Room Boom: Suburbia Demo

Although mostly everyone has one, not many people know about what it takes to build a house from scratch, regardless of how big or small it might be. Contractors, builders, and real estate agents are involved in the process, unless you happen to build your own from scratch. Hence, the real estate business is a tad more difficult to get into than you would imagine.

Room Boom: Suburbia is a rather unique video game concept, in the sense that although it’s quite similar to something like Monopoly, the exact formula it uses is pretty much original. However, even if originality is usually rewarded with kind words and encouragement, it must be mentioned that may not have been the greatest choice in the case at hand, because nothing really clicks and there are just too many things you have to take into consideration.

To start off with, the basic goal of every player is to either win more money than his opponent, or to snatch a complete column of the available building lot. Hence, the game even integrates tic-tac-toe mechanics into its formula, not to mention the time management mini-games and the overall Monopoly-like rules. All of these overcomplicate the gameplay and it makes it pretty difficult for anyone to enjoy the game as a whole.

One of the most annoying features you stumble into on a regular basis during gameplay is time management factor. As such everything from the rooms to the houses themselves must be built in only a couple of seconds, while keeping an eye on the general layout of the things as well. While this is definitely a challenge, it’s not one many people would be keen to undertake, considering the circumstances.

Visually, the game is not exactly bad, but it’s not great either. The camera is fixed and sometimes badly positioned, which makes you feel a bit claustrophobic at times. Not only that, but the entire user interface is a bit sketchy and unreliable. Fortunately, most of it is explained during the tutorial, which is a tad too direct and blurry as well, but it gets the point across.

In the end, Room Boom: Suburbia had a few nice ideas to begin with, but it somehow managed to overcomplicate them to infinity. Hence, although the concept on paper sounds rather exciting and interesting, the actual game is boring, difficult, and not very fun at all.