Real Estate Tycoon: Review Of Donald Trump's Real Estate Tycoon Game

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A Drawn Out, Boring Game (1 out of 5)

It is really hard to find a game that I just really do not like, but this is one of them.  I purchased Donald Trump’s Real Estate Tycoon game with another PC game, and figured that I’d play it, since it sounded fun.  The goal of the game is to beat Donald Trump at buying and selling real estate in five major cities around the world.  And, while I did not care for the game, you might, so here is a review of the game overall and why I rate it low on the totem pole of PC games.

Game Basics - You are a budding real estate tycoon who is going to take on the famous Donald.  You have several ways to customize your logo and name when you create your character, which is fun.  Then, you are thrown into competition with Donald on a leveling nightmare that composes of buying buildings, building on vacant lots, renting and selling floor space in the buildings, and trying to beat Donald Trump before he gets the most real estate.  There really is not a free play mode, so you can not just buy and sell as you please.  You have to play the Donald to win that mode - and it does take a while, trust me.  You also have to play against the clock as you can only do business in the day time, which is 7 am to 11 pm in each city.  After that, you either wait until the next day or you move to another city where it is still day time.

Graphics - The graphics are really not all that great.  You have an overview of the cities that you are buying and selling properties in, and you have a somewhat detailed view of the buildings.  There are cars going around the cities and people walking, but they have no real detail either.  There really is not much to the graphics overall, so there is not much to rate.  They are really second rate graphics, and I would expect something better from anything that has Donald Trump’s name on it - but this game lacks real interesting graphics.

How to Play - You have to go through several different levels, each time accomplishing a different goal against Donald.  For example, in one level, you have to purchase every bit of real estate in London before he does.  This is a bit harder than it sounds, as you only start each level with a certain amount of money and you have to gain other avenues of gaining the cash that you need by renting and selling off floors in your buildings.  By renting out the floors, you have a steady stream of income each month, but it does not provide you with instant funds.  By selling out the floors, you have instant funds, but no long term income.  In each senario, you have to deal with the renters or buyers to gain the most money for what you have and the current availability in the city for those types of spaces (either apartments, offices, or shops) determines what the going rate will be.  You also have the area of the city that you are selling in, as this adds to the complication of being able to gain the most money.  You do have the ability to gain loans from banks to get the cash that you need to purchase properties.  But, they charge a high interest rate and usually you can only get a little bit from them.

Once you complete each level, you move on to the next level until you reach the seventh level, which has you in an all-out real estate war against Donald Trump.  You have to purchase more properties than he has, and this level takes a long time, as the computer works against you big time here.  While I’m not saying that the game should be easy to play, it just should not take up so much time.  But, then again, I could have stopped playing…

Anyhow - overall I would really only rate this PC game a 1 out of 5.  The story and graphics are dull and boring and the game itself is really not worth the time it takes to play it.  So, if you have the choice between this game and another… take the other.