Cinema Tycoon 2: Movie Mania Game Review

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Cinema Tycoon 2: Movie Mania is the sequel to the hugely popular Cinema Tycoon game that caused sleep deprivation for the many fans who couldn't stop playing it. The series is back and better than ever, with more gameplay elements, movies and a great story.

Cinema Tycoon 2 is a new addition to the strategy and simulation genre, with a few innovative concepts introduced in this beautifully crafted game. In the game, you work for Mr. Pickwick, the owner of the Pickwick chain of cinemas. Unfortunately, the chain isn't doing very well, and it is up to you to help rescue it from bankruptcy.

As a new employee, you have to first prove your worth to Mr. Pickwick. He first gets you to manage a small and old cinema, and evaluates how good your management skills are. As you slowly prove your capabilities by meeting the objectives at each stage of the game, you are given control over bigger and more famous cinemas.

In order to improve the business, you are given control over the entire management process of the cinema. You can choose which films you wish to buy and show, ranging from PG-rated actions films to R-rated westerns. And the films each have a life of their own, having peak seasons and a target audience that ebbs and flows.

You can also select what snacks you want to sell at the box office, which employees to hire and what kind of marketing tools you want to use to get the word out about your great cinema! You can also upgrade the cinema once you start earning income. Are your marketing efforts so successful that you are forced to turn away customers? Then set up new screens. Customers complaining about the lines at the snack bar? Then build new snack windows and hire attendants to cater to them. What films you show and what strategies you use are entirely up to you. All Mr. Pickwick cares about is the bottom line.

Once you have made the management and business decisions, it is time to sit back and see how things progress in the simulation. You will get to view your cinema in action, from the lines (hopefully there are lines) at the ticket counter to the snack bar and to the cinema itself. The customers will tell you whether they are happy or not with your service, and what they think you should do to improve. However, the customer isn't always right...

Hopefully, you'd have made a decent revenue to cover your daily costs and justify the purchase of those expensive blockbusters. You'll get to see reports on how each section of your cinema is doing. Then it's back to the management and business decisions... tweaking and experimenting with new strategies and slowly making your way towards the objectives Mr. Pickwick has set.

Be prepared to be totally immersed in and addicted to this simple yet totally engrossing game. Before you realise it, you'll have spent hours trying new strategies and buying new films in order to save the Pickwick cinemas from bankruptcy. As they say, the show must go on!

Rating: 3.0/5.0  

Watch a demo video of the game!

 Download Cinema Tycoon 2: Movie Mania onto your computer

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