User Reviews

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Four Stars Review This Game!

  • Posted on Oct 18, 2009, 12:16pm

    5 Stars

    User Review by Tropico

    Even as someone who never liked Virtual Villagers, I thought this game was great. The atmosphere, the exploration, the storyline, the gradual improvement of skills... all top-notch and very enjoyable. One of the best experiences I've had with a 'casual' game, and hope many more installments are to follow. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Sep 6, 2009, 3:09am

    5 Stars

    User Review by xXKNiGHTXx

    I really loved this game (as the Virtual Villager fan I am) and I love that there can be relationships between one and another. A shame that you can't gain more than 3 levels in the beginning, though. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Aug 24, 2009, 3:46pm

    3 Stars

    User Review by lysdexia

    Lovely game, if redundant. /How/ redundant? Each artist has two skills, ten levels each. Not only must each artist train each, but make a work for each. With 25 artists, that makes 25 20 2 = 1000 stages! Not to speak of how inefficiently they take to get there, as the level tens will not allow you to level the others easily; it may be 1500 steps. The songs and sculptures may be cool and pretty, the paintings and photographs neat and fair, but there are six songs and everyone does the same dance! The woman's brokenheart song is funny; it's a blend of Simlish and Dissociated Press. If only there were writing arts or a greater amount of songs with the latter. The best feature is the theme tunes, however; they make the game worthwhile after all its madness. The Peanuts-like cover is smart; I'd like to keep them. (All of the files are open. It's also true there's one gamesave, but you can copy the four save files and savescum another set.) [ ] A few bugs or flaws: [ ] Levels above 7 take a month or more to make a masterpiece; after it's done the landscape may be nonexistent—as in winter in spring. [ ] The elder artists are spot-hoggers; they stalk and squat at their work so the youngers can't get in and level up, even when I told them to clean up! [ ] After I toss them out, it takes forever for the spot to be clear again. It doesn't make sense how it buzzes for every artist after even if I drag the former artist back in. There's no way to tell when a spot is free. Sometimes when the artists walk toward a spot in a row, and one takes the spot, and I toss one out, the next artist can work there without the buzz. I take the odd cue as first a subroutine to make the artist want to work there, which must be triggered in order to let the player drag whom there. But the want may be lost after you click on the artist—I'm not sure. The same want may make the artist pick one studio over the other when ready to train; if you drag towards the other studio, the artist will walk back out. Also the want may make the artist walk towards one inspiration over another, such as to leave the stage for the fountain or a magic flower, and override your cursor again. [ ] The music stutters and hangs on a new season sometimes; then again maybe it's not the computer as I play online on WildTangent. (It's not online? Never mind.) [ ] Is it a bug no two artists can lie at the parasol? One time they could, after I dragd one artist at the parasol and another downscreen below the spot. [ ] All the artists are straiht. [ ] Is there a limit for the gallery? Is it 45? [ ] Ah, a tip: Keep the gallery under 39 works or it'll take forever for the spot to be free. [ ] a (the) nasty bug (v3.3.8): [ ] The level tens hog the spots so often, the gallery never sells out; even after I pull them out of the spot, if the playing screen had shown, the work is added in the gallery. And their progress bar didn't matter. Now there are three level ten Taylors in the Music Shows gallery, in a row! on the 11th screen. When the artists swarm the same spot, sometimes I can get two or three to work there. It seems a good way to cheat money—I'm almost at three million—but there's nothing to buy. Everyone is out of studio, and none is at risk of sleep or depression. But it takes too long to level up the last bunch. The level tens are dolts and punks; they need a dunk in the lake. [ ] Argh, I was away for five seconds, and the game quit on me with not so much as a error message! why? There went six hours of work. Then I made up the time, and was almost at three million again. I then went to play the demo, and didn't realise it was 90 min. yet, and again that work was gone. It didn't bother to autosave either! [ ] Anyway, here is a tip for the endgame: Leave the colony at four stars, and toss all the level tens in the paint studio when they creep toward the field. The game goes much swifter when there's much room in the gallery. Everyone's at level ten now, and my account's at 4.6 million. About everyone has been in love or broken-hearted at work, and still there are question marks in Colony Info's Piece of Art creation places. Does this mean the ekers forgot to implement them? As someone in the forum said, the game logo has acting and writing arts, but they're not in the game. [ ] Sadly the game doesn't end, not with a bang nor a cheer. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to grow, but the same. Artist Colony may be a sweet, soft hell. I'll play again, this time to see if I can tire out Ben and Dylan so they'll leave. [ ] My warding: 3.5/5 [ ] review 2/bugs and flaws 2: [ ] In the first playthru, Dylan did the painting and Ben did the cleanup, but in the first chatbox Ben held the palette. [ ] It turns out the question marks under Colony Info: Stage were not other workspots; they were shots of the Dance and Music studios, but they were never triggered in the first play! In my next, I stuck with five artists; I think the trigger was to set artists on the raw stage where the mike and mat would be. [ ] I like how the artists can clear roots and shards with bare hands, and walk throuh hurdles, logs, and each other, and under gleass litter—not! [ ] After a new game the hard drive pages for a few minuts even after the load screen and hangs the music, again. [ ] This time I restored the Archway early (Did I say there's no arch?) instead of sell a masterpiece, and the To-do list missd a trigger; the Archway note was atop the screen for many months, and the To-do list was a screenfull; it wasn't until I did the mural(?) when it went away. [ ] The bench outside Music studio was still warpt where Ben sat down in the cutscene with Jack. [ ] In the winter, both ponds and fountain were full of ise even when they were bare and broken, and next spring the ponds were whole and watterladen. [ ] It turns out the first five artists can't leave the colony, no matter how weary they are! So it's a good tip to stick with five and level them up with magic flowers until seven. Don't buy a gallery yet so all works are in the same screen. [ ] Dylan and Ben don't grow hungry or weary if you leave them at the entrance for months. Delivery? [ ] When the Sculpture studio is mid-upgrade, someone can walk on the roof. [ ] Sometimes the music skips for a split-second at random times. [ ] A few times the songs had stopped about three-fifths in, and the background music would play instead. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 26, 2009, 7:16am

    5 Stars

    User Review by fiorentina5

    i loved it great sim game Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 23, 2009, 9:21am

    4 Stars

    User Review by M2Cute4Jerks

    I liked this game however was frustrated that you could only do one master piece at a time. Sometimes when you have multiple artists, it is hard to keep track of all their needs as well. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 22, 2009, 12:21am

    4 Stars

    User Review by sweetlust

    This game's pros out-weighs its somewhat disappointing character animation. The game develops interesting plot, and it can be played at a leisure pace. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 18, 2009, 2:23am

    4 Stars

    User Review by SeverineSnape

    I enjoyed this game. The idea is cute, the graphics are nice and I just can't get enough of that jazzy piece of music they sing when they perform a music show. I did find it got a bit tedious after a while, though. The tasks that need to be achieved became a bit uninspired and uninspiring. I would have liked to need to do more than just train your artists so they can sell enough art to buy the required structures. So, like the new Harry Potter movie, it's basically good, but could do with more oomph. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 17, 2009, 7:50pm

    4 Stars

    User Review by ScribbleMuse

    It's a good game. Not GREAT, as in drop everything and run to it RIGHT NOW, but very nice to play. I felt like it was kind of like a Wandering Willows mixed with VV. I think that WW is a lot better though, just because by the time you are so sick of it and ready to go away, it brings up a new step of the map. On Artist Colony, you pretty much clear debris away at the first of the game and quickly see what I am assuming is the map so far. I have played to the point that I am building the fountain. I do believe that there is a hole over on one side of the game and that may open up into a different field/map, but I'm not sure yet. If it does change I'll come back and edit this review. It was a game that was fun/intriguing enough to keep me glued for a couple hours straight. One thing I did not like at the very beginning was the tutorial. it was great to have the info, but at the same time it was not going to go more than one second without pausing and cutting away to the tutorial instructions. Kind of annoying. All in all, however, a very satisfying game and I'd recommed it to anyone to try. I'm just not sure how many would get as much enjoyment for the entire play. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 17, 2009, 5:49pm

    0 Stars

    User Review by wynditara64

    My daughter and I enjoyed this game very much. we would have liked to upgraded the gallery so it would hold more masterpieces, but otherwise the game was ideal. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 13, 2009, 9:02pm

    4 Stars

    User Review by lauder

    I thought I would give the game a try and it is cute, I like that it tells you what you have 2 do instead of trying to figue out what 2 do. nice game so far Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 13, 2009, 10:45am

    4 Stars

    User Review by oovs

    its a lot like virtual villagers but better since its a lot more real n something we can relate to. i like the fact that artists can make master pieces and they can be sold. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 13, 2009, 4:39am

    3 Stars

    User Review by havthat

    When I began playing this game I wanted to give it 5 stars, but as I progressed, I found myself wanting to only give it 2 stars. I settled on 3 because I really like the premise of it and it's quite beautiful to watch unfold, and I'd really like to see the concept expanded upon. The problem is that what draws you in to begin with is never really taken to another level. You get more artists, you have additional tasks to complete, but there's no real progression. The story is going to happen no matter what you do and there's no real replayablity in terms of discovering a different outcome. The 'difficulty,' if you can call it that, only increases in that you have more people to watch over, but that's mitigated by the fact that you have additional people to do the menial chores. To me it's a lot like Virtual Families... The idea is great, but once you get past a certain point you're just leveling up your people and maintaining a status quo to get to the next achievement. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 12, 2009, 1:44pm

    4 Stars

    User Review by gilowyn

    Basically, I really like the game, for all the reasons Gamezebo mentioned. What I don't like: It gets drawn out towards the statue bit.... long-winded. Which is when the limits of the game become apparent - there just isn't really that much to do. Sometimes artists won't create and it really doesn't make sense why not. And while the logo portrays "the arts" (incl. acting and writing), the actual game only features song, dance, sculpture, painting, and photography. But - I am sure Artist Colony II will be way better. :) Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 11, 2009, 5:21pm

    5 Stars

    User Review by SkaterCody

    I loved this game, and I haven't even finished the trial yet! The graphics and music are beautiful. This game is a lot like virtual villagers, except the concept is different, the characters are more lovable and fun, and if you decide not to play the game for a day, your colonists don't die! So far I think this is one of the best games of the year. I will defenitly be buying it after it comes out on BFG or PF. I highly reccommend Artist Colony. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 10, 2009, 2:52pm

    4 Stars

    User Review by govegirl

    This game was a wonderful surprise. I was not expecting it to be so involving and fulfilling. Beautiful graphics, intuitive AI, nice story and hours of gameplay. Controls a bit frustrating at times otherwise I would give it 5 stars. I recommend anyone to at least try the demo and see if you enjoy it as much as I have. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 9, 2009, 8:21pm

    4 Stars

    User Review by tekirpitir

    Thanks to Gamezebo, I had the chance to be informed about this game and play it. I'm already addicted to it. I love how the scenery changes with the seasons, the songs that come out when the performer has a broken heart, and the overall graphics. I would like it even more if the songs and sculptures would be more varied and much better to listen/view. The story is also very interesting. I've got 10 artists in the colony now and I'm very curious to see how things will develop. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

  • Posted on Jul 9, 2009, 2:34pm

    0 Stars

    User Review by ThatGuySteve

    I've had a chance to play this for a little while now and really get a kick out of it. I keep finding myself back at it. unlike other Sim games, there is always something that you need to do. Give this Review a Kudos Report as Inappropriate

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