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Thursday, January 3, 2008

Game Review: Fairy Godmother Tycoon

Seeing as I’m away from the Internet again this week, I thought about making an entry about the current situation of national and international affairs. Of the late Benazir Bhutto and how Pakistan’s January polls had been postponed. Rumours have it that she was assassinated to stop her from revealing evidence that the polls would be rigged.

Or that our health minister, Datu' Seri Dr. Chua, had been caught in a video-taped sex affair in a hotel, incriminating evidence against his integrity, his marriage sanctity and his political career. Yet the newspapers posted his holy apology, a major contrary to the years back in the trial of Anwar Ibrahim. With its dubious facts and money-jelly witnesses, Anwar Ibrahim got the all the verbal flogging.

Half of my mind considers something’s really not right the way our newspapers handled their rat-talk, much less the politicians’ rat-talk. Unfortunately, since all this would be old news by the time I post this entry, my opinion is redundant.

So instead, I’ve devoted my time to playing cracked games. Here’s what I’ve fooling around with.


Fairy Godmother Tycoon.


Haha, I loved this a lot. I’ve realized that of all the downloaded games I could play, Lemonade Tycoon was definitely one I could play for hours. So it was happy for me when Fairy Godmother Tycoon came out.

The story goes that Fairy Godmother had her potion-making empire threatened by dragons, bears, bulls and not-so-handsome princes (financially speaking). Your job as family member is to open a store and drive the competitors out of business.


My favorite freelancer is the Robber Barons, aka Crooks-For-Hire.


The gameplay is something manager-based. You have a set amount of cash, a quirky town to conquer and its own 3 kinds of cursed problems which you cure with your potions. Between those, you decide how much to spend on supplies and marketing and research and how high the price for the potions based on cost and forecast.

Then you start the day and watch your decisions bring you either profit or doom.

All and all, I really liked it because of its political humor on the traditional nursery rhymes. The storyline was pretty good (watch out for Goldilocks and the Bearzinis) and the gameplay was challenging without being overbearing. The visuals, music and sound effects were mediocre but it kept very well to the spirit of the stories.


Occasionally, a random fairy tale member seeks your out to help with their problems, like this Giant who’s, for some bread-related reason, is losing customers.


There’s nothing much different in most tycoon-type games in Fairy Godmother Tycoon than most others. But what I really liked was the storyline and its eccentric punch-lines. There’s a news bulletin that shows random events as you start your days. Some of my favorites are:

"Snow White picked to live in a house with seven dwarves in new reality television series."
"Wolf's political career ruined after being discovered wearing sheep's clothing."
"Moon-Jumping Cow tests positive for Bovine Growth Hormone."
"Jack Sprat and Wife banned from all-you-can-eat buffet."
"Animal control called in to rescue french hens, turtle doves, and partridges in elaborate Christmas gift gone awry."



Dentist bills in Sweet Tooth Town are insane.


And these are not counting the other odd-and-funny instances such as when King Midas comes to town and turn doorknobs into gold, thus increasing peasants’ wealth and enabling you to set higher prices.

In fact, I think I’d rather read something like that in our local news instead of the health minister’s affair. Something like, due to the tragedy of Humpty Dumpty’s fall, our King, Ynag Di-Pertuan Agong, overturns the Law of Gravity, making Malaysians suffer a floaty epidemic.

Fat wish, but I really do want to look for a rainbow’s pot of gold after a Pahang floodstorm.

PS:Downloads for this game can be found in Reflexive Arcade. If you want the cracked version, ask me nicely.

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