Do you want Tycoons with that?

Over the years there has been a veritable flood of business management sims with the words Giant and/or Tycoon in the title, varying from the addictive (Rollercoaster Tycoon) to the superfluous (Oil Tycoon). The latest such game to pop up is Restaurant Tycoon, the brainchild of Trevor Chan and his team at Enlight. The Hong Kong based developer is something of a veteran of the genre, with the hit Capitalism series amongst their back catalogue, and another sim (the JoWooD published Hotel Giant) currently in the works. Indeed, a quick comparison of the screenshots of Hotel Giant and Restaurant Tycoon reveals a certain family resemblance. As the title suggests, the company's latest project puts you in charge of a restaurant, with responsibility for hiring, firing and training waiters, cleaners and cooks, decorating the premises, stocking ingredients, and of course spying on customers to see their reactions to your culinary creations. To add a soupçon of excitement, you'll also be able to prepare special meals for celebrity guests and take part in international contests to show off your cooking skills. Or you can just cheat by slipping cockroaches into your rivals' creations, amongst a range of dirty tricks on offer to less scrupulous chefs. Eugh. With settings ranging from Paris and New York to the Middle East, three different types of cuisine to master and a host of management options to fine tune, Enlight are hoping that Restaurant Tycoon will follow in the footsteps of their successful Capitalism series. Will it be another five star production or the gaming equivalent of an M1 service station? You'll have to wait and see, because Restaurant Tycoon is going to be in the oven for the best part of a year, with a spring 2003 release on the cards for Europe, courtesy of Korean publisher Phantagram. In the meantime you'll just have to whet your appetite on a banquet-sized portion of screenshots of the game. Related Feature - Restaurant Tycoon screenshots