Oil Tycoon

Oil Tycoon is a management game that promises very little and delivers even less. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it's your job to become the head of an oil company and make it the most successful in the world.

Joining the likes of Pizza Tycoon, Airline Tycoon, Mouse Mat Magnate and all the other identical and turgid Tycoon games out there, Oil Tycoon fails with some aplomb to take the genre anywhere new, different or vaguely interesting.

It's great to see that the developers have tried to get some animation into the game, as most games in this genre are just a collection of static screens. However, don't get too excited -the graphical quality rarely rises above that of a text adventure. That's not to say that OT is without merit though. You can play either in real-time or turn-based modes, which should suit a wide range of wannabe oil barons. You can even play with five other human players, if you can actually find that many people willing to endure it.

OT also has an excellent research tree, which slowly opens up new ways of extracting, collecting and transporting your supplies. In real-time mode though, it takes so long to research anything that you may be tempted to take out your boredom on the CD with a hammer. However, once you manage to set up a few sites and get a licence to drill, OT can become quite entertaining. Your primary goal is to get your company on the Stock Exchange, making sure that your shares are worth a fair whack when you float. After you've done this, repetition flashes its spotty arse, and interest consequently wanes.

While it's not catastrophic by any means, Oil Tycoon looks as though it was rushed; not an easy thing to achieve with a game of this ilk. As a result, only those with an unhealthy affinity with oil and management sims should even consider forking out for it.