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This is a REALLY fun game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 111 / 116
Date: September 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It's *almost* as addicting as The Sims. There, I said it. Out of the sim games out there, this is my favorite and because there are so many sim games out there, that's saying a lot! The graphics are really sharp, but be careful. I'm running a 1gig system with 256MB RAM and a Geforce2 Pro and it's just enough to keep it running good. Lesser systems might struggle.

The game is more "Virtual Resort" than it is "Spring Break" (it's sold as "Beach Life" in the U.K.) The object is simple enough, build a vacation spot that everyone will want to come to. At the beginning you start out with the basics, a hotel, a few food vendors, builders, cleaning staff, mechanics, and some extras to keep the guests happy. As you progress in the game, more and more items become available. Soon, you'll have discos, casinos, outdoor activities such as snorkeling and surfing gear, fishing trips, paddle-boats, plus a variety of different bars and nightclubs for people to spend their cash on. Each building has a certain appeal to males or females and you can tweak the settings such as the type of drinks served and even the alcohol strength of the drinks, how often you want the mechanic to stop by, the prices you want to charge, etc... Your staff operates in true sim fashion - work them too long and they'll start getting mad, pay them more and they'll work even harder, get too cheap and the lifeguard might look the other way as your guests drown or get eaten by sharks.

So what makes this game better than the other sim-knockoffs out there? In short, it's challenging but not extremely difficult, it's funny, and yes, it's addicting. I'm currently stuck on the seventh level and with most games hitting a roadblock is enough to make me put it down and look for something else. With this game, though, I keep coming back to it thinking maybe if I just tweak one more thing... Keeping everyone happy is a juggling act. With your limited funds you need to build what you can to keep your customers from getting mad and leaving. But once the money starts rolling in, you can splurge on the more expensive items to really get the party going and turn your operation into a five-star resort.

Customers have a variety of desires such as beautiful scenery, reasonable prices, cleanliness, a variety of places to eat and drink, members of the opposite sex to party with, and necessities like a nearby bathroom and accommodations to stay in. The developers have struck a nice balance of keeping you busy solving the various problems while still leaving you enough time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. One of the best parts of the game is following the guests around and reading what they're thinking about as they can say some really off-the-wall stuff. For instance, one of the guests might say "those two were beautiful-- the girl was really pretty too!" Feed someone a good meal and they might say something like "that meal was so good I'm not going to the toilet so I don't have to part company with it!"

As the game progresses, your missions become more risque. For instance, you might need to get a certain number of guests to go for a "romp" on the beach or you might have to get a certain number drunk within a certain time limit. It's not as easy as it sounds. I'm giving the beer away, yet I still can't seem to get enough people drunk to get to the next level (you'd think that'd be the least of my worries!) Plus, making the drinks too strong will cause fights to break out all over the place, vandalism, or even nonstop vomiting (much to the chagrin of the cleaning crew.)

I also have to give a thumbs-up to the great music included in the game. The only thing that bugs me is it tends to cut off the songs before they're finished. At first I thought it was a problem with the game until I realized it switches from a daytime selection of jazz and lounge to a nighttime selection of rhythmic club music. Even if you don't like this type of music, no problem, just copy your favorite mp3's into the game and you've got your own jukebox selection.

Is the game perfect? Not quite. It's not difficult or expensive to keep your staff happy, just pay them a little more than what they start off with and you won't even have to worry about them. You also have to make a lot of lucky guesses when building in areas with limited space as you don't know how big a particular building is going to be until you have the funds to buy it outright. This makes advance planning difficult. You can add scenic items such as trees, flowers, signs, lighting, fountains, and statues, but you can't modify the terrain itself. If that building won't fit because it's sitting on one little square of beach, you're out of luck. As you complete each mission, you can go back later and build a new resort from scratch in "sandbox" mode. It's a nice feature, but I doubt it will add much replayability to the game.

These are minor gripes, though. All in all, the game is a lot of fun to play and I haven't run into any bugs or system crashes either. If you like economic sims and the subject matter appeals to you I'd highly recommend it.

Hope the review helped!

Spring Break = FUN!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 18
Date: December 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Wow, this is another GREAT sim game! I wasn't expecting much when I bought it, but since I play every sim/tycoon game out there - I gave it a shot. I have to say, I was majorly impressed! The graphics are decent, the game is fun and runs well... it's great!

The basic premise is that you are building a spring break resort for all those crazy college kids (and more) to come visit. You have a gazillion different items/attractions to choose from, staff to hire, all the normal sim stuff. The best part though, is watching the little sim people run around your resort! They are so hilarious! It's funny to build a dance club and watch them all bounce around, or build a stage and have a wet t-shirt contest (hmm, all the guys on the beach just ran over)... there's so many different actions they do - it will keep you laughing all night!

My only complaint about the game is having no control over terrain. I wanted to build one of the water attractions, but there was no possible way to build it on some of the maps because of terrain issues. :( But since that's the only issue I had with the entire game - I am still giving it 5 stars. It was a blast and kept my attention for a long time. I still load it up sometimes and play, which is something I rarely do with most games! Highly recommend!

This game is Very Decent management game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 17
Date: October 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

To anybody who has liked games like rollercoaster tycoon, tropico, or any other tycoon/management games, you will like this game. The variety of stuff to build is grand. You will enjoy watching your visitors get drunk and go make out on the beach as your lifeguards rescue some drowning victims as your security officers go and fine visitors. You can do jus about anything. The levels get pretty challenging after level 7 so this game should keep(there are 14 levels in all) and after you beat each level you can go play it in sandbox mode. Overall, a great tycoon game...

Pretty entertaining

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: September 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is pretty cool. The graphics from normal zoom are great and the interface is pretty easy. Also, game loading doesn't take too long. But, there are some things I don't like about the game and that's why it gets only 4 stars. First, there is an option to have your mechanics inspect the buildings every certain number of hours to insure they're working properly. Well, I'm not sure why the creators of this game put that option in because it doesn't seem to work at all. You can have your mechanics inspect each building once every hour and the buildings still seem to break down just as often. Also, the buildings seem to age a bit too fast. Especially the accomodation blocks. It takes no time for guests to start complaining about the price. I think there are also should be a warning of some sort to you when sharks are in the water because when you're worrying about guests fighting, prices being too high, buildings breaking down, and such sometimes, you don't have time to check the waters 24/7 and need some help out with that. :-) This is a fun game to play however, and maybe the creators will fix some of the issues and bring out a newer and better game.

Worth the price

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: April 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a nicely designed, easy to manipulate, sim/tycoon game. The graphics are good, and it has a low learning curve. Of course, these kinds of games are not for people who like action or shooters, so just know that there are no real "disasters" or anything.

I got tired of the limited number and type of items I could place, and would have liked to have seen a sort of "shop generator" or something to really customize it. You can't even change the colors on the buildings to create a theme or atmosphere.

Overall, though, it is worth the price, and will provide you with several hours of enjoyment. It is fun to go back to after you have sort of played it out, and just see what kinds of layouts you can create.

Happy gaming!

Very fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: February 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm very picky about games I play....I almost won't play anything other than the Sims....but this game really got me hooked! I got my fiance and his nephew playing it too! It's quite addicting. The scenarios are somewhat easy, but building your own resort from scratch can be somewhat difficult. I think it's awesome :-)

I'm hooked on this simple game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: July 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm very into sims, and FP shooters, but I wasn't sure about taking a chance on this sim. However, after reading a favorable review, and taking into account the price came down, I decided to give it a shot. Now I'm addicted. I'd love to see them come out with an add-on cause I don't want to finish. The game is funny, absorbing and the later missions are challenging. The background sound is good and the peoples comments are funny. I've made it to mission 8 and can't get the right combo to complete both. Having been burned on one of the "tycoon" spinoffs made me reluctant to try this but I'm glad I did. This game usually made me laugh even after a [bad] day at work! I would definitely recommend the game.

Humour at last

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: September 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Iv'e just got a copy of this and I must say how much fun i have had in the past days. SpringBreak looks initially like all the other games out there, but it's so much more than I would have thought. I especially like following the guests around and keeping an eye on what they are thinking, some of the 'thoughts' are really funny. Many of the scenarios concentrate on balancing the buildings on the island, and keeping the guests happy, but with such cool graphics (look for the sharks) it's fun to play. I would recommend this to anyone who is fed up the normal run of the mill game, definatly five stars.

FUN FUN FUN!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: September 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I would highly suggest this game to anyone who loves simulation management games. If you liked Tropico, Rollercoaster Tycoon, you'll love Virtual Resort: Spring Break.

It has 11 or 12 levels in which you go through and fix several problems given a selected amount of time. It's a little rough but very addicting!! And in no time you're figure out what to do and be successful. With every level you complete you unlock that island to play in sandbox mode for later on.

I give the game 5 stars for good graphics, fun play and ease of use!! Check it out!!

play this one if you like business games

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: October 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It is a game where you have to manage a vacational resort and of course as it is in real life here you have to take many important business decisions on the fly.
I suggest this game to people who want a try how it feels to run a bussiness resort, I tell you in advance that this will not be an easy task.
I played it long enough and want to share two facts about the game with you, One is that when you are playing you will not have enough time to do customizing, nor money to buying scenery objects, so you will have to be fast using your mouse, that is about micromanaging workers and objects. the Other fact is about the number of available buildings you have at each island, every island has different available buildings and it includes sandbox mode, you almost always not have enough money to build them all in such a short time. Once you won the normal mission you have it in sandbox mode, but the problem is you get your island with no scenery objects and those cost money that you can invest elsewhere and it takes a lot of time to develop your resort before you consider add scenery objects.
I found you can do very well with less buildings, select wisely in what you invest, each building cost money and it takes time to recover your investment and mechanics labour maintennance.

Play it, you will not be dissapointed.

I don't give a 5 stars because this game focus on you doing the hard job managing the resort while you see your guest having a lot of fun.

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