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Not what I expected....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 38 / 44
Date: November 12, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Being a lover of simulation games, I could hardly wait to get my copy of Fast Food Tycoon. After loading it on my PC, I was quickly disappointed. As the other reviewers stated, it's difficult to get started because there is no instruction manual. The tutorial is sketchy at best. The "fast food" involved here is strictly pizza.

Try designing your own pizzas and you'll quickly learn that customers aren't happy with them. They seem to prefer ants (yes, insects) over mushrooms. The only way you can tell if customers are not pleased with your restaurants is by an icon over their head. However, there is no way to tell what these icons stand for, nor does it state anywhere WHY they were displeased with your service. If it is because of shoddy service, you're out of luck. The only control you have over your employees is hiring and firing (i.e., you can't make them wait on customers).

Playability is limited. I've had mine for two days now, with a total of about six hours played, and I'm done with it.

The only good thing I can say about this game is that the graphics were done nicely. The characters are funny to look at.

Proceed with caution on this one....

Awkward play -- not all TYCOONS are good!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 27 / 29
Date: January 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Until a few weeks ago, I thought all "Tycoon" games were made by the company who brought us that wonderful game "Rollercoaster Tycoon" (Electronic Arts). While perusing the Sim aisle at my local computer store, I realized that in fact, many companies use the name "Tycoon" in their Sim games, and not all of them are of the same quality.

How different could they all be? you ask. Well, I asked myself the same question, and figured that while some might be cheaper, it didn't necessarily mean that they would make for a poorer game. I got Fast Food Tycoon in my christmas stocking, and promptly installed it.

Note: in the jewel case version of this game, there is no instruction manual. There is a "Read Me" file, but it doesn't give any hints as to gameplay.

The startup menu was cool - bright colors and clever cartoony drawings. The beginning even has a 3D animation depicting the neighborhood where your Pizza parlor will be located. Pretty cool. (Oh, and "Pizza Parlor Tycoon" would have been a more accurate moniker, as there aren't any choices as far as fast food joints go). I also got to choose my own company logo & signature color. Also cool. So, I start with the tutorial, which is so annoying I have to turn it off and try to figure the game out on my own. (Why is it annoying? I have to sit and wait while information scrolls slowly across a little dialog bubble whenever I move my cursor over something. Then, the tutorial ends before I've really learned anything.) Another note: apparently the proofreading team wasn't all that great, as at this point, five minutes into the game, I've come across about five misspellings and/or typos.

The play screen has picture icons lining every side of the screen, none of which is self-explanatory, and several of which overlap (for instance, the "staff" icon shows up in three different places, and each one does a slightly different thing). And that's the least complicated aspect of the interface. (If you're into complicated gaming, then maybe this game IS for you...) There are the basic Sim things to deal with before you can open your restaurant: furnishing your restaurant, hiring staff, determining your menu, ordering your supplies. And as I mentioned before, setting all these basic functions up is anything but easy to figure out. And, there are so many things to manage that it becomes difficult to oversee everything, especially since as far as I could tell, there was no way to pause or slow time.

So, the tutorial tells me that the most important thing in the game is the special recipes of pizza you invent (it IS sort of fun to make pizzas -- there is a list of probably a hundred ingredients you get to put on the pizza including the usual suspects: olives, cheese, salami, etc, and some not-so-usuals: kiwifruit, maggots, lemon balm) based on the tastes of eight different demographics in the particular city you are playing in. The only problem is, this is so hit-or-miss that it's virtually impossible to come up with a pizza that anyone actually likes.

There are aspects to the game that are less typical in a Sim (and add to the interest of play), namely the decision whether to build your business legitimately or through less-legal means (no tutorials ever really broach this subject, by the way). You also have some pretty interesting choices in a couple of areas: financing (loan sharks offer competitive rates with several banks), and marketing (you get to choose from several firms that specialize in different forms of advertising), which I haven't seen in any other game. The problem with these, again, is simply that they are convoluted and difficult to understand.

This review has run quite long, so let me sum it up. Basically, this game has potential if you can stick it out long enough to figure out how to work all its intricacies. However, you'll have to be a very patient person to get to that point. The idea behind the game was fun, but the team who planned it out needed to streamline, and distill everything (especially the interface) down to the very essence. Unfortunately, they didn't, and we are left with a game that is as hard to digest as a kiwi pizza with extra maggots.

Wait until this one hits the dollar bin.

Diffucult to figure out!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 15
Date: February 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Don't buy the game without the instruction booklet, unless you're prepared to spend a LOT of time trying to figure out what's going on! The website doesn't offer any help either, and technical support doesn't respond to email questions.

The game itself is cute, but very complex. I would definately NOT recommend buying it without an instruction booklet of some sort.

Total Crap

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: November 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game because I have enjoyed other tycoon type games in the past and was sorely disappointed with this purchase. Instructions for this game are laking to the point where even after going through the game's own walkthrough you still have no idea what you are supposed to do, or rather what you are continually doing wrong even though you followed the directions to a T. Also, the menu bars are poorly done as they are not word based, but picture based, which is confusing as the pictures do not always make sense and watch out if you don't immediately know what a picture is supposed to mean, you'll spend the next half hour trying to find what you were really looking for. Don't waste your money on this one.

Pizza Tycoon is back

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: January 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is a lot of fun. People who are familiar with and liked the old game Pizza Tycoon will just love this one. The gameplay is very familiar, but the graphics has improved a lot. It's called Fast Food Tycoon, but really should have been called Pizza Tycoon 2.

If you are looking for an excellent game that lets you try things you'd probably never would in real life, Fast Food Tycoon is a game for you. In Fast Food Tycoon you are in charge. Design your restaurant, then hire staff, choose and create your pizzas, manage your restaurant, and probably the funnest part, defend your restaurant from the mob.

When you consider that this game goes for around $19.99, it's a very good deal if you like economic simulations. If you, like me, loved the game Pizza Tycoon, it's just a bargain and a must have.

Great Idea - poor execution

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: April 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The idea of creating and managing your own fast food chain, and then watching it function from a bird's eye view is a great one. Unfortunately, Activision failed at recreating this idea to your PC with Fast Food Tycoon. The main reason the game is a failure is because of it's confusing gameplay. It helps to use the tutorial but even after that you'll find yourself wondering, "How did I get to that certain screen that let me do that certain function." Watching your pizza(only type of food)place function is pretty cheasy also. There are very few animations and there's not many ways to edit the looks of the place either. If your looking for a solid simulaion game that will keep you entertained for hours your better off with Theme Hospital, Roller Coaster Tycoon, or one of the sim-cities. Do your cholesterol a favor and pass this Fast Food.

Buyer Beware

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: August 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game like I have bought most sim games. This one could be alot of fun if you knew what you were doing. but unfortunatly, no instruction booklet comes with it. It does have a tutorial, but its kinda hard to follow, and its not there when you go to do it on your own. I have given this game about ten hours now and still have gone bust with each time. I have yet to win a scenario. If you dont automate the help, you cant figure out how to space them so they dont all show up at once and go home at once leaving an empty restaurant with hungry customers. You can automate everything, but what fun is that? As mentioned in another review, if you knew what your customer was thinking it would be nice so you can try to change it, but there is no way to tell. My advice is to [ignore] any game that doesnt come with an instruction manual.

Grat Idea....Terrible Execution

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

As a fan of sim games like SimCity and Free Enterprise (to name but a few), I purchased this one thinking that the concept of operating a fast food chain had great possibilities....unfortunately, Activision has blown this one. First, if you want instructions, you are out of luck. Next, the tutorials are meager to say the least. Throughout the game, the icons that drive everything you do are hard to decipher without using the help feature. To really start playing this game and to know what you are doing would take hours since the only way to learn it is through a great deal of trial and error (much more than any other games of this ilk).

In a nutshell, this game disappoints.

No, I Don't Want Ants On My Pizza

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: February 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Pros: Cute graphics...$5 "Bargain Bin" at CompUsa

Cons: Confusing layout! No instruction manual,
Infuriating...difficult to understand, time-consuming, Interface impossible to deal with, limited control, yadda, yadda, yadda

The Bottom Line: Avoid it! The jewel case will make a great coaster for the soda I'm sipping while playing a REAL game. If your goal is to drive someone insane, literally, then this is the perfect gift. Otherwise, don't waste your money.

Summary:
The Pros:

The idea of it all. They potentially had something so good in this game.

The scenarios. Easy, medium or hard as well as "most income" or "Most popular" or "First one to make a million dollars". I liked the option of not really having any goal and just playing so that I wouldn't blink and be obliterated.

You can check on how different "target groups" are responding to your restaurant, your food, etc. Click on the target group and a little Polaroid Photo sort of thing pops up and they're either smiling or making a pre-vomiting face.

The "make your own pizza" part! Oh man this was fun! You sort through all your ingredients and apply liberally. You have the traditional meats and cheeses and veggies. You also have all sorts of seafood and insect life. Ew, right? Well, you open franchises in different countries and hey, tastes vary. What else is fun when you're making your pizza is they have a "Chopper". You can click your ingredient over the chopper and it'll dice it smaller and smaller and it's graphically correct and adorable. Cheese starts as a block (chopper chopper) and then it's a thinner slice (chopper chopper) and then it's small chunks, and then shreds, and then sprinkles. How cute! Tomatoes go from whole to halves to quarters to slices to paste! Fun!

The Cons:

I'm ashamed to say that I couldn't figure out how to play this game for the life of me. Being impatient, I just jumped on in and thought I was going to kick some butt. After about 20 minutes I was still staring at the screen, clicking on various things.

Aaaaalright, I'll take the tutorial. It turned the light bulb on in my head in terms of staffing, decoration and purchasing supplies. Frustrating though...I clicked on everything on the screen before I'd click on what it wanted me to. The graphics are loud and confusing. What does a big face mean? Staff? Syndicate? Exit?

Oddly enough when I started my next game I couldn't find ANY of the buttons that were there in the tutorial...I couldn't find the staffing, my "information history" and couldn't even figure out how to open my darn restaurant.

Infuriating! I checked out my restaurant...it had some people and staff in it...but when I clicked around it sent me to some other restaurant. I sure the heck didn't open that one or decorate it, where'd it come from? Argh!

You have the option of having things done "automatically" for you in various areas (Select them when you begin your scenario if you'd like) but doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of building your own Pizza Empire?

Give it time, It is Fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I got this game after I got RollerCoaster Tycoon. At first, I was like all the other reviewers. I could not figure it out. But I took my time, I played with the features. I used the automated features. Now, I am out robbing banks every so often, stealing furniture, and breaking criminals out of jail while my restaurants are making a lot of money. I still have not played a regular challenge, but play only the custom challenges where I can keep my automatic features on.

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