Ski Resort Mogul Review (PC)

Review Date: August 24, 2010
Developer: Alawar Friday's Games
Publisher: Alawar Entertainment
Platform: PC
Genre: Time Management

A ski resort is a great place to go and relax. You can get out for some fresh air and get cozy in a nice, warm log cabin. But if you're running a resort, things aren't quite so relaxing. The latest game in Alawar's "mogul" series of time management games tackles this very issue, forcing players to maintain and improve a ski resort in need of a helping hand. The result is a solid and challenging game that manages to squeeze in elements from a few other genres as well.

In the game you'll play as Julia, a young girl with a misguided crush on skiing superstar Antonio. In a stroke of amazing coincidence, Julia's aunt is in dire need of some help running her resort, so Julia agrees hoping it will allow her to get close to Antonio. The story is a bit silly, but it's at least light hearted and doesn't take itself all that seriously. It also serves as a great set-up for the actual gameplay.

Ski Resort Mogul is divided up into a series of different stages, each of which has its own particular set of goals. These goals will ask you to do everything from attracting a certain number of visitors to building a certain number of hotels to earning a certain amount of money. And to do all of these things you'll need to build structures. There are three different types of buildings in the game: Guests, which includes cabins and hotels and other buildings that guests stay in; Line, which consists of buildings that will attract visitors, like skating rinks and ski lifts; and Shops, which earn you cash.

Each stage is set-up differently. When you begin you'll be given your set of tasks, of which there are usually around three, and then you'll be shown the level map. Here you'll see several buildings that are already in place as well as other plots of land that are empty. You can place new buildings in these empty lots, though only if the building is of the right size. Each Guest house will earn you rent money, which you can use to buy additional plots of land, building materials, or to upgrade your buildings. You'll also have to keep an eye out for skiiers in need of rescue, as saving them will earn you some extra money.

New buildings will unlock as you progress, and you'll earn stars based on how quickly you manage to finish the level. Each stage features two different time limits, gold and silver, and earning either one will net you a tidy sum of stars. You'll still earn some if you fail to get either ranking, but it won't be as much. These stars are used to upgrade the various facilities at your disposal, giving you faster workers and better quality building materials. Sometimes you'll need to have a certain number of stars to unlock the next level, which, depending on how well you've been playing, may require you to go back and replay certain stages.

In addition to the time management portion of the game, Ski Resort Mogul also features the occaisional hidden object scene as well. You'll be presented with a list of objects, each represented by a dark shilouette, and a cluttered scene in which to find them. The HOG portions don't happen all that often and they're completely skippable if you have no interest in them, but they do provide a nice change of pace with a much more relaxed style of play.

Visually the game is a bit of a mixed back. The backgrounds and character portraits all look great, and the ski resort theme is a much welcomed new setting for the genre. But in comparison, the buildings 

Ski Resort Mogul doesn't do a whole lot new, but it manages to take some of the best elements of time managment games and fuse them together into one very entertaining experience. It almost plays like a cross between Farm Frenzy and Royal Envoy, but with a winter theme. Throw in some beautiful graphics, lots of replay value, a fresh new setting, and even some hidden object action, and you've got one well-rounded experience.