CEO promises to let you lead the planet’s most
powerful mega-corporation. The game''s plot appears based on games such as SimCity or
Tycoon. Jointly developed with CNN, CEO begins with an attractive intro with catchy music.
This is shortly followed by a CNN news clip reporting the death of A-IV Corp''s CEO and
ongoing speculation about his successor. As the new boss, you have to maximize A-IV''s
profits and prove your mettle. But you first need to build A-IV Corp’s foundations in
the area selected.
The game offers a choice of locations, ranging from crowded
cities such as Berlin and Paris, to building from the ground up in the "virgin"
Cayman Islands.
CEO, |
Requires : 486DX2 or higher, 4 MB RAM (minimum 570 kB free conventional memory and 2.7 MB free EMS), 18.5 MB free disk space, DOS 3.0 or later, 2X CD-ROM drive, sound card SVGA color and mouse Features: Simulated stock market dealings, road and rail construction, real estate trading and mega projects to manage a virtual conglomerate. Price: Rs 1,595 Summary: CEO is a simulation game with a standard plot. Despite a a slick intro, it needs a help option and easier movement controls. Dvp: I Motion Inc with CNN Interactive Vendor : LAN Multimedia, 111, Marwah Industrial Estate, Saki Vihar Road, Saki Naka, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400072 Tel: 22-8362824 Fax: 22-8212234 |
The game''s memory requirements are quite demanding.
We only got it up and running after a lot of tweaking. The Winstall program (included
separately on the CD-ROM) is supposed to let you run CEO under Windows. But during our
tests, the game didn''t set itself up properly under Windows 95.
If you’re not a regular gamer, it will take you a
while to get used to the rules and strategies. Each move is bound by specific rules. These
apply to building roads and rail tracks, buying houses or scheduling buses. If you don''t
‘go by the book'' things don''t work the way they should. The pop-up messages can be
really annoying when scheming to get ahead. Context-sensitive help would really improve
the game.
To navigate your game area, CEO has eight movement arrows.
There’s also a window at the top right for a satellite view. Though these controls
are usable, a quick navigation facility would improve perspective. CEO also has an option
for making the background music vary with the seasons, but we couldn''t get any music,
except for vocalized pop-ups! This was a real downer after the impressive intro.
Simulation games are supposed to give you a feel of real
life. But mundane activities such as bus scheduling (not quite the job of the top brass)
lose points for CEO. A better plot, with more realistic settings would have made playing
CEO far more enjoyable.