingredients
range from normal to wacky. They can be added entire, sliced or
chopped. I made a pizza with mozzarella, radish, pork, ham and
kiwi fruit - sounds nice? No, I didn't think so either but it
looked interesting. You can then add this to your menu, choosing
your own prices.

Finally buy your headquarters. Once this has been built, new
options will be available such as advertising. More options will
turn up if you enlarge the building.

Decor is all important. If your clients don't like the look of the
restaurant, they won't eat there. The possible visitors are
divided into eight groups including louts, students and kids.
Speech bubbles over their heads will show what they think.  Maybe
they want a drink. Maybe they don't like the chairs. By watching
the bubbles, you know what to change - if you want to attract that
group of people. But do you want a restaurant full of yobs?

Every so often you will be offered a new mission in addition to
the ones you've already got. For instance, if you build a police
station, you'll gain certain benefits. Sometimes these are worth
doing, other times not. It's up to you whether or not you stay
focussed on the main tasks.

The goals for the sample mission seemed straight forward. As I
mentioned earlier, the first two are to build a level 3
headquarters and put a rat in an opposing restaurant. No problems
with the first; the second was a bit slower because there's no
manual and I had to sort it out by trail and error. But the third
goal, buy a restaurant, had me stumped. Did they mean an
opponent's restaurant? I assumed so, but how was I meant to do
that? I feel I tried every option on every menu, but I was never
given the chance to buy an existing restaurant.

In the end, I gave up. Pizza Connection 2 is .... okay. A rather
damning word to apply but it's the one which seems appropriate.  I
wouldn't bother to buy the full game unless I saw it at a very
good price. Having a manual would be an advantage, and I'd like to
know what I missed in the demo which meant I couldn't complete it
but there are better games about for the limited time I have to
play.







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