The Fairy Godmother's rep will never be the same!
But they are. I assure you. And a lack of scruples is exactly what gives this game its flair and panache.
-- Overview --
"Fairy Godmother Tycoon" puts you in charge of The Fairy Godmother's empire of potion supplying chain stores. You hop from locality to locality in the land of Onceuponia, hocking potions to cure such ills as excessive swearing and giant heads.
The townsfolk in each level are only too happy to buy your goods. Providing you can prove to them your store is worth visiting and your potions worth buying, which starts off relatively easy but becomes increasingly difficult. You encounter more and more competition, increased complexity and expenses in the potions you create, and peasants who grow ever more skeptical of your capabilities.
"Fairy Godmother Tycoon" could easily be misconstrued as "just another tycoon game" at first glance. But there is a lot of depth to this game, which is carried out near seamlessly and without reserve.
-- Gameplay --
When you start out in "Fairy Godmother Tycoon", you have the opportunity to select a fairy avatar that will represent you in Onceuponia. Then, you meet The Fairy Godmother herself who professes she needs your help to build a potion empire that will rule all the land.
As you begin the first level, aptly titled "Tutorialville", you are introduced to the ins and outs of being a potion creator and salesperson. Potions are built using various ingredients, but at the beginning of each level you will only be capable of creating one potion. You can research new potions, and therefore gain an edge on your competition by having a greater variety to sell to peasants.
The game runs in a series of days, and each day you receive a bulletin informing you of the "Curse Forecast" and other news. You may receive such headlines as "Peasants set selves on fire to protest overly dramatic forms of protesting." Which indicates a lot of peasants are going to be cursed to be on fire that day. Or perhaps it will read "Rainstorm washes out local waterspouts - Itsy Bitsy Spiders flood the market (literally)!", letting you know the potion ingredient "Itsy Bitsy Spiders" will be on sale.
These news chunks give you a heads up in regards to what the peasants will or will not be suffering from that day, as well as other expectations. You then purchase what you believe to be an appropriate amount of ingredients, set the prices according to the demand you expect, throw a little marketing into the mix, and away you go.
Peasants start off with a favourite store each level. Over time, if you provide a good experience for them, they will begin to like your store better. Improvements and upgrades such as faster potion makers, in-store entertainment, and even the storefront itself will affect peasants' opinions.
Each level has very tycoon-like requirements. These can include accumulating a certain net-worth, outdoing the competition, or increasing your overall cash wealth.
But what really shines in "Fairy Godmother Tycoon" is its tongue-in-cheek sense of fairy-tale humour. The develops took a page from the type of humour we see in the world of "Shrek".
The Fairy Godmother naturally has a reputation for being a do-gooder, and so various fairy-tale characters will drop by your store asking your assistance. You'll meet Miss Muffet who's having problems with Spider, a leather-biker who's set up a bar next to her "Curds n' Whey" restaurant. Or how about the tortoise and hare, whose famous race ended unexpectedly not due to the hare's laziness, but greedy wolves with sleeping pills, out to win a bet.
Not to mention the sheer hilarity of the curses themselves. Watching the peasants wander around suffering from giant heads and too much swearing is entertaining in itself!
The gameplay does grow a bit repetitive. But there is enough variety in the fairy tale storylines, curses, and other bits of humour to keep things interesting.
-- Graphics & Sound --
The graphics in "Fairy Godmother Tycoon" are not fantastic. The game runs at only 800 x 600, which is quite a low resolution for today's games. You'll notice the low resolution especially in later levels, as the population of peasants increases and things grow crowded. Not to mention elements of the game's interface could have been better implemented if they just had more room. The game does run in a window if you like, which is helpful for multi-taskers and folks who want to hide their gaming habit from their boss.
That all being said, the artwork in the game is exceptional for a game of this scope. The fairy-tale characters and enemies you encounter in each level are not animated, but in a way that's fine. The game plays like a storybook. The characters are VERY well drawn, and somehow come to life regardless.
The whole game has a very distinct style, and kudos must be given to the artists and designers in that respect.
The audio is sufficient. The music is appropriately fairytale-like, and the sound effects are fine. Sometimes it seems the sound effects fall out of sync, but this is fairly minor as there aren't a lot of sound effects to begin with.
-- Conclusion --
This is really a fine game, plain and simple. It takes the standard tycoon genre and gives it a twist, which is no easy task given the saturation of tycoon games we have seen flood the market over the last 10 years or so.
Give the demo a try. This game likely isn't for everyone. But at only 20 bucks, "Fairy Godmother Tycoon" is worth it simply for its sense of humour and whimsical attitude.