From the developers of the cruelly underrated entrepreneur sim, Monopoly Tycoon, Tycoon City allows armchair egomaniacs to build a business empire from scratch and run the greatest city in the world. But while reaping the rewards of your labour is fun for a while, the games shortcomings soon become apparent.
Unlike the classic Sim City games - where players have to worry about infrastructure and building roads, powerlines and accommodation - Tycoon City is all about getting rich quick by constructing shops, businesses and services to fleece the busy NYC inhabitants.
The action is initially gripping as the games bursting with colour and imagination, with over 65,000 virtual customers to target, an epic sense of scale that allows you to zoom down from the clouds to the sidewalk, and quirky sound effects and music that give the game more personality than your standard strategy game.
But when you really get into the game, a series of niggling quirks get in the way; rival businesses arent highlighted when placing a new venture (which is frustrating when you're trying to break into new areas of the city), its hard to target audience needs when there are so many potential customers, and the painfully-slow pace means you have to move far beyond your initial base in Greenwich Village before your competitors really start to put up a fight.