Not another great game coming out!? Looks like we’re going through a “busy” period of casual games in which many and high quality games are hitting the wires. Build-a-lot 4: Power Source takes on a “greening” theme, which makes it similar to Plan It Green. I’ll be interested in seeing the similarities and differences. Anyone play both yet?

You’ll have technicians working for you to convert homes into more energy efficient ones and add recreational facilities to neighborhoods.

Check out the review of Build-a-lot 3: Passport to Europe.

Download the game from your favorite site

• Big Fish Games
• Reflexive GameCenterSolution

Playing Youda Marina during Memorial Day weekend (a time when many go to the lake) has me yearning to jump in the car to drive to the nearest lake to rent a motorboat and go water skiing. That yearning didn’t last long as a glance at the window pulled me to reality as the skies are gray. Youda Marina does a better job than Mother Nature in giving me the feeling it’s a sunny day. Before I knew it, several hours flew while playing the time management and strategy game that takes place (where else?) on a marina.

You manage and run a marina complete with building docks, entertainment facilities, emergency services, lighthouses and the radio station. As you work in growing the marina, you need to do what you can to attract visitors and entertain them during their stay. The game reminds me of Build-a-Lot because it involves building structures, changing rates, deciding where to place things, earning enough money to build more structures and meeting goals. They both have similar graphics style.

The game takes time to learn. Its well-done tutorial guides you through the first round and only nudges you when you need to know something new. You need to build various-sized docks to accompany the different boat types and sizes. You can also control how much to charge for the empty docks.

Between managing boat requests to dock, facility updates (repairs, payment and emergencies), the game pace turns frenzied in campaign mode. You have to click on every boat to dock it, every event to kick it off and every emergency to send out emergency services personnel. It grows tiresome to keep clicking these things. However, clicking the boats has merit due to the several docking options available and the chances of boat’s captains accepting the offer vary. Maybe it would ease the pain of frequent clicking by offering “automated” tools as an upgrade.

Sometimes the game doesn’t recognize clicks or won’t put down a building or dock even though the area turns green (to indicate it can go where you have it spotted). When it’s time to renew an event, the game doesn’t always recognize the clicks.

The goal of the game is to complete the tasks, much like in Build-a-Lot. Tasks ask you to add a specific structure, earn X amount of money or have X visitors to the marina.

Relaxed mode is available as a calmer alternative to campaign mode. Both modes come with four types of environments: shore, bay, island and lagoon. Each requires a different strategy to succeed. Instead of handing out tasks, relaxed mode lets you do as you will with the money you have on hand. It helps to play campaign mode first to get an idea of what it takes to run a successful marina. Though the pace turns harried, campaign mode feels more purposeful and enjoyable than relaxed mode.

After completing all the tasks and earning every promotion, you’ll want to play again because the tasks aren’t identical in every game and you still need to see if you can conquer a different layout. Youda Marina has excellent replayability value. Next time you’re in a sailing mood, it’s much cheaper to play Youda Marina than to drive out to the lake and rent a boat.

Download and try the game.

Amazon has great discounts on four full versions of popular games. No need to do anything special. Just go and click “Get the game free.”

• Build-a-Lot
• Jewel Quest 2
• The Scruffs
• Big Kahuna Reef

These aren’t cheap or poorly made games. They’re good quality. I love Build-a-Lot.

Note: “You must run the game (not just install it) while the Amazon games and software downloader (AGSD) is still running, otherwise these are 30 minute trials. Make sure the AGSD is running in the system tray and launch the game, it should say “Thanks for your purchase” and have a “Play Full Game” button. You only need the AGSD running for the first run of a game, from that point on the AGSD does not need to be running. Also note that the AGSD starts with Windows by default, most of us will likely want to disable this via MSCONFIG.”

I raved about Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year. When the Build-a-lot 3: Passport to Europe started showing up, it both thrilled and worried me. It’s a marvelous game, but how could it be better than the previous? HipSoft succeeds to take the game to another level. I can’t wait to see how the company manages to make #4 better — if that in the works.

We get to go to Europe and work in its beautiful countries including England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. While I love the varied locations, I would like to see more of the culture and architecture appear in the locations next time.

It has the distinction of being the most difficult Build-a-lot game of all. I have to replay a few levels especially one many times before I can finally conquer all the goals before time runs out.

The game comes with new features of including services buildings. These being fire department, police department, post office, and hospital. House catch on fire, people get hurt, and robbers break into homes. When you don’t have these services, you have to click the houses as soon as you can to prevent the crisis from getting out of hand.

Landmark buildings also enter the landscape in the form of clock towers, hedge mazes and two others. Landmarks not only add character to your neighborhood, but also up the appeal. With workshops and sawmills, and banks affecting the appeal of houses, the landmarks help make up for that.

When I read all the details of the new features, I freak. The details sound overwhelming, so I fear the game’s interface will finally become cluttered. Miraculously, the information / data screens stay clean despite all the things we need to track. We track workers, materials, goals, rent, and more.

Also new in this edition is the weather factor. When it’s freezing or wet, we all slow down, right? OK, those of us not born and bred in ice cold weather or wanna be mermaids. When bad weather hits, the workers slow down.

We also see run down homes. You can either upgrade them or smash ‘em to make room for something bigger ‘n better. It also gives us an opportunity to buy homes for less money.

The levels vary greatly to prevent boredom. One level may focus on money while another requires increasing the appeal big time. Rarely, does a level provide just one goal.

Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year could easily fall into the trap of your applying the same strategy to all levels. That won’t work in Build-a-lot 3. You must change your strategies to get through the game.

One thing that amazes me is casual mode. This would be the “endless” mode for the typical game with two modes: story and endless. Campaign mode is the main one. Casual mode has no clock requirements, but it’ll motivate you to better your scores time-wise. I never like endless mode, but find this one actually enjoyable. This extends the game play beyond story mode.

What can I say? I’m impressed with Hipsoft’s ability to retain the things that make Build-a-lot so addicting while adding new features that fit without weighing us down. {Hearty applause}

Download it from your favorite site:

• Big Fish Games
• Reflexive Powered by Game Center Solution

PlayFirst announces the winners of its first ever PlayFirst Firsties. Of course, the games up for nomination are PlayFirst games. But we gotta admit they produce great games.

We love the following winners:

• Flo in Cooking Dash as Best Leading Lady. [Game review]
• Dream Day Wedding: Married in Manhattan as Best Hidden Object. [Game review]
• Natalie Brooks: Secrets of Treasure House [Game review] and Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze [Game review] as first and second place winners in Best Adventure Game.
• Build-A-Lot 2: Town of the Year wins Best Simulation and Strategy Game. [Game review]
• Cooking Dash as Tastiest Food Game.
• Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet for Best Mystery Game. [Game review]

Big Fish Games offers a 40% off coupon any game in honor of Mother’s Day. But you can buy a game for yourself or anyone. Steps:

1. Explore Big Fish Games.
2. Find and try games until you find the perfect match.
3. Click “Buy.”
4. Enter mothersday in the code box.

The coupon is good until May 16. If you’re struggling to find the right gift for Mom — you still have time and you don’t have to mail anything.

Recommendations for Mom:

• Enigma
• Build-a-Lot 2
• Build-a-Lot
• Chocolatier 2: Chocolate without the guilt
• Dream Chronicles 1
• Dream Chronicles 2
• Dream Day series

Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year already available at a discount! The following games will be discounted this week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Mon. May 5th: 60% off on The Butler Did It!

Tue. May 6th: 40% off on Build-a-lot 2: Town of the Year

Wed. May 7th: 60% off on SnakeTris

Thu. May 8th: 60% off on Frutti Freak

Fri. May 9th: 50% off on 5 Star Mahjongg

Sat. May 10th: 50% off on First Star Software’s Greatest Hits

Sun. May 11th: 50% off on Towers

I had a blast playing Build-A-Lot and couldn’t believe it when I heard another was on its way. The game even hooked my “rarely plays games” husband. The game was innovative and original. So how do you make a great game better? It’s possible as Build-A-Lot 2: Town of the Year proves it.

The real estate development game not only gets rid of one of my least favorite features in the original (taxes), but also adds enough new features to enhance the game rather than make it more of the same.

To refresh memories and introduce those who have never played it, Build-A-Lot contains various types of towns (western to desert) where you — as the build — work for the mayor of the town. You work for the town for a few levels with each having different goals from building x number of homes to earning x number of dollars.

Meet all the goals before the gold ribbon clock runs out and you earn a gold ribbon. But as long as you satisfy all goals before time runs out, you can move on.

As expected, we build new types of buildings including parks, shops, and a recycling center (the game goes green — bonus points!). The best feature — worker efficiency training. It costs $75,000, but it’s worth it because building, upgrading, and maintaining activities move faster.

Like the original, you work in different towns for a few levels each and meeting their goals. Build homes from the little bungalows to the ginormous palaces, and start collecting generous rent money or sell them for big profits so you can build more.

A new element enters the game: the appeal rating. Not only do you care about making enough money and building enough homes, but they must appeal or no one will buy them. This resembles real life where homes near problem areas such as airports and factories tend to sell for less because they have less appeal.

Meeting high appeal ratings creates a enjoyable challenge — much better than dealing with taxes and that awful sound effect that boomed whenever it was time to pay taxes. As if we don’t have enough problems with taxes in real life.

This time we get to paint houses, which boost the appeal of a home as do having houses next to the park. In addition to changing the look of the houses with a little color, we also get to do landscaping. The landscaping looks the same for most homes, but it’s a nice way to change the outside of a house and gain more appeal points.

The buying and selling part of the game now comes with the opportunity to lowball or asking for a lower price on a house. Using this strategy takes practice, and I finally figure it out late in the game. Although, it gets old hearing the mayor remind me of what it takes to low ball or buy a house for less every time.

The shops and parks need help on occasion. They post a “Help Wanted” sign or show a broom letting you know the park needs a clean up. You lose a crew member whenever you fill the job. If you don’t … down go those appeal points.

Most of the money you earn comes from rent money and selling homes. This time, you can also earn profit share from the shops and oil on a monthly basis. The variety of profit potential and interaction with the houses and shops keeps the game from ever feeling monotonous. The best games — including the original — can fall into the monotonous trap, but this one doesn’t.

Build-A-Lot 2: Town of the Year has a learning curve and it tries to ease players in by starting with small tasks and building up. A new mode appears in this one — sandbox mode — for building freely in any town. Newcomers to the game might try this before jumping into campaign mode. Sandbox mode provides several goals and you can do whatever you want to make them happen as fast as possible. Do well and your name might show up on the high scores list.

If you haven’t played Build-A-Lot and start with this one first only to find yourself wanting more, playing Build-A-Lot 2 won’t feel like a step backwards as many original games do once you play the improved sequel. So go ahead and start with the second one, and you should still enjoy the first one. Just be ready to become more annoyed with taxes.

Whether real estate interests you won’t affect your feelings for the game. I’ve got zero interest in real estate (except for my own roof and envying beautiful homes) and I stay up past my bedtime just to play this game. Oh, and I love the game doesn’t end when you think it does.

I’m already ready for more and hope that Hipsoft, the company behind this brilliant addition to the tycoon genre, works on a sequel (could be same topic or something different with a similar concept). No one thing makes Build-a-Lot special — it just has the right amount of challenge, an easy to figure out interface, and absorbing game play.

Rub elbows with the mayors of eight locales where you buy and sell land, build and upgrade homes and special buildings, and help communities make their dreams a reality and thrive. The settings take builders from ornery towns and the countryside to the not-so-wild west known as Granite Springs and to Palm Grove, a Hollywoodish spot aiming to have its own film festival in hopes that it rivals Cannes.

The key factors involve buying blueprints, training workers, purchasing materials, inspecting houses to stave off damage, and building, of course. The steps to take depend on the goal and resources available. Two special buildings, the Workshop and the Sawmill provide added bonuses in lowering the cost of training workers and the price of lumber. It still takes money and workers to build these and these don’t bring in any rent money.

You can also build two types of banks, one where all profits go to charity and one where you keep the profits. However, keeping the profits means Mr. Taxman will come knocking on your door with a huge property tax bill especially on larger homes. If you don’t have the money, the tax bill climbs faster than a credit card with high interest rates.

In Career mode, what most know as story mode, buildings must meet all the goals for the level to move forward. The mayor is the boss and sometimes the boss makes requests in the middle of a job. But rewards will follow upon successful execution. A level begins with a specific cash amount, available workers, and units of material. And the hard work comes in carefully using these resources while obtaining more.

The interface uses tabs for easy switching to get the needed information. The all-important goals that take you to the next level always appear at the top of the screen complete with checkboxes letting you know when you’ve met the goals. This lets you spend more time focused on the other tabs that keep the work moving.

Most games have a second game mode to extend the game’s playability. Usually, the casual or endless game mode doesn’t interest me or they look like an afterthought in meeting gamer expectations of a second mode. Build-a-Lot gives players more freedom for creativity.

Rather than endlessly building and selling homes and lots, you can do whatever you want as long as you reach the financial goal. With many possibilities for reaching the goal, the casual game mode compels builders to play again after conquering all the goals. Furthermore, after completing Career mode, you can return to any level and play it again especially for those that don’t have a star indicating you beat the deadline.

I’d like to see more buildings to include a special feature like the one that comes with the post office. After building the first post office, you’ll get mail at any of the places you own. These letters are usually the bearer of great news and added funds — small but helpful. Perhaps, the cinema could send movie rentals and a much needed break from hard labor. OK, maybe that doesn’t have much to do with the game, but you get the idea.

The game also attracts those not into tycoon or diner style games as it capture my better half’s curiosity and he loves the game. This alone should speak volumes for Build-a-Lot -– a game of a specific genre that could convert non-fans of tycoon games and rivet those who are. Speaking of rivets, I had better return to work on those extravagant mansions and castles and sell those lower-priced Rambler, Colonial, and Tudor homes to make room for them.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows ME/2000/XP/Vista
• 500MHz or faster Processor
• 256MB RAM

Gamezebo has tips and tricks for surviving the more challenging levels of the game.