The One
1st October 1991The bigger they are, the harder they fall. It's dog eat dog in the cut-throat world of high finance, and only a special kind of businessman has what it takes to survive. Unfortunately, he's your opponent.
Big Business (Magic Bytes)
That's the motto that's seen you in good stead through all these years in the big, bad world of business. Now you'll need it more than ever, as you've just been offered a job as head of a large conglomerate, producing the very finest computer software/nuclear bombs/coffee (the choice is yours).
Your five partners in crime are Jane Dough, Fred Wedbetter, Percy LaFleur, Dr. Donald Density and Jim Slick - and all six of you are ready to take on your two nearest rivals in an attempt to bury them into the ground.
The Verdict
Don't dive into Big Business expecting something along the lines of a Wall Street Stock Market Simulator or anything like that. Endless number crunching and the sort of data that make tax inspectors go weak at the knees are definitely out. The emphasis is on fun not figures (apart from the secretary's). In fact, this game's limitations are, in one sense, its saving grace. Magic Bytes could quite easily have gone overboard with menus, statistics and operations, but has instead decided to limit your workload and add to the humour.
This doesn't mean things aren't challenging, quite the opposite. It'll take at least six or seven months (game time not real time) to start making a profit (unless your name's Richard Branson), but once you do the game turns into a seething mass of deceit, double-dealings and double-crosses.
The multi-player option is particularly welcome, as playing against a human swindler is preferable to taking on an automated one any day (especially since you can't punch a computer in the mouth when it stitches you up). Big Business is definitely not the type of product that will appeal to everyone, although even for managerial trainees it's simple to get to grips with. What you can expect is a few, solid hours of entertainment at a time, not a quick blast between meals.