Ever wanted to built a town? Mumbo Jumbo’s Build-a-lot is the answer. There are two modes: Career and Casual. You start out in the career mode where you must complete certain goals before you can move onto the next level. The Tutorial shows you what must be done to move up in levels. You will meet with various people from each of the “towns” who will tell you what needs to be done.
The town where the Tutorial takes place is Meadow Dale The tutorial teaches you how to reach the level goal(s) with no time limit. Once you leave Meadow Dale, there is a time limit in which you will need to complete the goals. The goals range from building/improving houses/buildings, earning rent, buying/selling properties among others.
As you go up in levels you will be required to buy house/building plans, hire additional workers, buy additional materials, and manage your properties as well as going to different towns. Each town will have its own requests. You will learn to build many different types of houses: including Rambler, Colonial, Tudor, Estate, among others.
You will only need to buy each blueprint once. As you move to fancier houses they will cost more to buy the blueprint as well as require more materials and possibly workers. You will start to build different buildings including a workshop, bank, and sawmill. Each building has their own advantages to constructing.
As you level up the goals get harder and harder. As any homeowner can tell you, repairs and taxes will sneak up on you. There are ways to help with the costs of these in the game. In each level, you will see your career earnings. This is done by taking the value from each property you build/improve and adding them all together.
To play the Casual mode, you will need to complete the tutorial in the Career mode. The two modes play very similar to each other, the major difference being that in Casual mode there is no time limit. The “towns” available to play in Casual mode will be the same towns that you have unlocked in Career mode.
I found this game extremely challenging as you have to manage your money, workers, buy blueprints, materials, pay for repairs, taxes among other things. I had to repeat many levels as I would almost have them completed but would run out of time. Build-a-lot will keep you busy with trying to figure out the best way to reach your goals in the shortest amount of time. The faster you complete your goals, the more gold stars you earn. Each “town” has their own design that they will want.
You will find out the requirements each “town” has when you reach it. Some towns will have “Premier Properties” that will need a certain type of house. The fancier the house, the more expensive the blueprint is and the more materials/workers it will need. The game will tell you when you need more of anything.
Build-a-lot is perfect for anyone who loves a challenge. I found myself replaying levels multiple times and trying multiple methods till I got it right. The time limit can make the game a bit frustrating when you are so close to the goal but run out of time, while at the same time it motivates you to think quick.
Overall, Build-a-lot is a fun challenging game that will keep anyone busy for hours trying to complete each level as fast as they can.
DaniP
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer / Publisher: MumboJumboGames
Price: 19.99
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| The graphics are clear and it's easy to see each building, | |
| Sound | |
| Fits the game; the sound effects do indicate certain things such as rent being collected, taxes, building or repairing structures; nice effects | |
| Gameplay | |
| Very easy to play with minimal instruction. Each new goal was clearly explained and the goal list was visible and easy to see when checked off. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Very enjoyable; Build-a-lot is a challenging game that anyone could spend hours with. | |
