Gamertell Review: Winemaker Extraordinaire for PC
by at May 11, 2009 8:30 am
Sections: 2D, Casual, Developers, Distributors, Exclusives, Game-Companies, Genres, Originals, PCs, Publishers, Reviews, Sim, Windows
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Casual games can be a great diversion for beginning or proficient gamers. They offer something you can play for minutes or hours, and the great ones are both simple and addicting at the same time.
Winemaker Extraordinaire has the appearance, controls, story and gameplay that could make it one of the great ones. Players can create wine, manage wineries, fill orders and search for success at their own pace in colorful locations around the world.
Shaking off a conventional life for one filled with wine, travel and international intrigue.
Maria’s hanging by a thread. She’s alone. Her job is stressful and unfulfilling. Her beloved grandfather has just died. Just when she’s at her lowest point, she learns that she has inherited her grandfather’s winery.
Remembering how happy she was there as a child, and encouraged by a letter he left for her urging her to pursue her dream, she leaves the city behind and goes to Italy to take over the family’s winery. If she’s successful, she could have wineries around the world, fame and eventually earn the Vino Ultimae recipe. Maybe the World Guild of Extraordinary Winemakers could even be reborn.
Making wine has never been easier.
Winemaker Extraordinaire‘s target audience is obviously women (it comes with a one year subscription to Bon Appetit, Allure, Glamour or Lucky magazine), and it does a wonderful job of appealing to them. It’s an intelligent game, with an element of romance and mystery and set in exotic locations.
However, it doesn’t only appeal to women. The customer satisfaction, business management and puzzle elements offered in Winemaker Extraordinaire are universal. Anyone can enjoy them. Women may have an easier time identifying with the heroine Maria, but men will surely get caught up in the motions of managing a successful winery as well.
I especially liked the use of mini-games in the adventure. Players can increase wine production by performing a matching game, where you put rows of grapes in order before the reach the bottom and are combined. Before that, the quality of the wine can be improved by eliminating leaf and twig icons in groups of three or larger. It’s an interesting means of breaking up the monotony of purchasing, traveling and selling.
Not only a game, a virtual escape
Winemaker Extraordinaire not only offers a casual business simulation game, it also offers a bit of escapism. With economic times being as they are, people don’t have the luxury of dropping a steady job to chase after happiness and a dream. But, through Winemaker Extraordinaire‘s Maria, they can.
Winemaker Extraordinaire offers a relaxing challenge across many locations. Take a break, sit back and enjoy making wine without actually learning how, spending money and getting messy making it.
Site [Winemaker Extraordinaire] Site [Merscom]
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