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| | Publisher: PlayFirst  Genre: Puzzle & Trivia | | | Min OS X: 10.4 CPU: G4 @ 800 MHz Hard Disk: 21 MB Graphics: 800x600 |
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When I first looked at the description, Chocolatier looked like just another trading game, so I expected ten hours of gameplay and not much more. Boy was I wrong. It not only adds numerous new elements to the genre, but it also has a surprisingly long lifespan and can last upwards of 30 hours. Gameplay: Keep those ingredients coming! The first thing that struck me about Chocolatier was its similarity to Tradewinds Legends. Both revolve around going from ports to ports on a world map, both have cities with quest givers and merchants, and both eventually allow you to use a flying vessel. That said, they do differ in numerous ways and Chocolatier is definitely the better of the two.You start Chocolatier as a young bearer of a famous chocolate-producing family's legacy and are tasked to rebuild the family's former empire. You start by picking your character's name, the name of your company, and your company logo. Your logo is particularly fun, as it's shown above every factory you own. After you're done with that, you're thrust into the world of chocolate producing. It is the easiest job in the world. All you need to do is pick the chocolate type you'd like, click on the "make chocolate" button, and play an easy minigame. In it you fire the ingredients of the chocolate type you selected into rotating pans. Every time you fill a pan and it rotates by the claw, another chocolate is added to your box. The idea is to get as many as possible in the box before the time runs out, as the number you get is your factory's production. As you find out after making your first chocolate, all the other chocolate recipes are gained through quests. These quests can range from randomly encountering a traveling merchant to making 40 of a rare chocolate and delivering it to the queen of England. None of them are particularly challenging, but it is quite hard to find them all and complete the recipe collection. Once your chocolates are made, the question is where to sell them. Should you sell your dark chocolate in Merida for a guaranteed average price, or do you travel back and forth from San Francisco hoping for a rare price rise? Don't take too long to decide, as every time you travel you risk having the populace lose interest in that variety of chocolate and lower the prices. You'll generally end up finding recipes as fast as you can and switching them out immediately. That way the prices tend to stay high and you generally have no trouble making ridiculous amounts of money.
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