A simple but fun Tycoon game - maybe one for the younger student rather than a graduate!
School Tycoon is at first a rewarding game - note I didn't say management game as the game really doesn't require much management. A typical session in the Instant Challenge game (School Tycoon's Sandbox mode) consist of putting down a classroom, hiring a teacher and then wating until you can afford another classroom for a different subject. Rinse and repeat until you have all the subjects covered and this will unlock the next set of clasrooms able to hold more students and generally provide a better education. Go back and place the new classroom and sell the old one for more space if required. Keep to this formula and you will, after a while, have built all there is to build. There are of course other things you can build like decorative items that give your students a morale boost. The only other thing you need worry about are things like a maintenance building and janitor building for repairing and cleaning your school respectively.
To staff all these buildings costs money and this is where school tycoon hasn't done its homework. You only get the most basic of information regarding your income and expenses. Nothing explains where your income comes from - is it students enroling or the number of students in total? Do you get income from the food hall - how about the vending machine? None of these questions are answered so your ability to boost your income is lost as you don't know how you get it in the first place! Also you can't affect how a building runs, other than the quality of the staff in regards to placing teachers in the classroom. You can't for instance click on a cafe and choose how much to charge for meals or adjust the budget of each classroom.
A little variety and micromanegment is provided in the students needs. Each student has a variety of needs that need to be catered for or else the student will leave your school (and presumably if enough leave this will affect your income?) But by placing one of each classroom and somewhere for them to eat and go to the loo you will easily overcome this.
All in all a fun game for the younger student - graphics are colourfull - if a little basic by todays standards. Sound is appropriate but again a little basic.. One nice touch is the variety of students you see - you won't be getting dozens of clones wandering around your school.
A game that will prove more fun from watching your students hustle around your school than from actually engaging the brain and running it.