If you're like me, you glanced at I-play's new casual game Artist Colony and immediately wrote it off as a copycat of Virtual Villagers or The Sims. I mean, it features little virtual characters who interact with each other, fall in love, advance in their career and clean up messes they make. But oh, how I was wrong. After spending nearly a week with Artist Colony, the similarities to Virtual Villagers are merely cosmetic. This engrossing single-player game stands on its own merit and proves to be highly enjoying and gratifying twist on the simulation genre.
I-play and Nikitova are on the verge of releasing an innovative new casual simulation game, Artist Colony. Artist Colony is basically what would happen if you the worlds of The Sims or Virtual Villagers was inhabited by Picasso, Pollack, and Warhol. Your task is to restore a once pioneering artist colony to its former glory by renovating the buildings, inspiring the artists, and selling their works (or helping them perform in the case of the musicians and dancers).