The game's most noteworthy and entertaining moments come in the form of character-based missions that drive the otherwise sandbox-like campaign (there's also an undiluted Sandbox mode should you wish to just build up your city without interruptions). And it's these fun features that manage to transform a fairly run-of-the-mill gaming experience into something a little more, well, satisfying. After all, we don't award 70 per cent to games that have been shat straight into a DVD box and put on a shelf reeking of amateurism.

Of course there are some excellent features injected into the game's mix, too. And that, I'm afraid, is about as complex as the game gets. After this you can kit each building out with an array of signs, plants, billboards and other decorations to increase its public appeal and aesthetic qualities. In order to complete a section, you must construct accommodation, businesses and educational establishments to satiate the needs of the city's citizens. Broken down into bite-sized chunks, Tycoon City divides New Yoik into a series of manageable portions, which you must build up to a certain standard before the next one is unlocked. Y'see, this game is about as taxing as duty-free, the kind of title that any hardened gainer could play in their sleep. And, as Deep Red is no doubt hoping, Tycoon City: New York. Tycoon City, as Deep Red has readily explained, is a game directed at the less hardcore gamer, which probably means the kind of part-time virtual entertainment enthusiast who dedicates the odd evening between candlelight soirees and Conservative party meets to playing The Sims and Puzzle Bobble.

But has it pulled it off, or is this money-making, skyscraperconstructing sim - in which you're tasked with building up the Big Apple (well, Manhattan Island) piece by gridlocked piece - just another 'lead you by the hand patronise-othon' destined for obscurity, like the majority of the genre's offerings? Well, if truth be told, it's a bit of both.

Developer deep red is starting to make quite a name for itself in the much maligned tycoon genre, a reputation that it's been hoping to cement with the release of this ambitiously sprawling tycoon game.

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