Perfect Getaway Review

A name like Perfect Getaway might make you imagine some sort of crime-theme gamed, but the reality is actually something quite different. Perfect Getaway is a management sim where you run your own passenger cruise ship and sail around the world, picking up souvenirs and improving your ship with new luxuries. It’s a game developed by Chinese MMO publisher Perfect World, so there’s a cutesy anime veneer to the avatars. This game doesn’t seem to be especially aimed at a younger crowd, though, instead offering the sort of casual play that appeals to all ages.

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Perfect Getaway is one of Facebook’s few resort cruise games, though otherwise it’s mediocre

A name like Perfect Getaway might make you imagine some sort of crime-theme gamed, but the reality is actually something quite different. Perfect Getaway is a management sim where you run your own passenger cruise ship and sail around the world, picking up souvenirs and improving your ship with new luxuries. It’s a game developed by Chinese MMO publisher Perfect World, so there’s a cutesy anime veneer to the avatars. This game doesn’t seem to be especially aimed at a younger crowd, though, instead offering the sort of casual play that appeals to all ages.

Gameplay is very typical for any sort of management sim. You begin with a plain, drab boat and a tutorial takes you through opening some basic amenities like a hot dog stand and a swimming pool. You use businesses like the hot dog stand to please passengers and generate funds, which you can also earn by finishing quests. Powering your hot dog stand, though, requires another resource called leisure. Passengers produce leisure when they do things like have fun in your pool or relax on your deck chairs. You can only store so much leisure, so you occasionally need to buy ship decorations like fruit crates and tiki torches to increase your boat’s maximum possible leisure.

Perfect Getaway

In theory your goal is pleasing passengers, which means doing intuitive things like buying amenities passengers want, making sure they’re all well-fed, and always keeping the boat on the move toward an interesting destination. There are collectible sets tied to each location that encourage you to make multiple visits or just buy them for real money, but early on the game’s quests reward you for visiting as many different places as possible. Voyages also help you earn money and experience once they’re completed.

You’d think a management sim built around a theme that wasn’t completely worn-out would be very engaging, but Perfect Getaway has some basic problems as a game. The interface is sticky and frustrating. Unless you blow tons of money on upgrading your ship size, then any reasonable successful crew ship is going to have a deck thronged with passengers. The game’s interface isn’t good at letting you click onto objects obscured by passenger avatars, which can make harvesting leisure from smaller objects like deck chairs frustrating.

Perfect Getaway

A lot of the appeal of a management sim is starting with nothing and then building up some sort of little virtual property of your own, where you can watch virtual people go about their business. While this isn’t a type of satisfaction that demands spectacular graphics, they do need to be appealing. But there’s something about Perfect Getaway‘s visuals just isn’t appealing at all. The avatars, and especially the backgrounds, feel crudely-drawn, though the bright colors certainly fit the vacation theme.

Perfect Getaway isn’t really a bad game, but right now it’s one distinguished only by having an unusual theme. If you’re a huge fan of Facebook management sims, you might want to check it out for that alone. Otherwise, there are plenty of better options out there.

The good

    The bad

      60 out of 100