Industry Giant

Most developers must be convinced that PC owners are latent megalomaniacs or mass murderers looking for an outlet. Well, at least the former category will be reasonably well serviced by Industry Giant, which has no pretensions that it is anything other than the most unoriginal kid on the PC block.

What we get here is textbook real-time god sim fare. If you really have 100 real-time years to spare, you may wish to start your business empire from scratch. Alternatively, there's a fast-food version, complete with a selection of pre-set past, present and future scenarios as you attempt to convince the board of directors to refer to you as 'Mr Chairman Sir'. And all this against your choice of a variety of hardened capitalist computer opponents.

Knowing how popular this genre is, there will doubtlessly be legions of sweaty palmed types itching to get their paws on yet another SimCity clone. What's on offer here will certainly serve you well for a long time. But for hardened old cynics who've been there, done that and pulled the T-shirt over their heads in wild Ravenelli-style celebration, there isn't too much to look forward to.

In other words, Industry Giant does nothing to advance what is already a tedious and dated genre. Unless you're an obsessive completist, that is.