The Story: Jessica is home from LA and overhears her Aunt Margaret talking about hers and Uncle Fred’s woes about their failing bakery. Bright-eyed, ever ready Jessica suggests updating the bakery concept and start a cupcake café to bring in the customers and also make a profit. Aunt Margaret is thrilled with the idea since all the buzz is about cupcakes (even Martha Stewart devoted a week to cupcake making on her top-rated TV show, and everyone knows Martha can turn a profit). However, Auntie M is astute enough to know that a conversion of the shop will take a lot of work and assistance, so she asks Jessica to lend a hand to get things started.

There will always be a need for your typical neighborhood bakery making breads, birthday cakes and cookies or even the fancy French patisserie with their, oh so decadent, ganache frostings and croissants, but the latest craze in bakeries is the cupcake shops that are everywhere nowadays. My favorite cupcake shop is Magnolia in New York City, and I hear Vanilla in LA is quite good. I’ll have to check it out next time I’m in town. Jessica’s Cupcake Café is an updated sim play like Ice Cream Craze and Mystic Emporium.

The Play: Making cupcakes appears to be a straightforward, easy play or it it? The play is to click on the type of cake your customer wishes to buy (this is shown to you with the number of cupcakes in a bubble next to the client). The highly innovative machine will place the correct amount of batter into the baking sheet, you click on the pan, click on the oven to bake, wait, click on the baked cupcakes, click on the counter, click on the requested frosting, click on the completed tube of frosting, click on the tray of cakes to frost after completion click to pick up the pan, click on the customer and finally on the cash register to collect the money. These are a lot of steps to maneuver, but once you get into the groove, everything will flow nicely. However, in these plays there are always things that may slow your play down such as a decoration candy piece to top the cupcake. It can be a bear, daisy, heart or sun. The customer may request a special order causing you to throw out a batch of cupcakes or frosting.

However the game will always give you great upgrades to help you increase your speed to beat the level. You may get additional stoves, more icing machines and candy makers. Another added plus is you can design your own cupcakes to sell to your clients. Don’t worry about the extra cupcakes since they will be sold at a bake sale in a side mini game. Your goal is to sell as many cupcakes as possible in a limited time.

Jessica’s Cupcake Café, although similar to many of the sim plays, is an entertaining Mac game for everyone. In addition you will unlock many great cupcake recipes to try out and enjoy. The graphics is good and the music will keep you in sync with quick speed to meet your goals.

Features of Jessica’s Cupcake Café:
-Run a Cupcake Café
-Design Your Own Cupcakes
-42 Levels in 9 Locations
-Cupcake Recipes

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A great drought is forcing you and your tribe to leave your beloved homeland. The Elders consult the Shaman and is told the bones have the answer. It is to leave this land and start over somewhere else. Your tribe must travel across the ocean to the land of Kalevala. Heroes of Kalevala is a match 3 and build a village simulation game. The Kalevala is a Finnish national epic work from ancient oral poetry, this mac game is based on this important piece of literature.

The match 3 part of the game is to swap items to make matches of 3 or more of the same objects to clear. Making matches over the yellow tiles will change them to blue. When all the yellow tiles are gone, then the level is complete. However, you must do so before the evil crow sent by the wicked witch Louhi flying the perimeter of the puzzle burns the entire board forcing you to start again. The puzzles are easy for a few levels and will begin to increase in difficulty and blocks like the icy tiles or double locked chains as you go higher. When you make matches of 4 or more, you will get bonuses like bombs to clear your tiles. You have the powerful Finnish gods to help you fight off the malicious blocks to your game. Il Marinen will throw fiery hammers that incinerate tiles and the god of sea, Ahti, will raise the water to flood and take away tiles. More helps will be unlocked as you advance in the play. At the beginning of each level you choose which god you would like to help you, but be sure to make the right choice for an ultimate experience.

The match 3 games will earn you cash to help build a town. The faster you complete the puzzles, the more money you will get. Once you get some structures up, it will attract people to your village. The people themselves will let you know what they want and what will make them happy. You use the shop to buy houses, trees and other things for survival and happiness. After building your first village, you move on to build more towns. There are medals you win for accomplishing different things.

Heroes of Kalevala has a lot to do from its match 3 with loads of bonuses to the sim play and additionally the interesting tale about Louhi, her crows and the ancient gods. The artwork is great especially the beginning of the story and the beautiful backdrops, and the music are interesting. There’s hours of playability and fun for all ages. Just keep in mind that the levels are challenging after about a dozen puzzles. Give this game a try and have an entertaining time.

Features of Heroes of Kalevala:
-Over 140 Levels
-Match 3 and Sim Plays
-Based on Oral Finnish Poetry

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I didn’t get this review out in time for Halloween but it’s still a fun Mac match 3 and simulation game to play any time of the year. It’s very similar to their Fishdom – Frosty Splash without the Santa theme and with lively ghostly items instead.

Like in the Frosty game you shop for your fish tank with a Halloween theme. In addition you must keep your fish happy by buying comfort or beauty items or other fish. Click on the Shop button and then choose from Fish, Beauty and Comfort. The Fish tab will display a variety of different sea creatures to choose from, Beauty will have plants and Comfort has different water cleaning devices. Of course, all these items cost a lot of money and in order to purchase these great things, you must make cash. This is where the match 3 games come in.

The match 3 levels have sea and Halloween related items to match. You swap 2 items to line up either horizontally or vertically 3 of the same objects. When this is done, it will clear and more items will fall into place from above. You must make matches over the gold tiles to destroy and when you get rid of all the gold tiles, you win the level. If you make your matches quickly, you will win more money. There are blocks to impede your movements like chained items (single or double) where you must make matches with them to clear. The double chains you must make 2 matches to destroy. Even with the many block different blocks, there are as many helps to aid you in your quest to finish the level. Making matches of 5 items or more will get you bombs, firecrackers, lightning and more. Also look for the shape of the match boards because they are in forms of spiders or other things.

Fishdom – Spooky Splash has all the fun elements of the other Fishdom match plays with a Halloween theme. If the relaxed mode is too easy for you, try it timed to challenge your match 3 skills. Either way the game is great fun and should be enjoyed by children and casual gamers. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 for an entertaining play. Try it if you dare. Boo!

Features of Fishdom – Spooky Splash:
-Halloween Theme
-Lots of Match 3 Levels
-Fish Tank to Decorate

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

A group of friends come across an ancient zodiac wheel on their way home and were transported through some teleporter to a strange land in Mac sim game Gemini Lost. Unfortunately for these 6 people the wheel exploded and spewed the zodiac signs across this mysterious region.

In order to return home, they must find all the keys to repair the wheel. However, life goes on and the 6 must start a village of sorts in order to survive. They must gather and grow foods, find wood and stones for building shelter, increase their knowledge to be able to perform many tasks, they must marry to increase and sustain their population and find all the zodiac keys to transport them back.

In addition to all that, there are puzzles and tasks to complete in order to teleport back home. In order to get across a river, someone needs to have the skills to build a bridge spanning the distance from your end to where the key is located. Labs will increase your knowledge level, working on the garden will increase your farming skills and the chapel will marry your couples so you can increase your village. Also after a time the older people will die off so raising the children is important. The kids however do not work until they are grown, but can pick up items for potions. The game is very good about giving you vital information and stats on each person. If someone is sick, they will be moving around slowly and will need to be healed. Potions can be made and the recipes are available in the log.

The game will allow you to choose how you want your villagers to proceed when you leave the game. If you want to be involved at all times you are on, you can do so or you can have the people go about their tasks even when you are not on the computer. This part of the game is different from other games of this nature.

The tutorial is easy to follow and will get you started on your village without any trouble. I did find it curious when I left the game with 2 skilled people building a bridge, and when I got back, no progress was made and the 2, nowhere to be found. I suggest you keep track of your people’s names because when they grow up while you are gone, they are like strange new person you’ve forgotten. It gets a little confusing.

For the most part I liked this sim develop your own village type game. This one seemed easier to train people, and they didn’t mind working very hard each day. When they get tired, they will rest in the hut, and when they get hungry they will feed themselves so you just need to watch the upper part of the screen to see how much supplies you have and will need. The computer will announce any changes such as a baby being born or someone who passes away. This game is appropriate for children because they take care of birth and dying in a discreet manner.

So create your own village full of people to your specifications and search for all the zodiac keys for your ticket back to civilization.

Features of Gemini Lost:
-Puzzles and Mini Games
-Zodiac Signs
-Your Own World
Similar games: My Tribe, Wild Tribe, Virtual Villagers 1 and 2

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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Do you like to cook? Do you like to play video games? Do you watch TV? Then Top Chef is the game for you! Take one part hit TV show and combine it with one part Sim and one part cartoon and voile, you have Top Chef. Forget what you learned in culinary school because all that is going to be put to the test in a grueling competition that challenges both the mind and the stomach. This intro may be a little cheesy, but in Top Chef that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The game is very straightforward: compete on the show to become the best chef you can possibly be. You have a kitchen at your disposal and whatever you decide to make is up to you. At the beginning of each challenge you have a sidebar that gives you a list of what types of ingredients you need (spicy, sweet, salty, savory, etc.). You then have the ingredients on a shelf in the back. Depending on which one you choose, you can get different bonuses. For example, combining apples and bacon gives you a "classic combo" bonus. After you choose the corresponding ingredient, you bring it to the work station where you begin the preparation. You can only prep one thing at a time, but ingredients sitting on the work station slowly become finished as time goes on. Naturally the station that you are working at goes faster, so timing is very important.

After you complete your "masterpiece," you are off to be judged. Each dish is computer generated to show exactly the ingredients that you put into it. This was actually pretty funny, as the first time I played I put some weird combination of food together, and they showed up in the judging (like mango and anchovies). Due to the fact that there is a gigantic number of possible foods to make, this game can have a great replay value. Although it is based on a show that I have never personally seen, I truly enjoyed the game because it was fun to see the food I had put together. The only complaint I had was that each ingredient did not look as it should when being prepared. However, that would have taken a long time to actually program, and they did get the final plating correct. Overall I would give Top Chef four out of five stars.

Features of Top Chef:
-45 Challenges
-Pick the Ingredients
-Multi-Task in the Kitchen
-Become the Next Top Chef

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Westward III: Gold Rush is a Mac sim game with a little RPG built into the play. Like its predecessor Westward II, this new game is also grand in scale and play. Most sim play will limit your environment to a certain area, but Westward III follows the story line and moves the main character from one scene to another in order to progress logically in the game.

After you choose your hero character from 3 available people (Polly Hatchet unlocks the ranch, General Amos Cutter unlocks the gun shop and Shawnee Longfeather the tannery), the action panel so vital to sim plays will open up giving you details of your person, your goals and different tools needed to complete your jobs. The map on the lower right will quickly locate where you are, and if you click on the picture of your hero will take you directly to that spot. You can also zoom in and out depending on what you are doing.

You begin your play by dragging your hero to where you want your person to work or talk to another character. If you need wood for building, you drag your person to the log, the cursor will show an axe, and your person will go to that spot and start chopping wood. She/he will continue with the same activity until you move them to another location. If someone needs to speak to you, there will appear a question mark above his/her head. You will drag your hero to that person to find out what they want. The beginning of your game starts off in a limited area marked off on the map, and you help ranchers rebuild their land by building the barn, growing plants, and putting up tents. In order to do these quests you must have adequate supplies, food, water and gold. You get gold by either finding it in the massive landscape or by doing people favors and they will pay you.

After you have helped the ranchers all you could, you move on to another environment. It will bring you and one of the ranchers’ son to a snow scene where you may encounter rough people and ferocious wolves. In order to shoot an animal in defense or for food, you must drag your hero toward the animal and the cursor will change to a gun. This will begin the hero in a shooting mode. Much like a rpg game, you must look for things along the way. Also if your hero is hurt, you may have to wait a while until he/she recovers. There are many upgrades that will unlock as you go along and will help you develop your countryside.

The only problem I found was that at times it was hard to find exactly the right place to get your hero moving and doing the quests needed. Also it was difficult occasionally to move your people around to do the chores or jobs like setting up the tents, but it is not as hard as some sim/rpg plays so newbies can master the game with practice.

Westward III: Gold Rush is an awesome game full of action and adventures. It has different scenes to keep you interested, many activities to interact with, and you meet a lot of colorful characters like the gunslinger and the crotchety miner. I like the play better than the sim plays where they make you change diapers over and over or deal with impatient customers. This game did not have the big hoopla movie music introduction like Westward II, but it still is a good sim/rpg play for casual and diehard gamers of any age, and it will not disappoint. It keeps you moseying along the great landscapes finding gold and helping people in need. Have an exciting time playing Westward III: Gold Rush.

Features of Westward III: Gold Rush:
-New Environments
-Upgrades
-Enemies
-Unlock Secret Hidden Items

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Mac Global Warning is a different type of game. It’s difficult to identify what kind of genre it is. It’s easier saying what it is not rather than what it is. It is not a HOG or match play, and it is definitely not an action game. It is an original environmental rpg/sim/card game for anyone who is involved in saving the planet from, well, yourself. In order to avoid a landfill from being developed next to your home, you make choices in your life to help improve your outcome. I guess it is a realistic game of life for the environmentally conscious and those who want to learn more about being green.

It seems that picking your hero is an important and possibly critical choice to win this game. So I looked at the choices carefully. There’s Jerry the travel agent. He’s not in a very green business. The scientist is fresh out of college…..think toxic frat house. The kindergarten teacher is too frazzled to be conscious at the end of the day to think about cleaning up the earth. So I chose the museum curator the oldest and hopefully the wisest character and may know a thing or two about being environmentally sound. As in most rpgs you’ll find the details of each person: knowledge, compassion, naivete, charisma, health, finances, morale. You need to keep an eye on the upper left corner to make sure morale, health and finances do not fall. In addition, the environmental impact is listed on the upper right of the screen for waste, chemical, energy, co2, self-sufficiency, water and overall.

Each round is a week in the life of your hero. You choose the actions of your person from the work space, and with increased experience you will get to choose more cards. The outcome of your actions will be displayed on the left of the game board. Also helpful green tips are given at the middle top of the screen to live a better life. There are 104 rounds to complete your game. Each week will bring about new data about how your hero is doing. Press the arrow next round button to continue your play. There are encouraging comments about the choices you make and not so happy words for your mistakes.

The play gets engaging as you go from round to round or week to week because you get concerned about the choices you made the week before and how it will affect you. There’s a lot to read but most of it is information you can use to live a healthy and good life. The game itself is challenging and difficult to beat. I guess I had a lot to learn so I tried the game with another hero. The demo will let you try each hero for 20 rounds. The more I played, the more I liked it so give it a try and make an important impact on this green planet of ours. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 for a totally awesome and original game.

Features of Global Warning:
-104 Rounds
-Environmental Data
-Get Rid of the Toxic Dumpsite.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Vicky became so fit she wanted to open her own gym to help people become healthy in Fitness Frenzy. This sim Mac game is a colorful, cute play for children and casual gamers. They will enjoy learning to greet the customers at the door, giving expert advice, assisting when needed by clients and handling the money matters of the business.

As Vicky you do all the work at a rather rapid clip when the game gets going. When you greet the people, they let you know what kind of exercise regimen they want, and in the bubble above their heads you can see how many machines they must utilize to meet their requirements. You quickly learn to move from the door to the machines assisting the users with their exercises by clicking each area. If the client is satisfied, you will get a large tip. Afterwards you go to the desk and handle the cash transactions for the fees and tips. You continue to do this over and over until you have enough money to upgrade your existing machines and possibly buy more equipment. Eventually you get enough money to hire employees to help you out.

This game would be a great educational tool for kids to learn time management, customer service and finances. However, I am not a sim game type of person, so I didn’t really get anything out of  it. The play is repetitive with very little action involved except when you are swamped with demanding customers and have to run around satisfying everyone or lose money. The simple cartoon figures and background are colorful and lively. If you are into sim Mac game play, it should be enjoyable and fun for you.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Escape from Paradise 2: A Kingdom’s Quest is a conglomeration of many genres of Mac games. For the most part it is a sim play developing your own tribe of people. It is up to you to make sure there is enough food, water and building supplies for a successful life.
This game is a continuation of your life after a shipwreck stranded you on an island. You work to earn your freedom off this paradise isle, but found that life on the island wasn’t so bad after all, and you try to assimilate back into the tribe. The chief, a jealous and vindictive person, ban you to the outskirts of the island to prove to him you are worthy of returning.

The game starts at this point after you choose your avatar. If you choose a male, a princess will help you. If you choose a female, you get help from Prince Perusah. He will have an explanation mark over his head if he needs to speak to you. The tutorial and play will start you off with simple challenges like gathering wood. The challenges will be posted at the top of the screen with the bottom part of the board with useful stats on your person. In addition, there are buttons for building and another for items. You need to click on them for structures you need to erect and items you find scattered throughout the island. Happiness levels stay below each person for you to keep an eye on the bar so it doesn’t dip too far down. You need to keep everyone in your tribe happy and sated for tasks to be completed. Also at the bottom are the numbers for the amount of tribe members, food, and wood. If you help people build, they will give you their loyalty. When you click and drag people to a tree, they will either chop for wood or gather food. The prince will help you out with tasks also, but if they tire, you can see that they need to rest in the hut. Also if anyone is near food or water and they need it, they will eat or drink until they are satisfied but be sure to have plenty of food and water for them.

After you complete a challenge, you may receive a reward in a form of a crate washing ashore. The first reward is a monkey who will assist you in finding hidden objects. Of course, with the added responsibility of a screeching monkey, you must build him a home. After completion of this house, you have a new ability. You must build up your own skills and the skills of others so you can expand your ability to build different types of things so you can go on to your next challenge. In addition to your skills you must increase your population by marrying couples. In time they will have a baby and that child will grow into an adult who can help with the many tasks. Unfortunately people will die and that will decrease the numbers in your tribe.

The mini games are many and you can go to them when needed since the plays will earn you food, wood and skill points. They can be a match game with your option of playing Tiki Topple or Classic. The Classic play is to match 3 or more like items to collect points, and Tiki Topple is a match game with you playing against the clever chief. It’s tough to beat him, but fun to keep trying. There are Sudoku plays and card games to enjoy.

If that’s not enough for you, the island slowly reveals secrets but only to true souls. At one point steps to a temple all of a sudden appeared from the sands of the beach. The items you uncover will assist you in many ways. Also remember, sometimes you need your monkey close by to be able to see some of the hidden things. He will be screeching for you to do something. Eventually you will need to connect to the other islands so you need to somehow get rocks to cross over to the other side. Dynamite may help you so look, dig and find your TNT.

Escape From Paradise 2: A Kingdom’s Quest is full of many interesting things and surprises to do for your island tribe. The mini games are a nice distraction from your daily tasks on the island. I never played the first game so I don’t have that to compare this new sequel, but I’ve played other similar games such as Virtual Villagers 1, 2 and 3, and Wild Tribe. I found Escape From Paradise 2: A Kingdom’s Quest a better game even though there are many similar aspects to the sim play, you get a lot of fun and well thought out side games to keep you engaged during the entire time.

Features of Escape From Paradise 2:
-Customize Your Hero
-Keep Everyone Happy
-Chief of the Tribe

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Tetala Island is where Chief Aruku reigns over her Hawk tribe. For many years there have been struggles and challenges for her people. Aruku wants to better the conditions for her village. The ancients have all known about the Tear of Heaven that can grant unimaginable wisdom and enlightenment to whoever possess this talisman. With this magical power, Aruku can improve the outcome of her tribe but in order to do so she must search every island in the vicinity and complete missions to find it.

To begin your play use the tutorial which will guide you through some of the aspects of this sim/rpg/hidden object/strategy game. It’s hard to say what it is with so many options available. The important thing to remember is to read all the stone guides since these are your hints in the game. If you do not read one, it will be highlighted in yellow. Another big item in your search is the tower. Build them to defend your troops and to see further. The buildings are important to put up by clicking on the hammer at the lower right hand side to get different types of people needed in your quest. There are hidden objects and gems to find everywhere you go. You may need to revisit an island for things you may have passed by or were not available at the time. There are tasks you must perform like finding boulders and using them to make a bridge, and quests to conquer for different people you meet along the way.

Guro of Wolverine is one of them, and he resides on Mushroom Island. On this island are mushroom-like enemies you must fight off to complete a task. You will find many hostile enemies on different islands. The crossed swords at the bottom of the screen will activate your troops into fighting. The magnifying glass will help you find some hidden objects. Also sometimes these items will pulsate to help you locate them. Another huge help is the mini map. You can get to a site on the island quickly by clicking on the spot you would like to travel to. In addition, the bad guys are in red so you can spot them easily. The difficult part comes in when you cannot see parts of the screen because of a black fog. These areas open up as you go along collecting needed items and accomplishing certain tasks.

Totem Tribe Gold with its interesting graphics will draw you into its story while playing the game. The more you play it, the more you get involved in figuring out the quests and puzzles in order to help Aruku and the Hawk people. Instead of keeping your villagers healthy like in other games, you have a goal and objective to reach through the many tasks and puzzles that are waiting for you on each island. So heed Guru’s words and find your sacred totems to complete just one of your many quests.

Features of Totem Tribe Gold:
-32 Locations
-Over 200 Missions and Puzzles
-Hidden Objects

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Youda Marina is a refreshing change from the usual real estate sim Mac play where you build homes, castles and business buildings in a town or borough.  In this imaginative game you create from a vacant, barren shoreline, island or lagoon to a well-developed corporate moneymaking ideal beachside town for fun and recreation.

In order to build and maintain a beach community you need to initially build a radio station to communicate with the many boats that will need to dock and enjoy the facilities of your town.  When a boat is in need of your services, they will radio you and a yellow triangle with a radio will appear.  You then click on the radio, a boat with a similar triangle and radio will appear, and you will need to click to see what they need.  Your options are to either dock or if there are no available spaces or the ship is too large, you may need to turn away the boat losing the income.  This will force you to build more docks and enlarge spaces.

Other income will come from the many facilities (gas, radio, etc.), land attractions (bar, restaurant, hotel) and event facilities (diving school, game fishing, water sports and sea park).  The infrastructure builds the docks, lighting and can also demolish sites.  Milestones in the upper left corner are the goals for the campaign mode you must meet to complete the level.  After reaching a milestone, you get a star rank at the bottom right of the screen.  The small map is useful to click on a location and going directly there.

While all the construction is happening, the boats continue to come in and you need to click to reveal docking options for them.  The play is busy but never frustrating even though there are a lot of work to be completed.  It’s interesting to see your beach town rise from sand and water to a thriving community.  I was raised near beach cities and saw a few marinas developed from nothing into large ports for boats and yachts of all sizes.  Before Marina del Rey, California became an upscale, trendy beach location, it was farmland and fishing creeks.  The idyllic country living is gone now and the busy congestion of city life took over, but the new development and progress helps bring revenue to the area. I enjoy playing Youda Marina with its change in scenery from building homes to erecting docks and prosperous fun beach communities. Navigate your boats to your safe and exciting harbor with its many attractions.

Features of Youda Marina:

-4 Maps

-Facilities

-Beautiful Designs

-Be the Harbor Master

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

What an appropriate name for a Mac sim, rpg, shooting game: Gunrox! This game is a free online turn based strategy game where you have a team of 3 soldiers against other opponents around the world. All you need to do is sign in as an user and you will be able to download easily onto your computer. Since the artwork is simple the loading is fast.

There are a lot of laws governing this play, but I’m sure most of the people did not read them. The laws are just your usual be a decent player or else get kicked off type of thing. The other long list of items is the weapons. This is where you might spend some money because they charge for the guns, bombs, rockets, traps, grenades and more. Each weapon or perk, as they refer to them, is rated as Action Points (AP) and will give data like damage, fire ranges in order for you to make up your mind to buy. There are over 30 different perks to use for different types of attacks. They get very creative with their guns: sawed off shotgun, sniper rifles, launchers. Some of the weapons will allow you to hit multiple units with an arc of fire. A tank would be helpful but I don’t think it’s available.

You take your troop of ragamuffins and make them into fierce fighting machines with an assortment of weapons to battle your enemies. There are many locales to explore from junkyards, city streets, snow covered places and tropical sites.

Your tactical skills will be challenged when you have to anticipate your enemies' every move and maneuver your troops to best beat the opposition. After each fight you get experience points that will move your soldiers to the next level. The more skills and perks you acquire will help you along in this game. The play is exciting because you do not know where your next attack will take place. The battles are fast and furious so you do not need a lot of time to block out. Whatever you do, do not quit out of the game when it is stressful or you will be branded as a quitter. Stick it out. All that can happen is you will be killed and float up to the heavens as an angel.

Well, that may not be all what happens because there are a lot of people on this game, and not all of them will be kind to you. They may be outright rude to newbies and the inexperienced if you try to join in on their game. If you fall in that category, try the game with a group of your friends to back you up. Create your own game with your buddies and have fun playing in this colorful environment. If you are good at this type of game, battle your way to the top and have an awesome time. Enkord has developed an all around action game with tournaments and artifact markets to enhance your play. Gunrox is a fun, fast and enjoyable play, and you will not need to have lots of time because the battles are full of action and are quick. Just choose your arms wisely, and you can keep the costs down, or if you have deep pockets, knock yourself out. Gunrox rocks! I give it a 3.5 for a good time.

Features of Gunrox:
-Over 30 Different Weapons
-Play Against People Around the World
-Free Game Download

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Mystic Emporium is a shout out to the Harry Potter theme of witches, wizards, and spells. This fun and crazy sim play incorporates your love of witchcraft, wizardry, magic potions, ancient artifacts, and unusual ingredients.

Lilly is a witch who worked many years at the Grand Magus Library saving all her earnings so she can start her own magic shop. She finds the perfect store on Wizard Row Market, a lane of magic shops similar to Harry’s Diagon Alley. Lilly will need to work hard to make monthly payments on her new shop in order to stay in business.

Yes, this is your usual sim play where you must keep your clients happy by quickly working your magic to create the requested potion or object. Your goal is to earn enough money before the end of each day. The time is displayed through the posted clock. Initially your clients will come in slowly, you click on your first customer to find which potion they desire. The answer is revealed in the bubble next to the witch, ogre, vampire or wizard. Click on the recipe book (upper right corner), click on the cauldron and it will display the needed ingredients. You click on the ingredients (Lilly can only carry 2 at a time, even a witch has 2 hands), click once again on the cauldron to place the contents and then click on the fire to start the spell. When the potion is done, click on it, click on the customer to deliver, and finally click on the money to receive the payment for your hard work. As you know by now, this simple play gets more difficult as the levels increase. You must be up to the challenge of meeting your goals and keeping your unusual guests happy by quickly and smartly developing the magic potions.

As in the other sim Mac games, you will get many helps, some are strange and odd but all are beneficial. A creature is there to dispose any unwanted items. The magic shop will buy you newer and faster cauldrons, faster shoes and much more. In addition, there are match side games to enjoy in between your main plays. You click 4 or more grouping of like tiles to destroy. Completing the match game successfully will win you a magical charm.

Mystic Emporium is like many sim plays such as Ice Cream Craze and Cooking Dash, but it has its own magical charm and witchy appeal especially for Harry Potter fans. The play is easy to learn, the artwork bright and colorful, and the game is enjoyable. Wave your magic wand and spin your necromancy for the good of the shop and keep your clientele happy or they’ll turn you into a toad. Ribbit.

Features of Mystic Emporium:
-Own a Magic Shop
-30 Magic Items
-Earn Trophies and Magic Charms

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The play is to meet goals for each level. The goals tab below will display everything you must complete. To produce wine you go to the winery, choose the type of wine by selecting the blend, click on skip a day button to finish your production then select your company label. The label can be changed any time if you are not happy with it. After your 1st production, Uncle Giuseppe sends you to Francesca Ricci, a guild member, who can assist you in many ways. You need to go back to town and click on Ms. Ricci’s location. She will ask to taste your wine, you need to decide whether you will or not, and then she’ll want to buy some wine. In each instance, you must choose which option you will take. In this very interactive play, you have decisions to make at each step and the play will change with each answer. If she is happy with you, she will share her knowledge of wine unlocking a new blend of wine.

At the bottom right will display the amount of money you have available to buy different supplies such as empty bottles and grape stocks. The Wineries tab will let you know when to re-stock with a red explanation mark. You go back to town and go to the supplier for needed items.

To make wine you must sort grapes into correct ratio by putting the 3 columns of grapes moving down the conveyor belt in the order or pattern given on the upper left screen. You click on the grape you wish to move and click on the location you wish to move it to so you can match the pattern. As the levels go up the speed of the conveyor belt increases.

In addition to Italy, you will be sent to different countries to meet more guild members. The travel terminal will allow you to go to another country. Of course, this will cost you money to travel. However, by going to these parts you may make more sales and receive advice on wine making.

Winemaker Extraordinaire is a sim Mac play very similar to Chocolatier 2 where they travel throughout the world selling their chocolates. Instead of chocolates, you are selling wine and piecing together a recipe for “Vino Ultimate”. This is all done in the career mode. In the free mode you can travel anywhere, produce any blend, and your only goal is to make money and have fun.

This game is very engaging and educational with data about the different wines, and international location. At times it gets monotonous going back and forth selling, making and delivering wines, but that’s part of the play. The making of the wine gives you plenty of action and movement in between negotiating your sales. Anyone who enjoyed Chocolatier 2 will also enjoy Winemaker Extraordinaire. Piece together the recipe for “Vino Ultimae” and make a fortune selling it.

Features of Winemaker Extraordinaire:
-15 Locales Around the World
-20 Different Wine Blends
-2 Game Modes
-The Vino Ultimae

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Mystery surrounds Miriel, a shy but hardworking girl, who is blessed or cursed with a touch of magic. Many dark and ominous figures surround Miriel who keeps to herself, but you eventually learn that her family home has burned down and Miriel is trying to repay the huge outstanding loan they had to take out to survive. Who are these demanding and heartless bankers? What more is Miriel not telling you?

In this Mac game Miriel the Magical Merchant, Miriel invites you to work with her in the food shop. Everything goes well the first day, and Miriel invites you to partner with her vision of opening more stores throughout the land. At each interval you have 3 options to reply back to Miriel. Similar to a RPG play, but not much happens whether you choose the politically correct response or one not so nice. This will get you into the sim play where you click on the food items at the bottom of the screen. You will have available items in your shop. You click on the requested food and it will process to the accessible area where you can deliver it to your customers. Some of the clients will request baked goods such as bread or cake and in order to meet their needs you will have to click on the ingredients, take it to the oven to bake, wait and then click on the finished items for Miriel to carry to the counter. After receiving their grocery, they will leave gold coins on the counter. You need to collect the coins before they disappear or you will lose the income. However if you leave the coins on the counter, it will give you time to fill the orders of the current customers. Once you click on the coins, more clients will enter your shop.

Miriel the Magical Merchant has minor differences in its play from other sim games. First, you have the RPG type of play where you can choose from 3 statements, Miriel is able to carry 3 items instead of 2, and you can control the flow of customers by delaying clicking on the coins. In addition there is a story behind this play to reveal. For all these things and more, I enjoyed playing this sim game. It has all the challenging moves needed in a good game, side games for upgrades, fantastic graphics, food recipes and good sound effects. What more do you need to have a fun time?

Features of Miriel the Magical Merchant:
-Miriel’s Fate is in your Hands
-More than 60 Levels in 6 Worlds
-Unlock Recipes
-Storyline

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Holly, a fairy in training, absentmindedly makes a wish, to have a beautiful garden, and is assigned to a gruff man named Jack whose gardens need lots of tender loving care. Truthfully, the gardens need a complete overhaul and this is where you come in. You must assist Holly renovate the destroyed landscapes into beautiful flower and statue gardens in this active sim Mac play Plantasia.

The tutorial on this game is very good, and you can pick up the play easily. Click on an area to grow flowers, a shovel will magically appear and will prepare the ground for planting. Click again on that spot and plant seeds. When the flowers bloom, click on the mature plant to harvest. This will garner you points or mana so you can purchase more equipment and supplies. The mana will glow to let you know there’s something new available. Click on the spells button to see what you can purchase. With enough mana, you can restore the broken statues. The statue button at the bottom right of the screen will start to glow when you have enough points to fix the art piece to its original glory.

The play starts out easy but with each chapter (level) of the story brings more obstacles to make your game a little more interesting. First you may run into rocky soil, and will take your magical shovel a little longer to dig or pests will show up to your garden and you must spray them to get rid of them.

Plantasia is similar to Mac game Garden Dreams but is easier to play since you do not have to click on the watering can and click on the plant to provide liquids to the flower. Any time there are less steps to a game is fine with me. You can move faster this way. In Plantasia all you need to do is click on a wilting plant and it will magically use the watering can to help the flower survive. The only block is if you have just one watering can you can water only one plant at a time so buying extra equipment will speed your play immensely.

There are 2 modes of play in Plantasia. If Story is not your thing, maybe Garden Challenge is for you. In challenge you grow the flowers just like in Holly’s story, but you can use the mana to get extra time. However, when the timer (at the bottom) runs out, your challenge is over.

The artwork is simple but pleasant and the play in this sim game is enjoyable. If you like magic stories and you are a fan of this type of sim play, try Plantasia for an entertaining afternoon or evening.

Features of Plantasia:
-5 Gardens with 35 Different Plants
-50 Levels
-2 Modes: Story or Garden Challenge.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Sprouts Adventure is a sim play where you are the one controlling the lives of young, small creatures called Sprouts. Darkness fell on the land of Sprouts leaving just a few Sprouts to survive on their own after a terrible storm. They are out of food and do not know what to do. You are there to guide the Sprouts back to their original prosperous life in this interesting Mac game.

The play is to meet the needs of the Sprouts, build their homes and buildings to make their lives easier, happier and healthier. The 5 Sprouts in your care are called: Tulip, Basil, Rosa, Cypress and Pina. They will let you know what they need with the picture above their heads, and they will verbally let you know with their cute, squeaky voices. In order to feed them, you must click on a Sprout and drag him/her to a patch of dirt to till and work the ground. Afterwards you click on the rain button, drag it to the patch, then click on the sun, drag the sun to the patch, and the plants will grow. Click on any hungry Sprout, drag him/her to the patch to eat. Also dropping any Sprout on a flower will provide food for them.

In addition, you need to click, drag a Sprout to magic stones, butterflies, gems and weeds. This will increase their life attributes. All of which are important for the welfare of your group. In addition earning Karma points will open up various spells for your Sprouts. This can be done by the Sprouts’ offerings, fulfilling wishes from the well and by fishing. There is a day meter to display the time of day. This is important because some spells can only be done during certain times of the day or night. The map when you click on it will show the overview of the entire Sprouts’ world. This will allow you to view when the wild flowers, gems, magic stones and weeds are available. The weeds are important to click and drag a Sprout to remove them.

When a Sprout gets an idea, there will be a light bulb above his head, and by clicking on it you will be able to find out what kind of thought it is. If it is to erect a building since they will need a place to rest, sleep and work in, you drag the supplies to an available site. The first building takes many days to erect but is essential for the Sprouts to sleep in and rest so they will be able to work on all the projects. The more Sprouts you have working will get the job done faster.

The Sprouts will be better when they are happy, curious, nourished, motivated, and rested. In this state the Sprouts will do wonderful things for you. This Mac game is like Virtual Villagers and My Tribe except it is a little easier to play since you can accomplish many things without killing your little Sprouts. This game will be appropriate for younger children to learn a sim play of this type. There are achievements and discoveries to collect and find. Since the area is confined to a small area, and with the overview, it is easy to collect all the items for increasing life’s attributes. In addition, spells are locked and open up slowly one at a time for you to incorporate it in the play. Increasing your population comes from the earned eggs. You click on the egg, drag it to an open area and wait.

Sprouts Adventure is an adorable sim play for children and casual gamers to have fun raising a group of Sprouts who will become a useful, lively and responsible citizen of their world. I think the sounds effects and artwork are appropriate assets to this game. The play is enjoyable, if not a little slow, and fun to establish new inhabitants in their own village.

Features of Sprouts Adventure:
-Be a Deity
-Earn Karma to Unlock Spells
-11 Structures
-Dozen Sprouts

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Plan It Green, what a clever and current name, I initially thought. Then my second thought about this game was of some boring environmental game that would no doubt put me to sleep immediately and lecture about how wasteful I am. However, I was completely wrong! Plan It Green, besides the double entendre, is a fun and inventive game that actually makes taking out the recycling fun. Moreover, the game is generally focused on making the town of Greenville more "green" but it feels more like a game of SimCity than in your eye environmental improvement exercise.  Can you see Al Gore on stage lecturing about buying energy units?

The game has two game options: Campaign mode and Free Play mode. Campaign mode is the main story and as you finish saving districts in Greenville as the new mayor, you unlock the districts to play in Free Play. In Free Play you do not have the goals to meet like in Campaign mode. The game begins in a semi-tutorial and helps you along the way as you proceed. There is a task bar for each level and when you perform all the tasks listed, you move on in the latter mode. These tasks vary from upgrading houses to make them more eco-friendly to building parks and recreation for citizens. There are different areas in which you can work as well, like the town center (where you focus on businesses) and the industrial sector (where factories and clean energy are the priorities). Some of the ecologically correct upgrades are solar panels, water reclamation system, recycling bins and eco gardens.

As I said before, this game really reminds me of a SimCity game that has gone green. What is most important is to finish all your goals in the allotted number of days. Personally, I felt like the time limit the game presented was a little too pressing, but it did help the game continue on a good pace. The fact that there were sometimes vague goals (like raise green awareness to 20%). It was a good
game with a definite agenda at forcing children to relate to a green community. Overall I would give Plan It Green four out of five stars.

Features of Plan It Green:
- Improve 8 Neighborhoods over 45 Levels
- Pick the latest eco-upgrades
- Create a Green City

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Catwalk Countdown is an unusual sim/rpg type of fashion game. It’s a little like visual novels with tasks to complete like Date Warp and Love and Order, but with a fashion twist instead of dating. However like those sim games you must balance your social life with your professional career.

You are working for Simone a person you cannot seem to please. She finds fault in everything you say or do, so why stick around being verbally abused? You quit and now must find another job you are going to love, but in the meantime you go to work for your uncle’s fabric shop.

The different locations you travel around New York City will bring you to making decisions that will determine your fate in this unusual game. You must balance your attributes such as Inspiration, Well-being, Collection and Reputation if you want to reach the top of the fashion industry so your choices will make a difference. This must all be done while working at the fabric store, completing your fashion collection (sketch, sew and pin your designs to show), schmoozing financial backers and industry bigwigs, handling any time based tasks requested of you and keeping your health by eating, drinking, sleeping and just having fun.

Any time there is a question mark over a character, they want to speak to you and many times you must choose your responses. You also decide where you go and what activity you choose but just remember you can’t keep going 24 hours a day and must eat and sleep or you’ll fall on your face. In addition you must make money to pay for rent, food and other activities so you must return to your uncle's fabric store to work and get paid for your tasks.

The more I got into this game, the more I wanted to figure out what to do with my day’s activities, and eventually make it to New York’s Fashion Week to show off my fantastic collection of clothes. Figure out the right path to take for a successful life, both personally and professionally. The characters are good, the artwork nice, and the game play although different from your usual sim game is fun and addictive. Try out the demo and see if you can make it to Fashion Week in this different and interesting game.

Features of Catwalk Countdown:
-Make Choices to Determine Your Future
-Balance Your Attributes
-Make it to Fashion Week

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

With a title like Busy Bea’s Halftime Hustle you know you are in for a sports related sim time management game full of activities and things to do quickly. The game starts off with the story about a small town in trouble with their football teams, from little league on up to the big time arenas. They lose all their games and their stadiums are in ruins.

Blunderton is a small town with a lot of bad luck and their sports arenas and little league playing fields have known better days. The fields are in rundown and ticket sales are just plain down. The town has heard about Beatrice or Busy Bea and her wonderful ways of turning things around. So they decide to ask Bea to come to Blunderton to help them. In an interesting twist to this game, you do not play as Bea but she will help you. Bea is delayed and you must start working on the football fields on your own. She’ll catch up with you later and lend you a hand.

The sports attendees will walk down the left aisle, you click on the people and drag them to where they want to go like the ice cream stand, French fries booth, bathroom or their seats. Once in place you wait a few seconds until they are ready to leave their spots and go to another location. They may want to leave the arena so you will see the turnstile displayed. By matching the color of the person to the color of the location will get you more points. Another combo is the swap where one person will want to go to another location and another person at that location wants to go to the first person’s site. There are different levels of patient people like the old lady takes a long time to decide what she wants, but is more patient, but Hungry Harry is less patient and will lose his hearts faster. The hearts will tell you the person is losing patience.

Once Bea arrives on the scene, she is very helpful. She will repair broken equipment, help cook up treats and entertain the customers. When you have Bea entertain your attendees, they will double their patience. You need the money to purchase new stations, equipment, hire employees and more to help you play this game. At halftime you do the halftime hustle where everyone is more impatient and you must work fast to complete your tasks.

As you go up in the levels, you will get more storyline in a cartoon comic format. Soon a mysterious person X starts donating money to your fund and tells you that Mayor McGreety doesn’t want Bea around for some mysterious reason. Watch out for him! He can’t be trusted and will want to block your progress.

The game is a fun and fairly easy play in the normal mode so you’ll have to decide for yourself whether to play the Rookie (easy) or all the way to Veteran (hard). There are football announcements and applause made throughout the game and the music is a familiar sports related tune. It’s not as frenzied as other games but it will get more challenging in higher levels. I could have done without the sound effects when people went to the bathroom. Try it out and see.

Features of Busy Bea’s Halftime Hustle:
-50 Levels of Sim Play
-Upgrades and Gold Coins
-5 Unlockable Bonus Games

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars