Ashtons Family Resort:
Today's game from Realore is a 44.2Mb download that once unzipped and installed expands to 46Mb. There is no shortcut placed on the desktop, but you will find one in the start menus applications list. you can either send a shortcut from the Start menu shortcut to the desktop by using the send to command (by right clicking on the shortcut in the start menu), or going directly to the installed games folder, which by default is installed to:
C:\Games\Ashton's Family Resort
The game can be installed to a flash drive or once installed copied to a Cd and played directly from there if you wish. That is to sy the game is free standing and installs few keys into the registry.
Ashtons: Family Resort is a new exciting game from Realore Studios! Build your own tourist business! Camping on a lake shore, skiing in Alps, hot safari in Kenya, diving in the Pacific Ocean – tourists are so exited about it! The variety of upgrades, additional services and colorful locations! Provide the best service ever! Become a winner of a unique Resort Contest!
Reference: http://www.realore.com/games/ashtonsfamilyresort/ accessed 26th June 09
Here’s a summary of what the developer says about this game:
Features:
• 54 different colorful levels! - Agreed
• Fascinating mini-games! - No way
• Morning/day/evening changing! - Agreed
• The guests smile or frown depending on your actions! - Agreed, but so what, lol
• You can create your own unique design by choosing colors and furniture you like! Agreed, but not very exciting.
Today’s game is another time management game, somewhat similar to Jane’s Hotel which we received for free just before the game giveaway project team went on leave in April, except in this game you spend the time out doors, having barbeques, plying basket ball and eating ice cream, or just lounging around. It looks like both games were developed by the same author, or they used the same resources to create the games, because the characters and in fact the whole visual style of both games is remarkably similar to (i.e. visually Ashton’s Family Resort looks very much like Jane’s Hotel, though I thought Janes Hotel was far better. So, unfortunately, if you liked Jane’s Hotel you may be a little disappointed with this one. That said there are some good points about the game, for example, the graphics are colourful and the game is child friendly. My eight year old daughter was able to cope admirably with the games speed.
Each level is split up into an introduction which gives you a hint about one of the jobs you will have to carry out, for example, clean the houses, shoo away the raccoons and hare’s or serve ice-cream and barbeque food. Apart from the first level, where you start the game with the just the basics; every other level has a new upgrade introduced to the game, this may be a better house, improved parking facilities, or additional amenities added to the outdoor area of the holiday resort. These improvements should bring in more revenue, which is then spent on more improvements. The more cash you earn the more amenities you can purchase at the end of a level, though in actual fact, there’s never ever any problems buying what’s available, with change usually being left out of what you’ve earned. This can lead to some complacency further into the game, though if you go too slowly, you can ‘fail’ a level and have to retake it.
At the end of a level you are awarded standards of excellence. If you fail to get the gold standard, you can always return and try to do better if you wish. You can replay any level once it’s been completed. Money is cumulative, but every so often you may be asked to donate the remainder of what money you have left to charity, so it’s a good idea if you spend as much as possible. Most turns you only have a choice of one or sometimes two upgrade. The game is divided up into four areas, the first one starts in the US where you have to complete around 12 levels before the Ashton family expands into Europe where they move to a ski resort in Switzerland with another 12 or so levels. From there they go to Kenya for safari style resort before finding their way to the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
There was mention of fascinating mini games in addition to the normal game play, over on the developers site, however while playing the first six levels of this game (the demo ran out before I could play more levels, due in part to taking a ridiculous number of screen captures). I only saw one mini game which was a ‘very’ poor excuse for a match three game. You can see images of the mini games that are played at the end of each level via the screen captures (there’s around 80 of them showing all phases of the game). These games earned points which were spend on upgrading your property, with the addition of garden features, paths, extended garages etc. I was ‘definitely’ not impressed with the poor quality and playability of these mini games.
I’m not going to describe in detail the mechanics of the game, instead I’ve posted a large number of images and a few videos of game play below for you to peruse. The images include all the menus and show the various stages you follow to progress to each level and in my opinion are much bette option than me writing reams and reams.
I have included link to a decent review from Gamezebo that I think is worth reading, especially if you’re not too sure about downloading this time management game. (it is likely to put you off, lol. Gamezebo is one of the better game review sites and certainly puts the game in its place, receiving quite a poor review.
Reviews worth Reading:
http://www.gamezebo.com/games/ashtons-family-resort/review
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Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPvneO4K5bQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czbYGNOpqxI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxO8fQsqWJk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku6gJ4IDDvw
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Images
All on one page:
As a Slideshow:
Googled images:
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Requirements:
• Celeron 1.5GHz and later
• Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• DirectX 7.0 and later
• 512 MB RAM
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Conclusion:
I found that this time management game lacked depth and everything became predictable vey quickly, plus it was far too easy to attain the Gold standard. I reached gold standard for each level despite loads of interruptions while I was taking notes and capturing screenshots for the review.
When I compare it to other time management games such as Farm Frenzy 2, which I found really interesting to play and was always left with a feeling of wanting to come back for more (and even bought a sequel because I wanted even more), I very much doubt I’d buy a sequel to this, let alone complete the game itself. (just my own personal preference though). The game had no oomph to it at all, and IMO would probably make a good introductory game for newcomers to the genre or for the younger child. It’s definitely not a challenging game, which I've found most other time management games I've played are.
The mini game that I played while checking out this game was appalling, and I really didn't see the point in adding it to the game. I only hope that there are some better mini games (as implied on the developers site) later in the game. The points you got for completing the minigame were spent on improvements to your home. This could just as well have been an additional reward for finishing the level, rather than to pad out the game with such a poor quality mini game. The match three game seemed pointless because there was no time to beat, and all you had to do was repeatedly click on the tiles to capture groups of 3 or more, until you’d attained a specific target. Once that was accomplished, your home was upgraded with the addition of some improvement such as a pathway, garage extension or a redecoration job; and there was no risk of losing any of the games. The character customisation was also rather tame, with you having the ability to change the colour of both characters upper and lower garments. There are several colours to choose from. But that was it. No different clothing styles or fashion accessories, nor any feature changes such as color of eyes or skin. It seemed to me that the developer has cobbled together a game using several ideas with the intention of trying to make it interesting and packed full of features. Unfortunately all the features are lame and add nothing to the basic game. With all that said, I couldn't justify giving it more than 5 out of 10 for game play.
I’d like to thank the giveaway team for continuing with the game giveaway project despite the difficulties they are facing finding newer games and also to the owners of Realore games for being the longest serving distributor/game developer to give games away here.
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Other Information:
If you find the music uninspiring, you can always change it for something more appropriate, or even better, for something you really like. Who knows, it may even improved the playability, lol. The four music tracks which can be found via the path quoted below:
C:\GAMES\AshtonsFamilyResort\Music
are all in the ogg format, (which can be played using WinAmp), so you will require an audio converter to convert your favorite MP3 or WMA files to the same format. If you've not downloaded one from the giveaway project over the last few years, you can get one for free from the giveaway freeware library:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/freeware/cat/Audio_Video_Audio_Encoders_Converters/
Once you've converted the music, you will need to rename the tracks to one of the four tracks you are replacing. I suggest you create a restore point before you proceed with any changes and also make a back up of the original music, just in case you wish to revert back to the original later.
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