Review: Prohibition 3, Candy Wars

[cjvitek]

Review: Prohibition 3: Candy Wars

For anyone that has played the old school game “Drug Wars”, this is exactly the same idea, except instead of drugs, you use candy.

The premise is simple – you are a dealer whose goal is to make money. You try to buy low, sell high, while avoid being caught (by the DEA) or killed. Along the way, you try to save money in the bank, pay off your loan shark, and take advantage of various news items that indicate potential places to optimize your money making strategy.

In Drug Wars, you were a drug dealer. In Candy Wars, you are…well, I guess you are still a drug dealer, since the idea is that sugar is illegal! You travel around New York, hopping on the subway to travel from one borough to another, buying when the prices are low, selling if there is a demand.

The game interface is pretty straight forward. Want to travel to a new borough? Take the button for that location. Want to buy or sell? Tap the button to do so. Want to visit the bank or loan shark? Well, you guessed, tap the button to do so.

The game play is a little varied – you can choose a game that lasts 30, 60, or 90 days. If you exit the game before it is over, you can resume it (a nice feature). Beyond that, you just travel around, trying to make money.

The wallpaper images and background is sort of nice (it displays NYC, and for some reason felt old and broken to me). A nice touch is that rather than forcing you to type in quantities to buy and sell, you can just hit a button to do the max. At the bottom of the screen are various news flash items that indicate where a certain candy may be cheap, or be selling high.

This is the kind of game that is just BEGGING for a multiplayer mode. Being able to compete with a rival dealer would be great (who can make the most money, who can buy out a supply at cheap prices and then sell them high, heck – you could even have shoot outs over turf!). Alas, there is no multiplayer mode, but perhaps one is in the works.

This is a fun little game, good for passing some time, based on an older game that was around back when I had my original Handspring Visor. The game hasn’t changed much, but it was fun back then and it is still fun today. On a side note, I would LOVE to hear “Candyman” playing in the background while playing the game.

Pros: Tried and true formula for a fun game to act as a quick diversion
Cons: no multiplayer, no real innovations or changes from the original “Drug Wars” game.

All in all, this is a fun game. Nothing has been really modified from the basic “Drug Wars” scenario, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Multiplayer would be a huge plus, but at least you can compare high scores. The price isn’t as cheap as possible ($1.99 – the original Drug Wars that I played was free) but if you liked the original Drug Wars, this game would be worth the price. The company also have two other variant of the same game – Drug Wars and Prohibition Wars. From what I can tell, the game play is pretty much the same. Four out of five stars.

Rating scale:

* = No redeeming qualities or features, probably not worth it even if it is free
** = Few redeeming qualities, or is simply isn't worth the price
*** = Some good features but also some clear flaws.
**** = A solid app, worth the money if interested, a few flaws or problems or slightly overpriced
***** = Top of the line app, no problems or drawbacks.

Price is factored into the ratings. Ratings are lowered if I feel the price of the app outweighs the benefits/enjoyment/features it provides. Likewise, an app that is a good value for the money will have a higher rating.