|
This is a Swiss game produced for the ASB (Swiss Bankers Association), and that it was only sold on a dedicated website (www.cashtown.ch) and in certain bank branches for a reasonable price - 20 Swiss francs. One immediately wonders if this might not be an attempt by the ASB to restore its image after the affair of the Nazi gold laundering by Swiss banks which hit the headlines in October 1997, but this does not appear to be the case: according to the newspaper Le Temps, the project required two years of work and a budget of one million Swiss francs. The initial print run was 10,000 copies - 2,000 in French and 8,000 in German - on PC only. Switzerland has become a sort of intergalactic capitalist confederation called United Galaxies, which threatens to fall under the control of the multinational Master Magic, a sort of bald cross between Monsieur Sylvestre and Lance Boyle. The problem here is not that Master Magic buys and controls almost everything, but that he would use dishonest methods, such as removing the boss of its main competitor, Céleste Inc. This company, in financial difficulty, therefore resorted to what any company would have done in his place: kidnap someone in the middle of the street to give him the reins of the company so that he - or she, we give you the choice at the start of the game - remedy the situation. It is therefore you who have been "selected" to rectify the finances of Céleste Inc. One would have suspected it in view of its sponsors, this wants to introduce young people to the joys of finance and business management. But be reassured, we will not get lost in the balance sheets, the game is closer to Myst than a German management game, with quizzes as a bonus. The game begins in your new office, with five doors in front of you. The last one, on the right, is the office of Elvira, your secretary and responsible for your kidnapping, who will sometimes give you advice. Next to it is the library, with a large dictionary of banking and financial terms that it is good to go through at first. In the center, it is the checkpoint, which is mainly used to consult and print reports and documents on the situation of Céleste Inc. The first door, on the left, leads onto the street. This is where you can go to the bank, which will offer you loans and advice in exchange for documents and guarantees. You can walk past Master Magic's store to see what prices he sells for his items, in order to try and offer more competitive prices. There is also the newspaper stand and the hipster bar "Au Caméléon". No cheese factory, chocolate factory or watchmaking, however. Finally, the second door is not the least important, since it gives access to the ship allowing to travel from one planet to another. Like the checkpoint, this access requires a code that you get by answering a simple question - you can also consult the lexicon for help. Once in the ship, all you have to do is choose a destination and activate takeoff. The planets are five in number. Majora is the starting planet with the headquarters of your company. Arte is the planet of the arts, with an open-air festival and young people having a blast. Externa is a coastal town, and here too I did not really understand its interest. Lavora and Materia are more important, because this is where the we can fix the price of items produced by Céleste Inc., hire or degrease staff or negotiate with its representatives. We will sometimes see in the decor a kind of green screen handlebars: this gives access to another quiz, in which we can bet money to try to win a large sum, but beware, the questions are much more difficult than for get a code. |
