Game Dev Story is a simple and surprisingly addictive, quirky simulator.
The strongest feature of Game Dev Story is it's addictive nature. The game hosts a simple text-poking interface (you want something, you poke the word that gives it to you) and several decisions come your way at any given moment. This isn't overwhelming, though, since the options are simple, but what it does do is suck you in. It's hard to put the game down for a second when you have to pick someone to make the graphics for your game, or you have to decide if you can afford to go to the industries largest showcasing event. Hours slip by quietly as you level up different genres and train your team to unlock more, and as you point your game in different directions to affect sales and reviews. It's just hard to put down.
Noteworthy Features:
Plenty to strive for: There are sales records, awards, console building and a hall of fame to aim your goals toward as you play through the game. There's even an online leaderboard to top, if you're ambitious enough.
Quirky humor: Hiring booth babes, pun-based game titles and very nearly named designers to hire adds a smile and chuckle to the flavor of the game.
Lackluster Features:
Lack of creative control: The most control you have is naming things (at 14 characters or less), which is nice, unless you start making sequels. Then, you might loose that, as well. You can choose genre and type, though, but the game punishes you with low sales if you go too far out in your choices, and rewards you for going a more traditional rout with your creations. The most you can do is just imagine what your game would be like while your 8-bit workers pound away at their computers for you.
Too Simple: There's no real way to loose the game, unless you're aiming for the highest score on the leaderboards. Other than that, you have the sales records and awards, but all of that can be achieved easily in a second playthrough, if not your first. You can even play the game after the meta portion of it ends. So, there's a real lack of conflict in the game.
Game Dev Story is a fun and addictive sim, with several goals to keep you hooked for the first ten hours or so, but there's a crash right after when the depth you would need to remain invested in a game of this type just isn't found. And with no goal within the game itself to keep you going, it becomes easy to forget it in the long run.