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| Lemonade Inc. |
| .: By: Michael Walker :: Device used: iPAQ 3835 :: :. |
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| Introduction |
| When you were a kid, didn't you ever start a lemonade stand to try to earn a few bucks? That's the idea of Lemonade Inc., Hexacto's latest Pocket PC title. Starting off with little money and no name for yourself, you have to try to make a fortune by selling lemonade and working your way up the corporate ladder. Though I was a bit doubtful when this game was first announced, Hexacto's pulled through and released a top-notch PPC game! |
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| Getting Started |
| Installation is a breeze, done via ActiveSync. It even installed onto my CF card without any problems. The game has no copyright protection measures, so it doesn't take very long to get going. Once you open the game, you will encounter a long loading time similar in length to those of Hexacto's Sports Addict titles. For those of you who haven't played any of those, it's a good 30 seconds (on my device, that is; I know other people who have almost no loading time) until you even see the main menu. However, everything gets much speedier once you get past the dreadful but brightly-colored loading screen. At the main menu, you are treated to a witty quote (related to money, not surprisingly) and a list of options which are pretty self-explanatory. You can start or load a game, set game options, learn how to play, and so on. |
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| Interface |
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Lemonade Inc. features a simple stylus-based interface. In other words, you use only the stylus to play the game. This is achieved with the use of brightly colored buttons featuring large icons and easy-to-read text. It seems pretty self-explanatory, but if you're confused, the game has a very useful help manual that can be accessed from the main menu. The interface isn't very complex, but it gets the job done. |
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| Gameplay |
| I am a firm believer that no matter how visually or audibly stunning a game is, it means nothing without gameplay to back it up. When I first got my reviewer copy of Lemonade, Inc., I knew the cartoony graphics looked cool, but I wondered if it would be fun enough. Well, my question was answered quickly enough. Lemonade Inc. is perhaps one of the most addictive Pocket PC games currently on the market. As mentioned above, the purpose is to make as much money as possible with your lemonade stand. Each day you choose where to sell (the suburbs are rent-free and the price goes up from $10 a day for the park to $50 for the mall), your lemonade's price and ingredient mixture and how much to invest in advertising ($1-20 a day). Then you also have the option to buy supplies and upgrades for your stand, as well as view your statistics. The upgrades are quite useful, ranging from an ice machine to a new look for your stand. The statistics are also very nifty. You can view your profits, visitors, and all that kind of stuff in a nice and neat line graph or a table. Once you start your day, you get to see yourself selling lemonade to people walking buy. After people make their purchase, a speech bubble may appear over their head with an emoticon (expressive face). You can tap on it to get a more in-depth description of how the person feels. However, I thought that this wasn't done very well, as there were only about 4 different things that people said. You can also speed up the game window or even skip it entirely. Afterwards, it shows your daily profits, sales, satisfaction, and so on. However, my main complaint about the game is that it is too easy. In Career (unlimited play) mode, I was able to get every single upgrade after playing for less than 24 hours (in real time, not game time). But don't get me wrong, though, I personally think that this game is great. However, after a while the game does seem to get a bit repetitive. There are two game settings(Challenge and Career), but they're barely unique enough to differentiate between them. In Career mode you're just playing through the game and trying to make your stand as great as you possibly can. Challenge mode, however, has you doing the same thing but imposes a 30-day time limit on you. If you do well, you can choose to upload your highest Challenge scores to Hexacto's LSX (Lemonade Stock Exchange) using their Scorecast software. |
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| Music and Sound |
| Being a music fan, I usually enjoy listening to in-game music. When I loaded up Lemonade Inc. for the first time, I was expecting the usual catchy jingles that are all the norm in similar cutesy business simulations. That was not quite the case, though. While navigating the menus and making decisions, is a little tune that plays. Unfortunately, the track consists almost entirely of beeps, which can really get on your nerves. Then, once you start your day and you see people buying lemonade from your stand, is no music. However, there are sound effects such as the occasional bird chirp or the "ka-ching" noise that it makes when you sell a glass of lemonade. Overall, the sound effects impressed me, but not by the music. Well, at least there's an option to disable the "music/ambience".If you want to hear the music, you can listen to this sample of the in-game tunes. |
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| Graphics and Animations |
| If there's one thing I have to say about Lemonade Inc., it's that the game does look great. The brightly colored buttons are a well-appreciated change from the basic Windows CE buttons and the color scheme fits the game perfectly. Once you start your day and go out to sell your lemonade, the game looks awesome. The best I can think of to describe it is if Maxis had made The Sims before 3D games were popular. The flat, cartoony style works perfectly in conjunction with the little speech bubbles that come out of the people, making it look even more like an interactive cartoon. |
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| Final Thoughts |
| Overall, Lemonade Inc. is a very good game. Though it doesn't offer as much replay value as games like Snails or Argentum, it's good for what it is and is actually quite fun. Though it probably won't please the die-hard fan of the genre, Lemonade, Inc. is a must-buy for any casual business sim or strategy fan. The full version of the game takes up 1.4mb, which is very little considering how fun the game isThough some might consider the $20 price tag a bit steep, I'd suggest that you at least try the demo, which allows you to play one 30-day challenge game. |
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| Pros |
Cons |
- Bright, cartoony graphics
- Small filesize
- One of the most addictive Pocket PC games
- Play against other people via the LSX
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- Long loading times on the iPAQ 3835
- Repetitive gameplay
- Not enough upgrades for your stand
- Annoying music
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