iWin.com recently published a Gamelab-developed title called Shopmania (download free trial here), which is a customer service-style game, with a little bit of Tetris thrown into the mix. In Shopmania, the user plays a character named Lewis attempting to work his way up the food chain of a massive department store known as "Spendmoore". The way Lewis does that is to correctly stuff shopping carts full of items fast enough to make the shoppers happy enough to ring up more and more sales. The pace increases as the game goes on, bonus power-up items are introduced, more complex types of shoppers appear (teenagers are very impatient). The player must replay the round if enough items fall off the conveyor belt, or if enough shoppers get angry and leave due to poor service.
Shopmania's game style is very similar to the Gamelab-developed Diner Dash - serve customers in increasing speed and variety in order to reach some monetary goal. Shopmania introduces a new wrinkle to this time-tested gameplay method, which is that the player needs to fit the differently shaped objects into the differently shaped shopping carts, and then fill in the holes with other items until enough of the cart is full to cash it out - it's a seemingly minor addition, but it really adds depth to the game strategy, as well as some difficulty, so it's a welcome new feature. The rest of the game is pretty standard for the genre (2 different types of gameplay options, matching colors brings a bonus, etc.), but it has a nice sense of humor making fun of consumerism and big retailers, the audio/soundtrack is clever, and the graphics have a unique new look. Overall, the game has the usual Gamelab polish we have come to expect, making it definitely worth a try, and a probable top 10 game.
Verdict - a smart and polished evolution of the Diner Dash genre game - download free trial here
Similar Games
Diner Dash 2 - see review here and download it here
Cake Mania - see review here and download it here
Screenshots
Nice game. Similar to Diner Dash in some way, but still worth playing and of course buying :)and Re-playing ) Is there any news concerning next part of it?
Posted by: Eugene | February 28, 2007 at 04:04 AM