Trailer Park Tycoon

        Demo from www.gamershell.com reviewed by Sue

In the USA, trailer parks don't have a very good reputation. In
this game you can decide what type of people you want to attract
and in the demo scenario you're concentrating on the 'trailer
trash'!

There are four types of trailer - trashy, flashy, cool or old
school. These are colour coded red, green, blue and orange.  The
settings are paired. So there's a trashy/flashy setting and
cool/old school. Some trailers have just one setting, others have
one from each pairing eg 1 orange, 1 blue. You can further enhance
a trailer's rating by the items you put around it.  These
ornaments are also rated with at least one colour. So you could
have a basic trashy trailer rated as 1 red, but by adding an open
pit fire, rated 8 red, you turn it into a 9 red.

There are two types of building plot labelled A or T. Ones with a
T are for trailers. Ones with an A are for amenities. Amenities
include a movie theatre and a fast food joint. You can adjust how
much you charge a resident each time they visit one of these
amenities. You also have to set rent for the trailers.  When a
resident moves in, you can check how much he or she wants to pay
and set your rent accordingly. I found going slightly below what
they wanted to pay worked well and kept them in a good mood. A
bubble over each resident's head will show if they're happy
(green), middling (yellow) or cross (red).  You may also get a
clue what they want such as a picture of a video or a hamburger.

Each trailer has a 'footprint' - the amount of land it covers. The
small trailers cover four, but one of these is taken up by the
trailer itself and another by the resident's car. That only gives
you two squares for adding ornaments. The larger trailers have
footprints of 12 or more. That gives a lot more room for adding
items. Sometimes the footprints overlap so that an item added to
one trailer's pitch affects another. This can help or hinder you!

Another setting on the screen shows you 'what residents want' -
the balance between the trashy/flashy and cool/old school options
eg 8 red, 3 blue. The red (trashy) setting gradually increases as
the park fills. The blue/orange setting switches back and
forwards.  They also want to pay more rent because this is a side
effect of bumping up the trailers' ratings.

As your park becomes more and more trashy, other options open up.
For example, you can build trailers with higher 'trash' ratings
such as Redneck Livin' and Packrat Paradise. This last trailer
needs a park with a trashy rating of more than 300. The people
currently in the park also have higher trashiness expectations. So
you'll constantly have to "upgrade" their trailers by adding more
awful ornaments. You can also upgrade the trailer itself - it
costs money but makes it more flexible by increasing the
footprint.

The demo contains just one scenario - Pristine Meadows.  You've
got 40 weeks to get the park to 700 trashy with at least 24
residents. If you fail, aliens come down and zap all the
trailers, ornaments, amenities and residents. I haven't managed it
yet; the highest I've managed is 24 residents and trashiness of
495. But I thoroughly enjoyed trying and will look out for the
full game.
















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